February 2013 Julep Maven: Boho Glam box!

Woohoo! My February Julep Maven box got here lickety-split, and it's easily the best box thus far since I signed on with Julep back in September. On top of my regular polish picks and add-ons, there were crazy-good bonuses in this month's box. So without any further ado, let's get right into the nail polish goodness!

This month's collection theme was "Get On The A-List", with a bevy of nail colors named after famous actresses. I was really torn over which box to choose, since my Boho Glam box included both a blue and an orange polish, and I'm usually not a big fan of either color. Plus there were tons of great colors to choose from in the other boxes! In the end,I ended up going with my Boho Glam box and two add-ons.

What a box, huh? My polishes for the month were Julianne, a smoky light blue creme, and Ingrid, a smoky dark orange creme. My add-ons were Laura, a smoky olive green, and Claudette, a smoky brick red creme.

Here's a swatch of Julianne. It has just enough grey in it to look really polished (har, har) and not at all sky blue. At the same time, it isn't one of those polishes that "shifts" to look grey in certain lights. I love it. This was opaque in two coats.

Ingrid is also opaque in two coats and truly surprised me. I'm not normally an orange polish person but I really like this color. It's kind of a nice pedicure alternative to basic red.

I haven't swatched the add-ons yet but I have a feeling I'll love them both. I've been searching for a color like Laura for months, and Claudette looks like a really nice twist on standard red.

The freebie gift in this month's box was a travel eyelash curler. (There were also two chocolate candy hearts, but those disappeared as soon as the box was opened, natch!) The real goodie, though, was the inclusion of two free gifts in each box. Julep is rolling out two new nail treatments, valued at a whopping $18 apiece (!), and they generously included these in the February Maven boxes. Even at half the cost, I think these would be quite the bonus.

First is the Oxygen Nail Treatment. This is designed to give strength, protection and a sheer tint to the nails on the days you don't wear polish. I usually don't wear lacquer during the workweek but I do like wearing a base coat to protect my nails somewhat, so this is an interesting alternative.

The Freedom Top Coat is supposed to protect like a gel top coat, but it cures in five minutes with air instead of a light bulb. I'm really intrigued by this product, since I've heard wonders about the industrial strength of gel polishes but I really don't feel like running out to try them. I really hope it protects my nail color for multiple days, because I chip pretty easily on work days.

So there's my February Maven box! What did you think? If you want to sign up to be a Julep Maven, you can do so here using my referral link or you can go directly to the Julep website here and take the quiz to get started.