So there's this thing called Julep...

One of my Instagram friends, Michelle from Texas Tanners blog (who by the way ALSO just had twins) turned me on to Julep. Julep is just plain awesomeness. Julep has the most amazing and beautiful nail polish, nail lacquer, as well as beauty and body products. It works very similar to Birchbox, in that you sign up to become a "Maven" after determining what beauty profile you belong to, then select your monthly subscription. Each month you receive a random shipment, falling within your e color & style category. My subscription was $19.99 a month.

For instance, mine was "Bombshell", so each month I get a full size product and two limited edition nail lacquers.

The first month, I got the start-up kit, which contained 5 nail lacquers and an amazing nude-pink lip gloss that tasted like cupcakes. The bonus was that it didn't taste fake or like chemicals, which many often do.

Yesterday I placed an order for the "Oxygen" nail treatment, shown here:

And I also ordered this beautiful gold-glitter polish...which I can't wait to try out. You MUST check it out. Thanks Michelle.

 

BIRCHBOX-The Last 3 Months...

I have a monthly subscription to Birchbox which affords me the ability to try all kinds of awesome products, but not pay full price, all for $10 a MONTH. Receiving a sample or trial size gives me the ability to check out some amazing finds, as well as products that I may not purchase a retail size due to the high price.

Birchbox recently launched a subscription for Birchbox Men, which I haven't purchased for the hubby yet, but looks promising. The only thing that has deterred me so far is that the monthly subscription is $20 a month. I really couldn't see paying a total for two subscriptions of $30 a month to Birchbox, to try new products when we have twins on the way. Maybe it's just me, but $20 seems a little high.

I did want to mention some of the cool products I have really loved which arrived in my monthly box during the past three months. They are:

Amika Obliphica Nourishing Hair Mask. They larger size (60 ml.) is sold at Birchbox: http://www.birchbox.com/shop/amika-obliphica-nourishing-hair-mask-60-ml for $12.00 but I actually found a much better deal, for 16.9 ounces at Amazon, for only $24.00. You do the math.

The scent is out of this world. Floral, fruity, perfumy...but not too much. AND, it actually did make my hair feel softer, and more conditioned. I slept in the mask overnight, then rinsed and styled in the morning. Love it!

Next, I received a sample of Marula-The Leakey Collection, Omega Rich Pure Marula Oil.
http://www.birchbox.com/shop/marula-oil I loved trying this product for my skin because besides the heavenly scent, I had never used just a mineral oil on my face as a moisturizer. I really expected it to feel greasy, or not to hydrate and moisturize well but I was pleasantly surprised.

However, it is quite costly, and I really couldn't see spending the $78 on .50 ml of the product. I did find a good alternative moisturizer which I'll talk about next, but is not a mineral oil. One day I would definitely consider purchasing this (when we have a surplus of money) but for now, I still prefer a traditional creme moisturizer over a mineral oil. I would use this to supplement, but still prefer the traditional moisturizer approach. I'll talk about this in my next post.