So I started this with a "here's how to spend your Jules before you cancel your Julep Maven account" because I didn't realize you can't even spend Jules on regular purchases can you? You can only get "Jule" boxes or your monthly Maven box with them. What a useless bonus program. Meanwhile I got like $80 of products from Birchbox for $3 because of points, a discount code, and extra samples.
Anyway, as much as I complain about Julep, they actually have some pretty good products. So here's some more you might want to look into. Sorry for the lack of pictures, most of my stuff came in boxes and I didn't do individual photos of them.
Blank Canvas Mattifying Face Primer: I got this in a mystery box, I probably never would have picked up on my own. So, it promises to absorb shine and lock in moisture, and reduce the appearance of wrinkles and pores. In general, it does make my foundation go on smoothly and well, and it works perfectly well as a primer, I do notice a positive difference when I use it. However, I don't think it's any better or worse than any other primer I've used and I'll probably try out a drugstore brand after this is up. One thing it doesn't do is reduce the appearance of wrinkles and pores, I've noticed absolutely no change on that front. Meanwhile Benefit's The POREFessional is like dark magic or something.
Sweep Eyeshadow Palette: Neutrals: I'm not really the best judge of if eyeshadow is really high quality or not, to be honest. I know nothing about formula, pigment, and all that stuff. But this a good neutral palette, and I do really like the colors in it. The main problem for me is like most Julep things, price. This is just WAY too much to be charging for the size of this palette. Like most of their photos, they give you no context for the size and it's just smaller than you'd think and not worth $24 for sure. Maybe I'm just cheap. For less money, you can get the 28 Neutral Color Eyeshadow Palette from BH Cosmetics, which has a lot of similar neutral browns. And you wait a month or so, BH has a lot of amazing sales, plus great customer service.
Eye Sheen Liquid Eyeshadow: This is again a thing where I can't say anything bad about it, and since it's the only liquid eyeshadow I own, I can't really compare it to another product. It does go on smoothly and easily, dries quickly, and if I use a good primer it doesn't get creases. But again, the price is a killer because you can't get a sense of the size. This thing is TINY, and maybe I'm cheap but I just don't think I would ever pay $18 for it. Especially because without an applicator, you either have to put it on with your finger, which ew, or get a brush really yucky. Definitely needs new packaging.
Kajal Eye Glider: I got this in a mystery box, and at the time I was convinced I couldn't master eye liner, especially a pencil, because I'd only used cheap ones that were too hard to work well. So I have to point out this is in fact a very good eyeliner pencil, it's actually the best one I have right now. The fact that it's got both brown and black is an extra bonus. I haven't shopped around a lot to know if the price is fair or not, but since I don't wear a ton of eyeliner it's going to last me forever, so I'm really happy with it. It does blend and smudge well, and it stays on all day, and I just generally really like it. It made me go back to liking pencils over liquid eyeliner.
Julep Lip Gloss: I have two tubes of this, in Charming and Timeless. It's good lip gloss, it stays put and looks nice. Unlike other things here, the size is actually great, there's enough of it to last me forever. I think Charming is actually a really excellent color, one of my favorites. I like this just as well as some of my high end samples I've gotten from Birchbox, and the packaging is cute too. $20 seems a little steep, but it's on par with the name brand stuff I've seen. Is it better than some drugstore brand or something way cheaper? I don't know, probably not. But if you're already buying $20 lip gloss, this isn't a bad one to try.
Now, I know I haven't really been giving glowing reccomendations to the Maven program, I still think at this point until they fix their customer service it's a bad buy. But their makeup products aren't bad, I haven't gotten a bad one yet. Are they overpriced? Some of them are, absolutely. The eyeshadow should not cost that much. Their prices are pretty consistent with really high end brands like Smashbox or NARS, and quite frankly I'm not sure they're as good as that. In fact of all of these products the only one I would say I would actually think about actually buying if I ran out would be the Kajal Eye Glider. All of these I got in Maven boxes or mystery boxes, and they've been good additions to my makeup and I'm happy with them.
