Unboxing Julep Maven American Beauty May 2012 and Cinco de Mayo Mystery Box

So, I was going through my photo archives trying to figure out which ones I have yet to post and I came across these unboxing photos that I took a couple weeks ago. See, when I came back from Texas, I had a whole bunch of fun nail mail that included these two Julep Maven boxes. Luckily, I had the foresight to grab the camera before I tore through everything. (Mr. J thinks it's funny how I've developed that habit from blogging. Go figure.) I seemed to have lucked out again with the mystery box, but I'll let you judge for yourself after seeing the photos.

Longer box than usual!

 Open the box and this is what you see.

 The goodies!

 So this is why the box was longer!

 Looks like Julep jumped on the magnetic bandwagon with purple magnetic Kylie, as well as a shimmery pearl Ellie. Also, notice how both polishes are now wrapped in plastic?

I thought it was a nice touch to include a how-to.

I'm actually looking forward to using the pedi scrub. I've never used one before so I'm hoping this one's a foolproof version! I should probably bust it out with sandal season just starting. As for the nail polish, the colors were just so-so. This isn't the first purple magnetic polish I've seen although the magnet it came with was relatively stronger than the Nabi one as far as I've noticed, nor is the pearl/seashell colored one very unique looking either. All in all, this May box was just okay.

On hindsight, I probably didn't need another mystery box but I figured that it was my birthday and I could splurge a little (the things we tell ourselves, eh?). The gamble paid off in terms on the amount of polishes I got. Not so much with the other products included.

 What's inside the Cinco de Mayo Mystery Box?

 10 nail polishes and two full-sized products! Not bad.

 From left to right: Maya (shimmery peachy pink), Vanessa (iridescent glitter in clear base), Parker (tangerine creme), Gloria (coral rose creme), and January (tomato red creme).

 From left to right: Fast Dry Top Coat, Base Coat, Gayle (aubergine), Marisa (cobalt blue shimmer), Taylor (purple leaning blue creme)

Looks familiar? They probably do seeing as I've gotten the nail growth serum in another mystery box earlier and the hand brightener, too.

See what I mean? I could've easily passed on the mystery box seeing as now I have multiples (not just doubles!) of the exact same stuff. Luckily, I can always give them to my sister or my sisters in law so it's not necessarily a bad thing. I might lay off the mystery boxes now, though. Or actually, I might just end up getting the mystery boxes on months where the colors or products just don't appeal to me. I haven't quite figured it out yet.

Happy Friday! Woohoo for the weekend! I know it wasn't much of a week seeing as I started mine on Wednesday but it's still such a relief when Friday finally comes. What's on the agenda for your weekend? We'll probably take it easy and just have a nice lazy one for a change. Have you signed up for the Julep Maven program yet? Do you think it's worth the $20 every month? What's your experience with Julep polishes?