Mamas Around The House: Julep Maven Box - Love at First (Nail) Polish

If you troll around the Internet like I do, you've probably seen advertisements for Julep. The ad shows you these funky colored nail polishes and offers you a free month of a "Maven" box. If you're like me, you've seen these ads and thought, well, I wonder what that is. I'm definitely a lover of beauty products (yay for me, sad for my wallet) as I've talked about before here, so I clicked just to check it out.

My Maven Box

So what is Julep? Julep is a company based in Seattle that sells nail color, nail, hand, and foot products, makeup and hair products, skincare, and body products. The ads you see are for their monthly enrollment program (the Maven program) - you go on their website, answer some questions, and they suggest some products based upon your stated style. You can enroll in a monthly Maven box program ($19.99 per regular Maven box with other boxes available as well) and they'll ship you a box every month. Some "styles" get nail color every month, while other styles get nail color and products and others get skin care or body products. It all depends on what style you are ("Modern beauty," "Boho glam," "Bombshell," "Classic with a twist," and "It girl"). When I took the style survey I was a "classic with a twist." You also get free fun samples in your box.

Not only does Julep offer products, they offer tutorials on their blogs and their YouTube page as well. I scroll through their blog and drool - they ask readers to send in their pictures of their nail art and some of the things people come up with are so fun and amazing looking. I'm lucky if I can paint my nails without looking like the 3 year old did it. You can also follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook and learn some beauty tips there. Like the other day I was scrolling through their Facebook and saw a Q&A thread. As someone who types a lot for their job (hello doing that right now), they suggested painting the tips of the nails first then going over with a coat on the whole nail. After I read that I thought, "Well duh Liz." I hadn't thought of that. This is why I love following beauty blogs. I was on a Twitter party about beauty a few days ago and read that you can put on two coats of mascara to cause your eyes to look bigger and less tired. I look tired all the time...hm...mascara can be my friend. On their Pinterest they have boards for all the different styles that include makeup tips, clothing suggestions, and jewelry. Droooool.

So being the beauty product chick I am, I ordered a Maven box (and some other add ons that looked like fun - $4.99 mystery color nail polish, yes please!). You can get your first box for free by going here and using the code FREEBOX. If you sign up to be a Maven you'll receive an email before the next box goes out (and before your card is charged) and they'll tell you what will be in your box. You can decide to do nothing and get the box, you can skip that month (and not be charged), you can gift your box to someone else, or you can buy some add ons to put in your box. Again, if you're like me, you love to get mail, especially surprise beauty product mail right?!

My first box!

I received my first Maven box (with my add ons) today. I was so excited (mail that's not bills!). I received 5 nail colors (two from my Maven box, three add ons), pedi creme, and a sample of a foot scrub. Since I'm me, I busted out the Mint Condition Pedi Creme immediately and smelled it - minty. It has shea butter, coconut oil, essential oils, and vitamin E (along with alpha hydroxy acid - watch out for sun exposure). I rubbed some on my tired little feet and put my socks back on to get ready to go pick up the boys from school. Minty is invigorating! I like it.

Love Kai

When we got home I asked Mike if I could have a few minutes to paint my nails. He chose from my five colors and I tried out a color called Kai - it's a deeper sky blue. Looked pretty. What I didn't realize was it was a sea salt texture. Forgive me, I'm tired. Why do I love sea salt textured nail color? One reason: I'm horrid at applying nail color. So using a sea salt texture actually makes it look like I screwed up on purpose. Ha! I love it. It went on easily, didn't clump as I was using it, and dried relatively quickly.

So now I have four more colors to try within the next month before my next box comes and I'm excited. I've also been scrolling the Julep website trying to see what other products I might like to add on for my next box. "Casper" glows in the dark. Bare Face Cleansing Oil sounds interesting - I'd love to try it after reading the reviews that say it doesn't leave your face feeling oily. And Freedom Polymer Top Coat reviews say that it passes the smudge test within 5 minutes. If you saw my nails today you'd know why I'm seriously considering that. You can wishlist products. Let's say mine is growing.

If you'd like to try it out, click here and find out what your style profile is. Even if you don't buy anything, it's still fun to see what colors they'd suggest for you!I You can order your first box (for FREE using code FREEBOX) too!

Have you tried Julep? What's your favorite nail color so far? Give me suggestions for ones I should try!