February’s Julep Maven boxes included polishes from their new Afterglow Collection, a mix of cooler-toned cremes and shimmers. The beauty products were a new powder highlighter and a liquid eye brightener, along with a fan brush. Every box also included Hartleigh, a bonus Valentine’s Day polish. I’ve skipped my last couple of Maven boxes, but I really wanted Julep’s Metamorphic Top Coats (they were gifts last month and add-ons to this month’s box) and I though Hartleigh was really cute.
Since I have a customizable Maven box, I was able to choose exactly what I wanted to get. For my core box, I selected Becky, the new Glow Highlighting Powder, and the fan brush. I chose three add ons- all three Metamorphic Top Coats (Bjork, Tilda, and Tyra). As a bonus for taking three add-ons I received Queen Anne and Tatiana, plus Hartleigh, which was included in every box. Not bad for $24.99 (I used Jules for my add-ons)!
I am a huge fan of BECCA’s Shimmering Skin Perfectors (see my reviews here and here) but I’ve never owned a powder highlighter. Julep’s beauty products are hit-or-miss for me, but the ones I like, I really like. I was happy with their Glow Pore Minimizing Blushes (review here) so I decided to try their powder highlighter. Since I didn’t have a brush to use with it, I also grabbed Julep’s Fan Brush. I like Julep’s brushes- they are heavy and dense but also really soft. I was worried that the brush would be too big, but it is actually a good size for what I’m using it for. Julep’s Fan Brush is $24/19.20 Maven here.
The Glow Highlighting Powder is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I was expecting it to be the same size as their Glow Pore Minimizing Blushes but it’s actually much larger. This is a great amount of product for the price.
The Glow Highlighting Powder was darker than I was expecting. It’s called Champagne (there is only one color available). In the pan, this looks darker than my skin color and I was worried it would be more of a light bronzer than a highlighter on me.
Once applied, the highlighter is much lighter than it is in the pan. It’s a natural-looking highlight color on me instead of a too-light color. This looks really nice if applied lightly but it is very easy to go overboard- it is very shimmery. I’ve worn this a couple of times already and I like it lightly applied on my cheekbones for a nice glow. This contains diamond powder to reduce the appearance of pores and wrinkles. It also makes me feel fancy when I wear it. The Glow Highlighting Powder is $28/22.40 Maven here.
I ended up with quite a few polishes this month, even though I only chose one from the new collection for my box. From the Afterglow Collection I chose Becky, and then I added on Bjork, Tilda, and Tyra. I received Hartleigh as a Valentine’s gift and I got Queen Anne and Tatiana as bonus gifts for taking three add-ons.
Becky is from the new Afterglow Collection. It is an oil slick duochrome silk polish. I received Sashima, a silk finish, in my August box and absolutely loved it, so I decided to get Becky just to have another polish with that finish. The silk finishes are shimmers with a not-quite-matte but not-quite-shiny finish.
Becky is a really pretty color that flashes either purple or green, depending on the lighting. It is a difficult effect to capture on camera. This was the best picture I could get that showed both colors at once. I really like the silk finish because it is sparkly but a little matte at the same time.
Becky on top, Blakely on bottom
Becky seemed very similar to Blakely, another Julep polish, so I wanted to compare the two. Just in the bottles, you can see that the colors are very similar but the finishes are different. Becky leans a little more purple in the bottle and has a lot of shimmer to it. Blakely is a little more gray and has more of a solid, molten finish.
Becky without top coat, Blakely, Blakely, Becky with top coat
Here I compared Becky without a top coat, Blakely, and Becky with a top coat. The colors are very similar but the finishes are totally different. Becky has a lot of shimmer that shifts from purple to teal. Blakely has a metallic chrome finish. It looks much darker on and shows brush streaks.
Becky without top coat, Blakely, Blakely, Becky with top coat
This picture is in indoor light and you can see how similar the colors are. Out of the two, I prefer Becky and I’m so glad I got it even though it is very similar to Blakely. I don’t wear Blakely much because it can look a little dark, but Becky catches the light much better. If you have Blakely and are happy with it, you probably don’t need Becky, but if you want the same color with a different finish, definitely check it out. Becky is $14/11.20 Maven here. Blakely is $14/11.20 Maven here.
Last month, Mavens received a Metamorphic Top Coat in their boxes. I wasn’t impressed with the collection colors and I didn’t like not being able to choose which top coat I received, so I skipped the box. Luckily, all three were available as add-ons for this month’s box. I used Jules to grab all three.
Bjork, Tilda, Tyra
The Metamorphic Top Coats come in three colors, all with silk finishes: Bjork, a blue pearlescent color, Tilda, a green pearlescent color, and Tyra, a magenta pealescent color. They look very similar but you can see each has a slightly different color shift to it. They can be worn alone or over other polishes to “transform” the colors. The Metamorphic Top Coats are currently only available as a set for $42/30 Maven here.
I wanted to show how each top coat transformed different polish shades. For each color, I layered the polish by itself over my index finger, then over three other polishes: Julep’s Simone, a light purple with a very slight blue shift, Julep’s Octavia, a dark blue/purple creme, and Sephora by OPI’s What’s a Tire Jack?, a black creme.
Bjork is a blue pearlescent silk top coat. I found that these top coats didn’t do much to lighter colors other than make them a little shimmery but they really transformed darker shades. I really liked Bjork over Octavia. It turned it into a pretty blue shimmer. Over black, it looked like a teal shimmer.
These top coats do have a slight silk finish, although it’s not as noticeable as Julep’s silk finish polishes. I really liked Bjork over blue and black, but not so much on its own or over light purple. These top coats took a little while to dry.
Tilda is a green pearlescent silk top coat. It looks similar to Bjork but is different enough to justify owning both of them. Once again, it didn’t do much over Simone, but looked really nice over Octavia and What’s a Tire Jack? Tilda turned Octavia into a purple with teal shimmer and the black turned into a pretty deep green shade.
Tilda looked really pretty in sunlight. The shimmer really stood out over the darker colors. I really liked Tilda over black.
Tyra is a magenta pearlescent silk top coat. Like the other Metamorphic Top Coats, Tyra is most noticeable over darker colors. This looked a lot different than the other two shades. It was more pearl-y and less sparkly. Tyra turned Octavia into a pretty purple pearl polish and added a rose tint to What’s a Tire Jack?
Tyra wasn’t as shimmery in the sunlight as Bjork and Tilda. I like how different it made the polishes look compared to the other two top coats. This would probably look really nice over darker pinks.
Hartleigh was a bonus polish included in this month’s box, a Valentine’s gift from Jane, Julep’s CEO. Hartleigh is a holographic glitter top coat. It is a mix of red glitter hearts, white glitter pieces, and holographic microglitter in a clear base.
Hartleigh could have ended up looking juvenile, but it actually is a fun glitter top coat. I layered it over Julep’s Carrie, a bubblegum pink. I was really happy with this polish. The red glitter hearts are a little harder to work with (they have to be placed or dabbed onto the nail) but it wasn’t too difficult to get the look I wanted. This is a really fun top coat, perfect for Valentine’s Day. Hartleigh is $14/11.20 Maven here.
My two bonus polishes for taking three add-ons were Queen Anne and Tatiana. These two have appeared in many mystery boxes or as extras in quite a few boxes, but I’ve been lucky and haven’t received them before. Queen Anne is a full-coverage lilac confetti microglitter polish. It is $14/11.20 Maven here. Tatiana is a golden burnt orange microglitter that would be nice for fall. It is on sale for $4.99 here.
I’m really happy with my February Maven box. I skipped the last couple of boxes (btw I love that Julep brought back unlimited skips for everyone) but I’m happy I grabbed this one. The Glow Highlighting Powder is a nice alternative to the cream highlighters I already own, and it’s super easy to use. The Fan Brush works really well with the Highlighting Powder and feels so soft on my face. I love how heavy it is, it feels like a quality product. Becky is a great alternative to Blakely. I love the silk finish and how sparkly it is. I also love the duochrome effect. I’m really happy I picked up all three Metamorphic Top Coats. They are different enough to make each one worth having and I love how they transform darker polishes. I’m a big fan of Julep’s silk finishes and I’m going to have a lot of fun playing around with different polish and top coat combinations. Hartleigh is a really fun addition to this box and I’m happy with Queen Anne and Tatiana (and so glad I didn’t already have them).
There were three promo codes in this month’s boxes:
Use TAKE10 for $10 off a $20 purchase (through 3/31, not valid on Mystery Boxes, Secret Store items, Jule Boxes and gift cards).
Use GETCOLOR to get a free polish with a $15 purchase, through 3/31.
Use TAKE30 for 30% off a purchase, through 3/31.
Sign up for Julep Maven using my referral link here and use the promo code WINNER to get your first box (3 polishes and 1 beauty product) for FREE, just pay $2.99 shipping.
You can read more about Julep’s Maven program and my experiences here.
-Molly
Julep Maven is a subscription service. By signing up you agree to their terms of service. You can call or email to cancel at any time. Their window for choosing products is the 20th-24th of each month, and then you are billed on the 27th and boxes start shipping. You can skip any month you want. My Maven is $24.99 per month or $59.97 if you pay for three months upfront. Maven Luxe is $39.99 per month or $104.97 if you pay for three months upfront.