Julep Big Picnic Mystery Box Review

I had not yet gotten my somewhat underwhelming Julep Golden Mystery box before getting the email from Julep about this month's special mystery box, the Picnic Mystery Box, so I went ahead and got the Big Picnic Mystery Box (because I have no self-control, ha!). It was promised to have $120 - $250 value for $39.99. They also had a smaller mystery box with a promised value of $70-150 for $24.99. I ordered it on the 8th, it shipped on the 9th, and it arrived on the 12th. Very quick!

My box arrived in a pretty large box, so I was excited for a minute, thinking maybe this was it! Maybe I finally got the big awesome version! But, nope. I had also ordered an add-on set of 3 polishes and they just put them in a big box together with a bunch of packing paper. Oh well. I believe I got mystery box version 1.

Opening the box - not pictured is the add-on or the huge box they both came in

Right on top, I knew what that item was. For a normal person, that probably would have been exciting to see, but for me, it wasn't. It's a Julep Paris Jazz Lipstick Trio ($22.40 member, $28 retail). Inside the box is a set of mini lipsticks. This particular set includes Charleston, Sweet Lorraine, and Lady in Red. They also have a New York set. The lipsticks are so small, they kind of remind me of something you'd find in a kids' play set. They went on pretty smooth. Sweet Lorraine and Lady in Red are sheer, so they might be something I can use. Charleston is definitely too bold for me.

Julep Paris Jazz Lip Trio - R to L: Sweet Lorraine, Charleston, Lady in Red

Swatches of Sweet Lorraine, Charleston, and Lady in Red. Sweet Lorraine took quite a few swipes to show up, Charleston was very pigmented, and Lady in Red was in between.

I also got 7 polishes ($7.00 - $11.20 each member price, $14 each retail)! Yay, polish! I got:

• Gloria - Peachy color, or as Julep describes it "orange coral creme". Pretty, but a dupe for me.
• Vanessa - opalescent glitter. This is the one on sale for $7. It's very pretty, and a nice topper since it's basically clear with glitter, but another dupe for me. :(
• Annette - Light gray. This one is new to me, but I don't see myself using it a whole lot. Maybe for a detail color or as a neutral base for a glitter accent nail.
• Dianna - mint green. Really lovely, but yet another dupe for me. I actually wore this one at my sister's wedding because it matched my shoes perfectly. 
• Maya - pearly pink. New to me and I like it!
• Catherine - dark red. This one is a bit sheer for me. Probably needs 2-3 coats. Not a dupe, though.
• Evie (not available on the site yet) - this was the box exclusive new color and I LOVE it! It's a gorgeous medium pink with gold shimmer. So pretty!

Mystery box polishes

Closeup of Evie because it's so pretty!

Swatches of Gloria, Vanessa, and Annette

Swatches of Dianna, Maya, Catherine, and Evie

 As I said, I also got an add-on - the Love Letter set for $12.99. It included:

• Chelsea - Pink, purple and silver glitter. Really pretty! I love adding glitter to one nail for an accent, and this one has my favorite color, purple!
• Joy - "smokey mauve creme". I think this is more what I was hoping for with Veronica, from my August box. It definitely has more pink to it than Veronica. Pretty! 
• Demi - dark red. Prettier and less sheer than Catherine (above). I think I have enough reds now!

Love Letter trio

Swatches of Chelsea, Joy, and Demi

Big Picnic Mystery Box and my trio add-on colors

This box made me happier than the Golden Mystery box, but it still had 3 dupes and lipstick, so I wasn't entirely pleased. Once again, my estimated value (not including the add-on polishes since that cost extra) was only $96.60, which is definitely more than I paid, so I'm not entirely disappointed, but it's not the $120 - $250 promised. So again, it appears they're using non-member prices ($126) - I think anyone can get this mystery box, so I guess non-member prices aren't as inappropriate here, but to a member, it's still a bit disappointing.

Unfortunately, I'm thinking that my mystery box days may be coming to an end, at least for the next few months. I'm just getting too many dupes now. Maybe 6 months from now, if I'm still loving my regular Julep monthly subscription, I'll try another mystery box since by then they'll have retired some colors and added some new ones, but I'm kind of wondering if even colors that appear to be retiring soon may be just getting re-released under new names like I saw with Jackie and January from my last post. I mean, with this frequency of new polish release (a new set of 9+ colors every month), how many new colors can they make? If they were making a higher number of unique glitter combos or special effect polishes (matte/duochrome/holographic/sand-finish), there wouldn't be as much similarity in colors I don't think, but I'm not sure if they plan to do much more of that. It seems like they stick to mostly cremes and shimmers, with a few glitters and every once in a while a small collection of 3-5 special effect polishes. I really would like to see them branch out more with some interesting colors and finishes. But their current trend seems to be more focused on branching out with beauty items instead, which has been a bit more miss than hit with me.

So, for now at least, I'll be sticking with just my monthly subscription, which at least lets me skip if I don't see a combination of polishes that I like (I've only skipped once so far). Of course, if a mystery box is advertised with something tempting like 2 brand new gorgeous colors or something, I may bite. We'll see.

If you'd like to sign up for Julep's monthly box, I'd love it if you'd sign up with my link! AND! If you use promo code, FREEBOX, you can get your first box free! You just pay shipping! I started my subscription with a similar deal! :) As usual, the link at the top is a non-referral link if you'd prefer (but I'd be soo thankful if you used mine!). Did anyone else get this box - did you get different stuff? Were you lucky and got the awesome big box?

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own. The final link is a referral link, but I also included a non-referral link at the top.)

Julep Golden Mystery Box Review

On the first of the month, if you have bought one of the monthly Julep boxes, the Julep Secret Store opens up for Mavens, containing discounted polishes, products, and sets. I normally don't end up buying anything, but I noticed there was a mystery box this month, so I caved. It was $29.99 and I unfortunately didn't notice that there was a 30% off coupon floating around, so I missed out on that. :( It shipped out on the 5th and arrived on the 9th. I got version 2 (I don't think I'll ever get the super awesome big box).

Opening the box - pretty full!

Well, what do we see, right on top? ARGH!! More twist-band hair ties!! Why?? I can't even give you their value of these because those bands aren't for sale anywhere on the Belina website - they just sell jewelry. So, $1 is it.

Belina hair ties

My other small bonus was 3 pieces of Dolles salt-water taffy ($0.50?). I got these in a previous mystery box a few months ago and they're pretty good, so no complaints here.

Add caption

Onto the Julep products! First, I got an Oxygen Nail Treatment ($14.40 - I'm going on subscriber prices). I already have this, but it's awesome, so I'm happy to get a backup. It's a nail treatment to strengthen and protect your nails. My nails get pretty thin painting them every 3 days, so it's good to take a couple days off every once in a while and put a treatment on.

Julep's Oxygen Nail Treatment

Next up was a full-size tube of Everyday SPF Hand Cream SPF 30 (currently on sale for $12.99). Initially, I was excited to see this because I didn't already have it and I can always use a new SPF product, but then I noticed it contains oxybenzone. There's nothing conclusive yet, since studies are using ridiculously high concentrations of it, but at those high concentrations, oxybenzone has been found to cause cancer and hormone disruption. I just don't want to risk it.

Julep's Everyday SPF Hand Cream

I also got 4 polishes ($11.20 each), which seemed a bit low for the price point of this mystery box. I got:

• Fina - This one doesn't seem to be sold on it's own anymore. Looks like they're retiring it. It is new to me though! It's a pretty metallic light blue.
• January - Classic red. It's awfully close to their Jackie. I'm not sure I see a difference - in the bottle, Jackie looks a bit brighter, but on nails, that slight difference pretty much disappears. I initially thought it looked pretty close to Claudette, too, but Claudette is definitely browner.
• Alfre - Pretty metallic grayish purple. Sadly, a dupe for me, though.
• Coco - Julep calls this "oxblood creme". Very dark brownish red. I'm glad I swatched it on a nail because I actually like it a bit more than I thought I would based on the color in the bottle. But, I got in it another box (I can't remember if it was a monthly box or a mystery box), so this was another dupe for me.

Julep's Fina, January, Alfre, and Coco

Swatches of Fina, January, Alfre, and Coco. (I also just got in a bunch of swatch sticks that look like nails, so I'll probably start adding pictures of those for the next monthly box.)

Julep's Claudette, January, and Jackie. Claudette is a bit darker in the bottle and definitely browner on the nail, but January and Jackie are basically dupes of each other, I thought.

Julep Golden Mystery Box from the August Secret Store

Overall, I think if this had been my first ever mystery box and I was new to Julep, this would have been pretty great. Awesome if it had been $20 instead (or if I had seen the coupon code, bah!). But as a seasoned Julep subscriber, this box had 3 dupes for me (granted, one will probably be used, the treatment), a product I won't use, and a bonus I won't use - that leaves me with 2 polishes and some candy. Definitely not worth the $30 I spent. This is the first mystery box I'm really underwhelmed with. Had I spent $20 for this, I might have been a bit happier. It did have an approximate value of $73.69, but that's not the $100-200 they promised. I guess they're going off of non-subscriber prices (total of about $103.50 - probably more if they value those twist-bands a bit too high like most places), but since you couldn't access this mystery box without being a subscriber AND purchasing the monthly box last month, it's not really a fair comparison in my opinion. I still like Julep, though, so I did get another mystery box about a week later, their Picnic mystery box, so a review for that will be next!

If you'd like to sign up for Julep's monthly box, I'd love it if you'd sign up with my link! AND! If you use promo code, FREEBOX, you can get your first box free! You just pay shipping! I started my subscription with a similar deal! :) As usual, the link at the top is a non-referral link if you'd prefer (but I'd be soo thankful if you used mine!). Did anyone else get this box - did you get different stuff? Were you lucky and got the awesome big box?

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own. The final link is a referral link, but I also included a non-referral link at the top.)

Dottiebox August 2013 Review

It's Dottiebox time again! For $26/month ($20 for the box and $6 for shipping. Or you can buy a single non-subscription box for the same price), you get a selection of handmade items from various artists/businesses picked out by Dottiebox. It seems like it's usually 5-6 items per month, plus a few coupon codes for the artists featured. I enjoyed my first box in July as well as the Christmas in July special box, so I couldn't wait to see what was in the August box.

Opening the box - chock full!

Info card

First up, in a cute little bag with a pretty tag and a bow, was a candle by Pure Palette Scents ($3.50). This was an adorable little candle, but I was not at all a fan of the Lemongrass Lavender scent. The Lemongrass was super strong (I smelled it before I even opened my Dottiebox, before the candle's tin was open) and it overwhelmed the Lavender to the point that I couldn't even smell it. Their shop is currently on vacation, so I'm not sure what other scents they have, but assuming they have others, I'd guess I'd probably find something I'd like. Thankfully, my parents were visiting last week and my mom likes Lemongrass and was happy to take the candle! Problem solved!

Cute packaging!

Pure Palette Scents candle in Lemongrass Lavender

Next up, wrapped in cute confetti tissue paper and string, was a set of quartz chunk earrings from Adam Rabbit ($15). These were interesting - cute, but a bit out of my comfort zone. I will try them out though! Maybe I'll think they're awesome paired with the right outfit!

More cute packaging!

Adam Rabbit quartz chunk earrings

My next item was a Karol's Handmade Soap Lotion Bar in Lemon Ginger ($5.00). The lemon in this isn't as off-putting to me as the Lemongrass in the candle above (and they do have a Lemongrass scent - I'm glad I didn't get that one! Though I won't lie - I think I would have loved Raspberry Vanilla or Lavender a bit more). This lotion bar intrigues me. I only had a chance to take a picture of it when it arrived last week, so I haven't tried it yet. I'm interested to see how it works!And what cute packaging! It looks like it should be in a fancy hotel!

Karol's Homemade Soap Lotion Bar in Lemon Ginger

My last big item was a set of twist-band style hair ties from Poppy & Elle ($4.20). Well, I'll give them one thing - they are cute prints. But, as I noted in my Christmas in July Dottiebox post, I'm really not a fan of twist-bands. While I was taking pictures, I decided to put my hair up. Like other twist-band style hair ties, Poppy & Ellie claim that these hold your hair without leaving a dent. Unless I've got unique hair, this just doesn't prove true for me. In order for it not to dent, I need to fold it over twice, at which point it slips right out of my ponytail with very little movement (a low ponytail - no way would it hold up the weight of a high one - my hair is quite long). In order for it to actually stay in place and hold a low ponytail, I have to fold it over 3 times - 15 minutes later, I had a dent.

Poppy & Ellie hair ties

My final product was a sample of Fabled Soap Co. Handmade Laundry Powder Soap in Lemon Squeeze ($0.83). This must be the lemon box! It smells nice and clean and I'll try it, but I much prefer liquid soap to powder - I feel like the powder leaves a residue sometimes. Plus, my daughter has sensitive skin, so I usually just use unscented detergent. But I can try this on my stuff. I'd be interested to see what Vanilla Lavender and Ocean smell like!

More cute packaging!

Fabled Soap Co. info

Lemon Squeeze Laundry Powder

We also got a coupon code for 20% off any purchase at Kristin's Kreations. Admittedly, until I got to this point in the review, I had no idea what she made. I guess she doesn't really have anything small enough (like one hair clip or something) for a mini sample to go with the code in the box, but I think maybe a little paper insert from Kristin's Kreations with the code and a picture or 2 might have been nice to let us know what kind of products she made. Anyway, her baby hats are really adorable - if I didn't live in TX, I'd consider using the code to get the owl, tiger, or pumpkin one for a future kiddo! Emily wore a bunch of adorable crocheted hats when she was a baby (she was born in North Carolina, where it did actually get a tad cold in the winter - it even snowed a few weeks after she was born!).

August 2013 Dottiebox

I'm really pleased with the variety in this box - jewelry, hair, home, and body are all covered! Some of it isn't 100% my style, but that's how it goes with subscriptions boxes. I'll use some of it myself, and gift some of it! Plus, the value was about $28.53 (not including the coupon), which is great! I found out about some new Etsy sellers and I'm pretty happy overall. If you'd like to sign up, head over to the Dottiebox site! If you already subscribe, did you like your box this month?

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)

Ophelia's Apothecary July 2013 Review

Well, better late than never, I finally got my Ophelia's Apothecary July box last week. Apparently a few people accidentally got shipped 2 boxes while a few others (like me) didn't get one. I ended up emailing the owner on August 1st to ask about it, and she got back to me right away and apologized and promised it wouldn't happen again. That sounds fine to me. Besides, I absolutely loved June's Ophelia's Apothecary box, so I was so excited for July's.

Opening the box

Info sheet

Ok, so before I get into the review, there's something I have to get off my chest. Since my box arrived later than most, I had already seen 3 other people's reviews for July and there was one item in particular I was so looking forward to - a linen and pillow spray with a lavender/vanilla/musk scent. 3 of my favorite scents - which, by the way, were in my intro quiz. Beyond the fact that it seemed that everyone else got the same stuff this month, even if there was some variation, this should've been a shoe-in for my box based on my answers to that quiz. Plus my sleep lately has been abysmal. I've been stressed out by one thing after another these past few months, so I could use something awesome to lull me into a peaceful slumber. When I opened my box, my eyes quickly scanned everything and I was sooo disappointed to not see it. Like, really sad. To make matters worse, the item that seemed to have replaced it was a lip gloss. Nooo!!! And I got a lip gloss last month, too, so while this was a slightly different color, I really would have preferred something else to try. At least it was in a better container this time - the tiny jar sample worked just fine in June, but the rollerball sample still hasn't deposited out ANY color. Bah. And I looked on her website - the linen spray doesn't seem to be available for me to buy myself, so I don't know how I can ever try it! :'(

I also had one other replacement item - a small sample of Lemony Meringue Hand and Cuticle Cream (which I got a bigger jar of last month, mind you) replaced a bigger sample of Honey and Shea cuticle salve. :( These 2 substitutions just bummed me out a bit. I can't help but feel like she maybe made only enough of the regular July samples for exactly as many subscriptions as she had and now the few people out there who got 2 boxes have 2 of those nice, new samples while I got repeats. That's a bummer after loving June's box so much. But anyway, onto all the product reviews.

This month, I got 7 items:

• Aphrodite Lip Tint sample - I mentioned this above as the product I got instead of the linen and pillow spray. It feels nice on and the color is ok because it's a bit sheer (though it's a little orange for me) but again, I'm not a lip girl. Sadly, this went into the lip box of doom (till I find a home for it).

Lip tint (and bonus kitty foot!)

Swatch of Aphrodite lip tint

• Sugared Strawberries Lip Scrub - Ok, this was amazing. My lips looked and felt great after I used it, and I may have followed the directions to wash (or lick) off.

Yummy Sugared Strawberries Lip Scrub

•  Lemony Meringue Hand and Cuticle Cream - small sample. This product smells great, but wasn't my favorite product in last month's box (it's a little thick), so it isn't my favorite again. 

Lemony Meringue Hand and Cuticle Cream

•  Blueberry Limon Face Cleanser - this smelled great and had little bits to exfoliate a little, but left my face feeling a tad tight. I think following up with a nice moisturizing lotion would help that. 

Blueberry Limon Face Cleanser

•  Green Tea and Cucumber Mineral Rich Bath Salts - I look forward to using these if I get a chance to take a bath, but I didn't really get much of a scent from it. Oh well. 

Green Tea and Cucumber Mineral Rich Bath Salt

•  Vanilla Mint Shea Butter Lip Balm - Definitely my favorite product in the box. This balm is fantastic. It smells great, feels great on, and leaves my lips so soft! This is a lip product I can get behind! Balms are so much more my style. Eyes - gimme all the color and drama you've got, but lips, meh - I want basic. Like this.

Vanilla Mint Shea Butter Lip Balm

•  Exfoliating glove - I think this was considered an extra since it's not made by her. I don't have one, though, so it's certainly nice to have.

Exfoliating glove

July 2013 Ophelia's Apothecary box

<sigh> It pains me to say I'm not entirely happy with July's box. It was ok, but I loved June soo much, so I had high hopes and expectations for July. Really, my biggest problem was the substitutions. I do truly believe this was a one time problem - from her Facebook fan page, it seems like the owner has some stuff going on right now that may be a tad distracting, so I'm willing to overlook it. But I really hope next month is back on par with June again. I'm mostly hoping for no repeats. And that linen spray would be nice... ;)

And anyone joining me for the first time, Ophelia's Apothecary box is $15/month (or less if you go with a 3- or 6-month subscription) and you get 4-6 handmade bath and body items (everything is paraben- and sulfate-free). When you sign up, the owner sends you an email with a survey asking about fragrance preferences, allergies, style/personality, etc to allow her to customize your box a bit. Again, I think, hopefully, my experience this month was not quite the norm, and I do still recommend it. If you're interested in looking into it, her website is here.


(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)

Bondi August 2013 Review - Box 2

I'll skip the intro for this post, since it's going to directly follow the review for the first box, but if you'd like the details on what the Bondi Box is, just check out my first review.

Although I ordered my second box, I believe, a couple weeks after originally signing up, both of my boxes shipped out around the same time because this was the first month for the Bondi New York box. They arrived the same day and technically, I'm not even sure which was my "regular" box and which is the extra. As promised, my second box was all different colors/products from my other box.

Well, ok, from the outside, they look the same.

The 3 polishes I got in this box were Central Park Blossom (nude), Blue Skies (grayish blue), and Fool's (gold).

Central Park Blossom

Blue Skies

Fool's

No broken polishes here! Yay! Like the first box, the formula was pretty nice on these. Again, one polish, Central Park Blossom was quite a bit thinner than the other 2 and required 3 coats instead of the 1-2 the others needed. Blue Skies actually looked great at only 1 coat! I also had a bit more luck avoiding dupes in this box. I have other nudes, but none of them are the same color - Julep's Clara was definitely much more peach and Julep's Jennifer was lighter and pinker. Compared to Blue Skies, Julep's Julianne was close but more gray and less blue. The closest gold I had to Fool's was Zoya's Ziv, which really isn't close beyond being in the gold family. Fool's is a creamy gold while Ziv is more sparkly and chunky.

Bondi Central Park Blossom and Julep Jennifer - these look closer in the bottle than swatched.

Bondi Blue Skies and Julep Julianne - again, closer in the bottle than swatched

Bondi Fool's and Zoya Ziv - definitely different!

I again had 2 bonus products - and from the same 2 companies. I thought that was a little weird since I've seen other reviews and it looked like there were quite a few people getting Suki stuff, so I'm a bit surprised at least one of my boxes didn't have that. But anyway, my Love & Toast perfume this time was Gin Blossom ($9), which smelled very green to me. Not a favorite again. My 100% Pure product was a Satin Eyeshadow in Star ($15). It was an eye product, so naturally, I loved it! It's a very pretty gold shimmery highlight color that I'll definitely use.

Love & Toast Perfume in Gin Blossom

100% Pure Satin Eyeshadow in Star

I always find highlighters difficult to photograph, but you can see the sheen here.

Bonus August 2013 Bondi New York box

This box was a bit better for me than the first I opened. The colors were not as close to ones I already had and obviously not having one be broken is a positive, ha! I also really liked one of the 2 bonus products. My only remaining test with Bondi, beyond the whole preview/skip system, is longevity of manicures. Every other polish I've tried starts to chip after 2 days. After trying 3 different base coats and switching from my originally beloved Julep Freedom Polymer Top Coat (I loved how your nails were shiny, hard, and completely ready to go smudge-free in 5 min - BUT it was causing my polish to chip off in gigantic chunks) to an Essie top coat, I seem to be chipping a bit more slowly, but it's just small chips vs big chunks now - it still all starts at 2 days. Anyone have any advice for keeping my manicure lasting a bit longer? Different base/top coats you love? I know Seche Vite is supposed to be great, but last I checked it wasn't 3-free. Any general tips?

Anyway, if you'd like to sign up for the Bondi New York box, go to their website here!

(And just a disclaimer: I bought this box myself and was not compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own.)