Julep Maven Review – July 2013

I see a lot of people complaining about the Julep subscription service, and while I’m not personally signed up, I must say that it’s always important to read how the subscription service works before signing up. Also, just because you took a style quiz, it doesn’t mean your box is always going to cater exactly to what you like. As with Ipsy, many times the boxes are the same for every subscriber whether or not the box fits the individual subscriber’s personal preferences or not. The boxes aren’t packed with individual attention to each and every subscriber. That would be wonderful if it was, but there are simply too many subscribers for Julep to pay specific attention to each and every one of your needs.

This does not discredit complaints about quality of polish or customer service.

I got my first box last month and am so disappointed! I selected two specific polish colors, but instead received a sponge and a pencil sharpener. Seriously! These two items couldn’t have been worth more than $5. The pencil sharpener doesn’t even work. I immediately called customer service and was told that your introductory box is based on your style quiz and that sometimes it will not include what you order. Even though I paid $25?! That’s not right at all! They also said that they would cancel my subscription, but sure enough I was charged again this month. I called back and was told again that they would cancel my subscription. I called my bank and put a stop payment alert on my account for the company, though, because I don’t trust them. Very bad customer service. I can’t believe I paid $50 for a makeup sponge and plastic pencil sharpener. I still haven’t received the second box I was charged for and, honestly, I won’t be upset if I never do.

I just heard about Julep back in April, and I signed up to get the first box for free ($3.99 shipping).

So I received my first box in may. It was ok, but nothing to rave about. The colors weren’t as nice as they looked on screen. But I didn’t complain, cause where else can you get 2 or 3 nail polish for under $4.00?!

So then my teenage daughter wanted one too. So her first box arrives, and once again, it was nice but not great. We were really busy in may,June, and July, so we didn’t have a lot of time to explore the Julep website to fully understand the rules. Nor did we have the patience to try and navigate their site when we did have some time… We always used my iPhone or iPad, and for whatever reason, we could never successfully look around at things on their site. I called Julep and was told that their site doesn’t work well if you use an Apple product, and we should use a desktop PC computer.

Needless to say, it was quite frustrating, and so we kept receiving these boxes that weren’t what we liked! (So much for their “style quiz” being accurate!)

I finally had enough sense to cancel our boxes yesterday! We will still receive our August boxes soon, but were not even looking forward to it because we don’t know what’s going to be inside. And while that ‘surprise’ might be fun for some people, it’s not fun when you keep getting junky colors that you don’t like! I am not impressed with their process at all… I don’t understand how they can tell what colors of nail polish we like by asking random questions about clothes and accessories! If they want to know what to send me each month, just ASK me what colors I like!!! Lol

So all in all, I advise people to really read everything on their website, (don’t use your iPhone!) and fully understand what you’re getting yourself in to! Because if you’re a busy mom of 3, and don’t have lots of time to spend looking at their website, and cancel king here or there, or skipping, or adding on, or swapping colors, then do not join!!! It was just a big headache for us, and all we have to show for it, are a dozen nail polish we don’t really care for (we received pale, streaky pastel colors that my grandma would wear, and then a few bright colors (orange, magenta and green!), and oh yeah, about $200.00 charged to my credit card!!!

And some of you might be thinking ‘well you can skip a month if you don’t like the colors, or you can get add on’s, or you can buy beautiful colors for a deep discount, or even return the boxes to Julep’….. All that sounds good, but is not very doable when you can’t preview your box because their website doesn’t work well with iPhones! And who has the time to package boxes back up and pay to ship them back?

So like everything else in life, Buyer Beware! And don’t join something if you are busy and don’t have the time to devote to something personal like buying makeup/beauty products/nail polish from a website! Some things are better purchased in a store, where you can really get an honest look at what you’re getting for your money.

I just almost ordered my first free box for only 3.99 shipping but I got scared that they will start deducting from my credit card and I have no chance of cancelling if I am not satisfied. I guess I rather spend my money in store! haha! Cute blog! Thanks for sharing this! Maybe you give my blog a quick visit too?

If I can just save one person from drinking the Maven KoolAid! I purchased he is month subscription and have already received three very disappointing boxes. My very first box was the Mystery Laguna box which had gloppy and dried up polish in various shades of vomit green, orange melon and. Dull yellow cab color that was in a clear jelly finish. When I emailed customer service asking to switch out the unusable nail polish. I was given the very curt response, “nothing is guaranteed in life”. This month I received a completely different box then what I chose. They will not cancel my subscription.

I got the Classic with a Twist start up box and love it. I got the roll on cuticle oil. I like the scent.
I got a 50% off coupon for filling out my profile and got another polish for $3.50. I then bought the summer days box and I am thrilled with it.
I normally would not pay this much for polish but it is really good polish. I can wear it for a week with minimal tip wear and no chipping.

I purchased the upgrade as well with the Firework add-on. I too love the Beach Tonic! I quickly polished my toes and nails in Alaina, love it! June’s box was hard to beat, I think this one may have a slight edge. Yes, you can skip the month if you choose, or cancel the subscription completely. I wouldn’t advise to cancel, they have pretty good surprise sales. You can’t access those unless you’re a subscriber.

If I were to start a subscription, could I cancel at anytime without there being any penalties?

Nice write up! I can’t say enough about that body spray!

I chose the Boho Glam box which included Karen, Faye, the body oil and blotting papers and I added on Tracy and Adele. I don’t think the swatch pictures they posted did the colors any justice. They look so much more complex in person! Especially Faye, Karen and Adele. Very happy I didn’t skip (I almost did but changed my mind on the 24th!)