Wednesday, April 30, 2014

- - Julep | Lucky Mystery Box Review | 100% Mystery - -

  
A side note - for those of you who use Ebates, did you notice that there is now only 1.5% cash back offered on Julep purchases? :(
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi friends!

Today I have a review of the second Lucky Mystery Box that I purchased in March. For $24.99 (US) you were promised to receive a box with $100+ worth of mystery Julep goodies. This review is of the 100% Mystery Box. You can find the links to my other two Lucky Mystery Box reviews below:

Taryn Box
Shannon Box

Nothing was known about the 100% Mystery Box. There was no advertised featured polish, no hint as to the contents. Nothing at all was given except the price, the value of the contents, and the possible promise of no product overlap with any of the other boxes (depending on how you understood the wording).

Read further for a full review...
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Julep Subscription: 
Frequency & Cost: $19.99/a month (price increases with add-ons) (referral link) 
Products: at least two nail polishes and one beauty product  
Ships To: US and Canada 
Shipping Cost: FREE standard shipping (5 - 10 days) 
Promo Code: use code FREEBOX or FREECOLOR to get your first box free! (small shipping fee applies) 

If you'd like to know more about Julep, you can get more information here.


Previous Mystery Boxes: 
Lucky Mystery Box: Shannon | Taryn 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------



I received the 100% Mystery Box in the same shipment as the Taryn Box, which arrived at my door a week later than St. Patrick's Day.


The 100% Mystery Box was smaller than the Taryn Box. Here was my first peek inside:



At first glance everything looked like nail polishes, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.


Left to Right:
Missy (It Girl) | Titanium metallic | $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)
Jodie (Classic With A Twist) | Rosy mauve with gold shimmer | $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)
Reece (It Girl) | Holographic shimmer | $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)
Shenae (It Girl) | Pastel mint green opalescent shimmer | $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)
Olivia (Classic With A Twist) | Rich and graceful, dark chocolate truffle crème | $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)
Ursula (Bombshell) | Blackest black crème crackle | $14.00 $2.99 (On Sale!)
Diane (It Girl) | Dark forest green crème | $14.00 $6.99 (On Sale!)
Audrey (Classic With A Twist) | Soft light pink micro-shimmer | $14.00 (Non-Maven) / $11.20 (Maven)



Surprisingly, most of these nail polishes are listed at regular price. Also, can you believe it that out of all these polishes, the only dupe for me is Reece? Reece makes for an awesome gift, so I don't even mind getting another one too much. In fact, I'm not even sure if I still have my original Reece - I might have given it away already.

Top to bottom (2 coats): Missy, Jodie, Reece, Shenae, Olivia, Ursula, Diane, and Audrey

After swatching these, I can tell you that Ursula is difficult to work with (at least it was for me). It was my first crackle polish and I wasn't even sure how it was supposed to work. I had trouble putting on a first layer because it was gloopy and came out super sheer. The formula of Ursula makes it a nightmare to put on because it doesn't glide on smoothly. When I went over the first layer with a second coat, I ended up putting too much and the polish refused to even out by itself. This is why you'll see that the swatch isn't as smooth for Ursula as it is for the other polishes.

I think that my least favourite nail polish out of this bunch is Audrey. It's a really sheer bubblegum pink that I doubt I'll get much use out of. I hate to say it, but the swatch in the photo above makes it look a lot better than it actually is.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

|| Total Value: $112 (Non-Maven/non-sale), $77.18 (Maven/sale) ||

Alright, so if you think about it, this box shouldn't be disappointing at all since I only have 1 nail polish out of 8 in this box. Although, I'm not sure if my next mystery box from Julep will yield the same kind of results since my nail polish collection is growing fairly quickly.

I guess what sort of makes me sad is that there is no adherence to any kind of theme with the mystery boxes, and that Julep chooses to include old nail polish, which is still in the old plastic wrap. To be fair, Julep does come out with feature polishes that fit well with a given theme, which is a great idea. I just wish that the rest of the contents would be from more current collections or that there would be at the very least more of a variety of products. On the bright side, at least I was able to find all of the polishes online! Most were regular price too, which is surprising. I guess the nail polishes aren't quite as 'old' as I make them out to be.

Stay tuned for a last Lucky Mystery Box review coming soon!

Would you call this box disappointing? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!


Thank you for reading! -A.~

No comments:

Post a Comment