Unboxing Julep Maven American Beauty August 2012 and Happy Birthday, Julep!

Happy Monday! My week's off to a good start and I'm thrilled to finally get my Julep box (I've been expecting it since last week). So yes, my Monday is, indeed, happy. I hope yours is, too! Julep is another happy bunch as they celebrate the Julep Maven program turning one this month! So, of course, I wasn't about to pass up on the monthly goodies for August. To be honest, though, I was quite tempted to skip. I wasn't too keen on any of the metallic shades but I was most intrigued by that remover. I am still on an on-going quest to find the best remover that effectively takes off polish without leaving my cuticles an unhappy bunch. The current Julep offering seemed interesting enough to try. Plus, that pump bottle will definitely be reused once it runs out (conveniently eco-friendly, plus this means I don't have to go and buy a pump bottle separately). Anyway, let's get on to what the box has in store for us this month, shall we?

 Yep, it's a larger-than-normal, hot pink box!

 Open sesame!

 Here's a better look at the pamphlets inside.

 Aww. No nail art tips this month.

 Sparkly paper, me likey!

 I haven't tested it out yet, but it does have this sour smell to it..
(EDIT 08/15/12:  I just recently tried it and the sour smell is only if you sniff at it in the bottle. In actual use, you'll only end up with a floral-like scent and it does have a conditioning aspect to it that I like.)

 Of course, let's not forget the polishes this month, in all their metallic glory!

Dakota is as pretty copper metallic.

Stefani is a pewter grey metallic with some shimmery gold bits in the mix.

 Dakota is far darker than Essie Penny Talk, for anyone that's wondering. 

Stephanie looks like a darker and smoother version of Revlon Carbonite.

Here's the lot of it, with the special reusable tote that you read about from the message on the box.

All the products where contained in the bag, with more sparkly paper.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm a little underwhelmed. While the little touches like having sparkly paper was nice, the special gift -- the tote -- is quite small to carry much and too big to fit in a purse to use as a reusable shopping bag. I would much have preferred to get something like this or this as they fold nicely into a compact size and take up little space in your purse, but can readily carry a small grocery haul. I probably shouldn't complain about the free gift as it is, after all, free. I guess I was hoping for, I don't know, more. Anyway, I also got one of those mystery boxes for this month, so here's to hoping that we get that more from it. Watch out for that unboxing some time in the next couple weeks. If you'd like to join in on the Julep Maven fun, click here and don't forget to enter the code PENNY to get your first box for only a penny! Now do tell, how are you liking this month's Julep Maven American Beauty box? Do you think I should have gone with a different option this month (like I did last month)? What is your favorite nail polish remover?