Julep Maven Review & Free Box Coupon Code – June 2016

Julep Maven is a monthly nail polish and beauty subscription box. They make all their own products, so subscribers get a good value each month – over $40 retail worth of product for $24.99 a month.

And, if you sign up for 3-months up front, you get the $19.99 rate.

Each month Julep releases a new collection on the 20th, and you can decide which box you want, you can upgrade to the entire collection, or you can skip that month.

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

The Subscription Box: Julep Maven

The Cost: $24.99 a month + free standard shipping

ACTIVE DEAL: Get a 12-piece Polish Gift ($160+ Value) with your first box!
CODE: POLISHGIFT

OR

Get a free Cue in the Color beauty gift when you join Julep, just use this link and code COLORLOVE at checkout! (Includes three spring nail colors, When Pencil Met Gel eyeliner in Electric Teal, and It's Balm lip crayon in Nectar Pink. A $78 value.)

The Products: Nail polish plus beauty items.

Ships to: US and Canada

Check out all of our Julep Maven reviews and the Beauty Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your Wish List or Subscription List!

The warehouse sent this in a huge box this month for some odd reason. There was about a cubic foot of extra sizzle paper in there. Works for me! Packing tape is the only packaging material I have had to buy in a long time. Thanks, subscription boxes!

Julep always includes a quote of some sort.

Here is the information card that came along with this subscription box telling about the new Skip the Brush colors available.

Here is what I selected this month. Looks good!

Skip the Brush – Sheer Glow – Retail Value $24

Julep describes this as “A one stick wonder made for luminous, dewy cheeks, but versatile on eyes and lips, too. This soft-focus powder has ultrafine color pearls that go on creamy then set to a long-lasting powder finish. Easy to apply, easy to blend (no brush needed!), easy to keep in your clutch for on-the-go beauty touch-ups.” I agree with this description. I wanted to try the sheer glow as sort of a highlighter and it does work well for this. Julep now makes this in 6 different colors.

Julep Nail Color in Luella – Retail Value $14 (rose quartz crème)

This is one of the two Pantone Colors of the Year for 2016. 

Julep Nail Color in Lorraine – Retail Value $14 (mulberry passion microshimmer)

This was my favorite color of the month. I always love Julep’s microshimmers. They are easiest to apply in my opinion and always look great!

Julep throws in a bonus in their monthly boxes, usually candy. This month it was Necco Wafers which I used to occasionally have as a kid so that was fun.

I really wanted to try the Voila! Nail Polish Thinner so I added that to my subscription box.

Voila! Nail Polish Thinner – Retail Value $14

Julep says “Specially formulated for Julep nail colors, these drops magically restore your favorite polish to its ideal consistency so you get more out of every bottle.” Much like Liz with a Dry Clean Only tag on certain garments, I chose to take this as a challenge. More below.

Julep Nail Color in Matilda – Retail Value $14 (serenity blue creme)

I also added the Matilda polish which is the other Pantone Color of the Year for 2016.  This was one of the new nail color options in the subscription box this month. It is my favorite of the two Pantone colors.

When Pencil Met Gel - Sunset Gold – Retail Value $16

Since Julep makes really nice eyeliners, I choose that in the new Sunset Gold color. Julep makes this in 17 colors now and I believe I have about 8 of them. Here it is swatched with the Skip the Brush – Sheer Glow. I have cool coloring, but I think this particular color would work best for those with warm colored skin tones.

Julep describes this as “Clinically proven to last for 10+ hours, this easy-to-use eye pencil delivers the creamy formula & intense color payoff of a gel eyeliner. The waterproof formula glides on, sets in 30 seconds, and then stays put.” I can’t vouch for 10+ hours since I have never tried it that long that I can remember, but it has always stayed put for as long as I had it on. I do agree with the rest of their description.

Julep Nail Color in Saaya – Retail Value $14 (golden apricot shimmer)

Since I picked three add-ons, I received the Saaya nail color as a free gift!

Here are all the nail colors in this subscription box together. The one on the right was my free gift.

Swatches!

All nail colors I choose from the June box.

All nail colors including my gift.

As promised above, I wanted to put the Voila! Nail Polish Thinner to the test.

Here are the oldest, worst-looking polishes I could find that I own. Some have to be at least 18 years old. Since Julep said that this was “specially formulated for Julep nail colors” I wanted to include at least one Julep polish to test this out and this one was in the worst condition so I went with it.

Here is a close-up on the nail polish that I wore for our wedding engagement pictures about 15 years ago. They don’t make it anymore so I definitely wanted to see if I could salvage it. The bottle in this picture is upside-down so you can see the consistency of the polish.

The directions say to add 2-3 drops to thickened nail color. Shake well. Add more drops as needed to restore polish to original consistency. I agree with this. Definitely take it slowly. I ended up making a couple of the polishes too runny because I got a little carried away with adding too many drops of the polish thinner.

Close up on my engagement polish after the fact. Amazing! I definitely recommend the Voila! Nail Polish Thinner! Do follow the directions carefully because it is easy to overdo this though.

This box also came with a promo code for a free Brighter Is Better (Oxygen Brightening Nail Treatment) – Retail Value $18 with your next purchase of $15+ from Julep using code JUNEBRIGHTER. (Expires July 31, 2016.)

Verdict: This subscription box cost $24.99 + my add-ons for a total of $45.96. Based on my selected options, it includes $110 worth of beauty items and polish at retail value (or $88 if you are a Julep Maven and can enjoy the pricing discount) + the candy. Either way, I think this is a great value! I’m happy with my selections this month. What do you think of the June 2016 Julep Maven box? Which items did you pick?