New York Never Sleeps: October 2015 Julep Maven Box

Hello there, friends! It's about that time in the month where my nail polish collection grows ever (and ever unnecessarily) larger. That's right, my Julep Maven box is here once again, with a few hand picked goodies carefully tucked inside its happy purple facade. In keeping with the cities around the world theme that Julep has taken on this year, October's collection is aptly named "New York Never Sleeps". With lots of bold metallics and glamorous glittering polishes, this month's collection definitely channels the edgy attitude that the Big Apple is known for. On the makeup end, Julep has also launched brand new eyeshadow sticks and a reformulated powder blush this month. Basically, lots of exciting things are happening in the Julep world! Let's take a closer look.

September 2015 Julep Maven Box

Happy Sunday, friends! It's a bit of a gray, cloudy day in my neck of the woods, which makes me want to cozy up at home and spend a bit of time pampering myself. One of my favorite lazy day activities is giving myself a manicure, and what better time than right after my Julep Maven box has arrived! Continuing with the trend of finding inspiration from cities around the world, September's theme is Kisses From London. I have a special place in my heart for UK beauty bloggers, who were some of the first that I ever started following and are sort of responsible for sucking me into this whole blogging scene. I'd never been one with wanderlust, but after spending so much time watching the videos of these lovely girls overseas I've found myself totally dying to walk the streets of London (and have myself a massive beauty haul while I'm there). This collection boosts beautiful, moody hues that totally capture the feel of what I've seen and heard about the city, and it was really hard to just pick a few shades for my box.

August 2015 Julep Maven Box & Long Weekend Eyeshadow Palette Review

There were a lot of really gorgeous options for this month's Muse Montreal Julep Collection. With the launch of the Skip the Brush Crème-to-Powder Cheek Sticks as well as the release of some new shades to the Feels Like Velvet and Eye Glider ranges it was really hard to choose what I wanted for my box. And then my eyes came across the Long Weekend Eyeshadow Palette as being one of the possible options and knew what my decision was going to be. Because that palette is relatively pricey it counted for two of the three items in my box (which was a bummer but understandable), and I decided that a matching eyeliner would make for a nice second item, rather than adding another polish. And now that they're here and I've had plenty of time to play with the both, let's chat a little bit about what I thought!

July 2015 Julep Maven Box

I'm FINALLY catching up on the last of my July subscription boxes (right as my August ones start to roll in). I picked out a few goodies from Julep last month that I ended up being really happy with. I found myself what I think may be the Holy Grail of base coats, a pretty apricot colored polish, and a cleansing oil to use in the shower. Come take a closer look!

June 2015 Julep Maven Box

Hello there, friends! I think I've been a bit distracted from blogging lately thanks to my buddy Netflix. Pretty Little Liars is totally my guilty pleasure show, and I basically just spent the past week binge watching the 5th season so that I could catch up and start watching the new one that just began airing. Maybe that's not the most responsible move, but unless you've seen the show, do not judge. That 5th season was FLIPPIN CRAZY. I don't want to ruin anyone's day by hinting at any spoilers, but man. SO MANY PLOT TWISTS.

Anyway.

Back to the real reason you're here - my June Julep Maven box! This month Julep decided to change things up a little bit for their Mavens, and give them more flexibility and product choices than ever. While there were still your usual Limited Edition polishes to choose from for that month's theme, you could also add basically any Julep staple product to your order. This gave me the opportunity to finally try a bunch of products that I've had my eye on since I became a subscriber.

May 2015 Julep Maven Box

In the past few days, I have decided something. For all the credit New England gets for having seasons, we always seem to get jipped on spring. It was snowing in April and less than a month later its 90 degrees outside. Fortunately for me I love summer weather, so I'm not minding the heat too much. I just would have liked to have more of a transition period. Still, it's all too fitting that the weather has me ready to pack up and head to the beach because my May Julep Maven Box already had me mentally halfway there. This month's theme is "Set Sail", featuring some gorgeous nautical inspired beauty products and polishes. Let's just hop on an imaginary cruise ship for a moment (headed somewhere tropical, preferably) and chat about the awesome products I picked!

April 2015 Julep Maven Box

Paradise is a state of mind indeed. It certainly hasn't been feeling tropical in this neck of the woods, but I am always up for channeling those summer vibes (especially with the help of my latest Julep Maven box). This month I went straight for the polish, choosing two vibrant shades as well as the new Bonding Base Coat. Base coat was the one manicure essential I was missing in my Julep collection, so I definitely had to jump at the chance of snagging one at a discount!

March 2015 Julep Maven Box

When the reveal for this month's Maven box went up a few weeks back, I found myself even more excited than usual about the amazing choices we had to pick from - gorgeous pastel polishes, an entirely new line of lipsticks, liquid liner, an eye brightener and a makeup erasing pen. While I would have loved to have purchased add-ons galore, I decided to try and keep it simple and stick to the standard three products that come in my box. What did I decide to take home from the POP! Collection? Just you wait and see.

February 2015 Julep Maven Box

Happy Sunday, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day. The boyfriend and I had a lazy afternoon, started watching Girls (and are subsequently addicted), and went out for a ridiculously delicious dinner at Max Fish (good seafood makes my tastebuds do a happy dance). It was a cozy, lovely day.

Speaking of feeling the love, that's exactly what I got from this month's Julep Maven box. With a brand new makeup launch to try, some pretty new polishes, and a special extra gift thrown in there, it was enough to make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

January 2015 Julep Maven Box

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

No really, though. I'm cozied up at home on a Tuesday morning thanks to the blizzard that rolled in to the Northeast last night. It's looking pretty crazy out there, and I am thankful to be indoors with plenty of fun and relaxing things to do to pass the time. This morning's activities have already included taking a lovely bubble bath (and cracking open a new book while I soaked), making some delicious french toast, and busting out my Julep Creativity Kit to attempt some nail art (pictures of which are sure to be shared later). And on the subject of nails, I realized I still haven't shared my January Maven box with you yet!

December 2014 Julep Maven Box

After having been a bum (okay, so maybe only in the blogosphere and not in, you know, reality) for the entire month of December I've got such a backlog of things to share. Like all of my lovely December subscription boxes. My Julep Maven box is always the first of the month to arrive, so I figured it was fitting to share before the rest. Having an ample supply of nail polish at home, I decided to skip out on this month's colors finally acquire a Plié Wand instead. I also couldn't resist trying one of the newly launched Orbital Eyeshadows. Was my decision ultimately a wise one? I dare say it was even wiser than I expected.

Julep Maven Box November 2014

For the longest time I had thought of November as being my least favorite month of the year. The temperature here in New England evens out to a constant, generally unpleasant level of cold. The trees are left looking particularly disheveled, holding on to the last of their leaves. My evening commute through the heavily trafficked darkness confuses my body into think it's 9 pm by the time I arrive home. It's a month of constant tired, cold, and crankiness. And yet somehow, despite the impending doom of winter, I've come to find many a thing to appreciate and look forward to. Cozy nights snuggled up with hot chocolate. Starting my Christmas shopping and crafting. Seeing friends and family while stuffing ourselves full of delicious Thanksgiving feasts. There's a buzz, an energy about everyone and everything, full of holiday excitement and festivity.

When my November Julep Maven Box arrived on my doorstep, I was immediately reminded of why my feelings of the 11th month of the year have done a complete 180. This month's theme is Friendsgiving, a word that has a special place in my heart. For about 8 years I was a competitive ballroom dancer at the University of Connecticut, and made many a lifelong friend doing so. We've made it a bit of a tradition to host our own Thanksgiving celebration, post the ones we have with our families, and dubbed it our annual Friendsgiving dinner. There is usually an abundance of delicious food (which may or may not include a turkey), wine, and good company. Its one of the things I look forward to most in the year, and now I'll be able to sport a super festive manicure for the occasion!

Julep Maven Welcome Box

As a self proclaimed nail polish junkie, it's kind of surprising that it's taken me this long to become a Julep Maven. Prior to now I've owned approximately 1 Julep polish (compliments of this Limited Edition Birchbox from last year) in a bright cherry red color. I loved the formula, but I never ended up biting the bullet and splurging on other shades. I did, however, subscribe to emails from the website, just to keep myself in the loop with sales and other discounts that might be going on.

Of course, when the word was spread about the Julep Trick or Treat Mystery box, my interest was piqued. I love all things Halloween, and I had just recently purged my nail polish collection. While I was hemming and hawing over whether or not to splurge and buy it, I decided to revisit the whole Maven subscription idea. With a code to get your first box free, and free shipping on my order (since I did, in fact, order the mystery box after all) I decided to take a chance and give Maven a try.