Julep Diamond Mystery Box Review

On Columbus Day, Julep announced a new mystery box! Based on the two guaranteed polishes, and the promise of a value of at least $120, I bit.  This cost $24.99 and took 11 days to get to me.  Way to go, DHL, way to be slow.

What's inside?!

I got Mystery Box #1.  The pink thing under the little catalogue is a Scrub Mitt ($2.99 on sale).  I have mixed feelings on this.

Scrub Mitt

The Contents!
All polishes in little pink bags

First up is a familiar item:

Julep Pink Grapefruit Body Frosting, 4 oz

I received this in an earlier mystery box, so this will be saved for a holiday gift.  This smells like grapefruit and has a whipped texture.  It's on sale for $9.99.

Julep Mini Eyelash Curler

This mini eyelash curler is so cute!  I like that it is nice and compact; my big one takes up a lot of space in my makeup bag.  I may have to switch it out for this one!  I couldn't find this by itself, it is sold as part of the "travel essentials" set with a foundation/concealer brush and a makeup bag for $28.  I'll estimate this at $2.99.

Julep Doublestep Foot Treatment & Friction Stick

The doublestep foot treatment is for hydrating and preventing blister-causing friction on your feet.  This smells like peppermint and comes in a twist-up stick applicator.  I'm hoping it works, I have some pretty uncomfortable shoes!  Maven price $17.60, regular price $22.

The "extra"!
Grape Rock Candy

Sooo this lasted all of 40 seconds before I devoured it.  It was grape-flavored sugar and made my mouth purple...just like I had hoped.

Now, on to the polish!

The Polishes!

Left to right: Antonia, Helen, Coco, Kristy, Reece, Geo, Marion

Diamond Mystery Box #1

Let's see some swatches!

Julep Marion, 2 coats

Marion is from February 2013 It Girl.  It is a blue-leaning teal with a silvery shimmer.  This is super-pretty, but it will stain!  I'm glad the shimmer is as apparent on the nail as it is in the bottle, often times the bottle looks so much prettier than the dry polish.

Julep Reece

Oh my gosh, you guys, I have Reece!  I have wanted this polish *so* badly, but couldn't ever bring myself to buy it on its own.  This was an add-on in September 2013 and was part of the It Girl collection.  I got the September box, but didn't have the money or the Jules to get this as an add-on.  I was so glad to see it in this mystery box! It's even prettier in person.

Reece is a purple/green holographic duochrome.  It's amazing.  I am in love.  It looks muted and gray in some lights, but then other lighting brings out the purple or green and all of the sparkles.  Pictures don't do this one justice.  Ok, I'm done waxing poetic.

Julep Kristy

Julep Kristy is a midnight blue creme from the September 2013 Boho Glam collection.  This is a very, very dark navy, so of course I love it for the winter.  I've been using OPI Russian Navy a lot, but this is not shimmery at all, so I'm going to justify keeping it.  Yeah, it looks like some of my really dark purples, but it's technically blue, right? So I can keep it?

Julep Coco

I know this is blurry, but I've featured Coco before.  I got this color in my Popsugar Must Have for October, so it's nice to have a polish to give away.  I love this oxblood creme!  It's such a classy color to me.  This was from the It Girl collection in May 2013.

Julep Helen

Speaking of classy colors, I think my second favorite of this box is Helen.  This is from the Classic with a Twist from February 2013 and is a smoky lavender, according to Julep.  I think it is a great pink for my skin and I'm surprised I don't have anything like it already!  Two coats was almost unnecessary, I think I could pull off one with a top coat!  Even better.

Julep Marion, Reece, Kristy, Coco, and Helen

All in all, there was not a dud in the bunch! I was afraid I'd get a weird yellow or other unpopular color, but these were all amazing.  I am so happy that I bought this mystery box!

The two promised polishes were two diamond top coats.

Julep Geo

Geo is a lavender holographic diamond glitter top coat.  Whew, that's a mouth full.  It has a clear base with holographic and lavender glitter and lavender holographic diamonds.  It's so sparkly!

This is Julep Geo over Kristy (middle nail)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star....

Julep Antonia

Antonia is a pale pink holographic diamond glitter top coat.  This is very similar to Geo, but the glitter is all pink-based, and the diamonds are not holographic.  It's a little less flashy than Geo, but just as pretty.

Julep Antonia over Helen (bottom)

As with any other chunky glitter polish, it takes a little bit of effort to apply.  You need to dab on and position the diamonds without getting too much of the polish base on your nail.  It takes a little practice but is hardly rocket science.

Each of the 7 polishes is worth $11.20, Maven pricing, or $14 without. ($78.40 or $98)

Julep Marion, Reece, Kristy with Geo, Coco, and Helen with Antonia

This was a very nice mystery box, especially for $25!  I got $111.97 (Maven pricing) worth of goodies, including a polish I had been drooling over for months.  Not quite the $120 promised, but I did estimate on the eyelash curler, and with full pricing would have been way over the stated value.

Of course, I changed my polish to Reece after I swatched everything... how could I not?

Way prettier in real life! Yay Reece!

Julep is a monthly nail polish/beauty product subscription service.  They also do mystery boxes just about once a month, and members get special pricing on any products from their website.  If you are interested in trying Julep, please consider using my referral link here.   I will get 1000 Jules (Julep's point system for purchasing items).  You can get your first box for free using code FREEBOX.  If that doesn't work, FREEFB might.  You can skip any months you want and cancel at any time.  Their polish is great, and is 4-free.  

This post contains items I purchased myself.  All opinions are my own, and no compensation or special consideration was received for this post.  This post contains a referral link.

American Apparel Grab Bag for Women July 2013

I recently bought a grab bag from American Apparel for $45.  It was guaranteed to have 10 items in it.  I added on a pair of cheap shorts to bring my total over $50 so I could get free shipping.  I ordered size medium, and except for 1 item and anything 'one size', everything fits ok.  I'm a 27 (size 4) in pants and usually a small in tops, but according to AA, I'd be a medium.  

All photos (except the last one) are from American Apparel, and where available, I took the sale price (even if some of the colors I received are not listed in the sale section)

Baby Rib Long Dress in Asphalt
Couldn't find on sale, $46 regular price

Blossom Hair Clip in Black
$6 on sale (no black shown)

Leather Bow [Hair] Clip, Yellow
Sale $7 (no yellow shown)

Nylon-Spandex Micromesh Leggings in Fluorescent Pink
On Sale $2

Rhymer Print Nylon-Tricot Side-Tie Bikini Bottoms (Just the bottoms lol) in Rhymer Blue
On sale, $8.

Rib U-Neck in Olive
On sale, $3.

Sheer Jersey Two-Sided Top, in Black
$2 on sale, black not shown

Sheer Jersey Long Sleeve in Light Blue
I received 2 of these.  Identical colors and everything.  $4 on sale.

Striped Double-U Neck Tank, Black and Natural Narrow
Striped not on sale, solids sale $14

I couldn't find the last item on the AA website.  It is a leather belt with rainbow stitching and even though it is listed as a size ML, I estimate it is size ML for toddlers.  Seriously, I can barely fit it around my thigh with it set as big as it can go!

The belt and the two hair clips.
I really like the belt, I wish it fit!

Overall value: $96 plus belt.  I didn't even bother estimating that since I couldn't find it and it doesn't fit.

It's an ok value, but most of that came from the maxi dress.  I'd say I got my money's worth, but I probably won't order this again.  It was tempting, and I'm glad I saw what was in it, and it's nice to have some more basics, but that's it.  One-time only.  I'll stick to grab bags like Golden Tote; I like the items much more than these.

Julep Summertime Mystery Box July 2013

 My Julep Summertime Mystery Box came today! I ordered the big box, with both day and night colors, plus the two new glitters. I received box number 3.

Summertime Big Box Mystery Box July 2013

A closer look

The box contents, with their descriptions given by Julep:

Two new glitters released special for this mystery box
Kyla, a coral orange glitter $11.20 maven pricing
Monica, a multidimensional pink glitter $11.20

Day shades
Bess, a baby blue creme, $11.20
Charlie, a bright yellow creme (may mystery box color- no site description), $11.20
Nina, an electric neon orangesicle creme, $7.99 (on sale)

The day and glitter polishes all have swatching stickers on top; ellie and lucy do not. Fortunately, there were not any duplicate polishes for me in this box! I really like all of the colors, too.

Days and Glitters, all 2 coats.

 On my thumb is Bess.  This is a really nice baby blue and I don't have anything like it in my extensive polish collection.  Two coats is perfect My pinky has Monica, two coats is almost enough to completely cover my nail line.  I love that this is like a jelly sandwich in a bottle! Is it just me or do these tinted glitter polishes (Monica, Kyla, Portia are the only ones I have) smell differently than Julep's other polishes?   Sweeter?  I'm not an organic chemist, I can't identify solvents by their smell but that might be it. Oh well. Kyla is on my ring finger and it is a little more densely glittered than Monica.  This will be a really pretty pedicure color. My middle finger is adorned with Charlie- this was probably the best surprise of the box for me.  I have never been able to successfully wear a yellow polish, but this one is a nice bright color and perfectly covers in two coats.  This also does not make me look jaundiced and that makes me happy.  I can't wait to wear this as a full mani! Two coats was not quite enough for Nina to cover my first finger.  It dries to a semi-matte finish and I think this would be awesome under Kyla.  Not my favorite, but not terrible.  It has potential! Maybe over white to make it really pop. In the bottle it is a nice cantaloupe color, I want that on my nails, too!

Night shades
Ellie, an opalescent seashell pink with holographic shimmer (part of the flower girl fun duo), $8 (set is on sale for $16)
Lucy, a modern, dark burgundy creme, $11.20

Nights, 2 coats each.

My thumb in this picture has two coats of Ellie and I'm not convinced that anything less than 10 coats would achieve full coverage. It's a pretty color if you want a very subtle polish on your fingers, and would probably be a nice top coat to spice up something you are bored with. Another surprise of this box was Lucy. I love this! I will save it for fall and winter when dark, vampy colors are more appropriate, but this is fantastic. It looks like a deep purple in the bottle, but applies more on the red side. I'm willing to bet this will stain something fierce, it sat on my nail for 15 minutes and was hard to take off even then! Gorgeous color, though.

Non-Polishes
Double duty makeup brush, $22.40
Toe separaters, $1?
Sample of glycolic hand scrub, $0.41 [

You can put the brush together so it is double-ended, or so that the concealer brush hides inside the foundation handle.

The brushes are very nice and soft, it will be great for traveling since the concealer brush nests with the foundation brush. Total value (maven pricing) $95.80 This is much less than the advertised value of $125. I only paid $40, yes, but if they are selling these to mavens, they should go by their maven pricing. If I use the full prices for everything, assuming I could buy Ellie by itself at $14, the total is $127.41. That is just barely over the low value, and that is being nice about the $1 for the toe separaters. I'm a little disappointed with the value, but not with the quality of the products received. Julep has been putting out a mystery box just about every month.


If you would like to become a maven, you can use my referral link and use code FREEBOX to get your frist monthly maven box for free!

This posts contains products that I purchased myself through Julep.  All opinions are my own.  This post contains a referral link- I will get Maven points for everyone who uses my link to subscribe.