Julep: Classic with a Twist August Review

Quick overview of Julep: it's a monthly subscription nail polish and beauty item box. It's $20, you can pay $35 extra to upgrade to the full collection. There are a couple of different box options (you can choose to receive only the beauty items, 3 polishes, or 2 polishes and a beauty item. There are 3 different nail polish combinations if you choose the 2 polish/1 beauty item box). I'm a Classic with a Twist, but sometimes I go out of my comfort zone and choose another box. That's another great thing about Julep: you can choose to skip your box or choose one of the boxes that fits with one of the different style profiles. I love that you aren't pinned down to one style profile.

It has been months since I've actually purchased one of the Julep monthly boxes. I had a couple of bad experiences (I'm looking at you, DD Creme), and the polishes just weren't speaking to me, and the beauty products didn't just look so-so, they looked flat out unappealing. But this month, with the beginning of fall looming so close, I decided to get my box. I also wasn't entirely disgusted with the cleansing oil concept. I've been intrigued by cleansing oils for a while; I just didn't understand how they worked. But now that I've tried this one, I might get into this trend a little bit more.

As always, the packaging was very pretty. And it looks like fall!! 

Here are the products before their unveiling. This month's little gift was a polish removing pad. I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard they work very well. If you look at the nail polish (the small, short box on the left) and you're familiar with Julep, you'll notice that their packaging is different than in previous months. They just changed it. When they initially announced the change, I thought the packaging looked tacky. But I reserved final judgement until now, and I'm glad that I did. I really love the new packaging. It's sleep and just looks sort of luxurious. 

My favorite part is that the polishes are also individually packaged, as well as being in one larger package. And if you turn one of the packages clockwise, they read, "Julep Color Treat." It's adorable.

Padma looks blackish in the bottle, but in reality it's a very deep, slightly metallic purple. It's beautiful. I'm a little bit less crazy about Florence. Florence is sort of your average nude cream color. 

I think the next time I paint my nails, I'll paint them with Florence. I want to give myself a chance to fall in love with it.

Then there's the cleansing oil. Like I said, I had never used a cleansing oil before this one. I thought the idea of removing my makeup with an oil was just plain weird. I think this product may have legitimately changed my mind. 

The oil is yellowish, it's pretty runny, as you can see. It's got this delicious citrus smell. I was sort of tempted to eat it, but rest assured, I didn't. It took me quite a few pumps to feel like I was using enough. I used four pumps of the products (and I wasn't wearing any serious makeup-no smokey eye or anything going on). Maybe I was using too much, I'm not used to cleansing oils. Regardless, it worked well, I enjoyed using it, and it didn't sting my eyes. 

You can sort of tell that I look pretty oily in this photo. I was worried that the cleansing oil wouldn't all rinse off. It would be silly to use a cleansing oil then have to use a cleanser to remove the oily feeling. But it all came right off!

Overall, I loved the cleansing oil and I liked the box. I'd definitely recommend Julep to someone who loves nail polish and wants to try beauty products (but who has a keen understanding that Julep beauty products are pretty hit or miss).