Julep Maven American Girl Intro Box (December)

Julep recently had a pretty amazing promotion and finally convinced me to try the program. Usually, each box is $19.99 however for a certain number of sign ups, you could get the first box for 1 cent (the code is SHAREON but I'm not sure if it's still working or not). I couldn't pass the deal and signed up.

In the first box I received the following:
* Julep Nail Vernis Demi (red)
* Julep Nail Vernis Leighton (silver)
* Julep Glycolic Hand Scrub
* red flaky glitter sample
* age defying hand brightener sample
* spf 30 hand cream sample

While I can appreciate the aesthetic appeal of the shape of the polish bottles, the tall and skinny shape requires care as they are very easy to knock over. I managed to keep that from happening but I had a few near misses. The brush is very nice and I managed to get a nice opaque finish in one coat. I did two out of habit and also to attempt to get out the brush strokes from Leighton (though it was unsuccessful).

Bathroom "A" lighting

Demi is a burgundy that borders on raspberry and looks different in various lighting. To me, it has a bit of a jelly finish but has full coverage.

Leighton is a metallic silver and has awful brush strokes. I'm not a fan of this and would only use it for layering purposes.

Both covered in under 2 coats and they dried fairly quickly (even without a topcoat). I haven't truly worn them to determine wear, so your mileage may vary.

Natural light, in the shade.

 Natural light.

 Natural light.

Bathroom "B" lighting 

Demi is definitely a bit of a chameleon. The box also game with the flaky red glitter sample which looks cool but I doubt I'll ever use.

I haven't tried the hand scrub yet but I've heard good things about it. Also, I've decided to stay subscribed for at least the January box. They sent out an e-mail message saying current subscribers could upgrade and get another polish for that box so I've decided to pay the $19.99 for at least one more month. As with Birchbox, I like the idea of getting a few items a month to play with and $20 is less than I would spend if I were to order from a place like transdesign when I get the polish urge, though in reality, I doubt this will curb my polish binges especially when OPI, Essie or China Glaze come out with new collections.

Disclosure: I've included my referral link but you do not have to click it if you're interested in trying Julep.

The normal website is simply http://www.julep.com.