Julep February 2016 Review

Holy cannoli! I'm so behind on these reviews.  I blame working, personally.  I should do less of that.  Anyhow, here's February's Julep Maven box. . . at least this review's in a week before I get March's box :)

Julep is a monthly nail polish subscription box / beauty subscription.  Their polishes are 5-free and vegan-friendly which I love! For $24.99 per month (or $19.99 per month if you sign up for 3 months up front), you will receive your choice of 2-3 nail polish / beauty items each month according to your profile.  "Classic With a Twist", "Bombshell" and "Boho Glam" profiles receive 2 polishes and 1 beauty item; "It Girls" receive 3 polishes and "Modern Beauties" receive 2 beauty items.  But now, no matter what profile you are, you can totally customize your box or even switch to a totally different box! And you can skip any month after your first month as a Maven (Welcome Boxes don't count).  Sounds perfect to me!  

If you're interested in trying out the subscription, my links will take you to a FREE Welcome Box, just pay the cost of shipping - this will sign you up for the subscription so be forewarned about that (if you scroll down though, you can get in for the 3 month rate of $19.99 per month).  Check out the Welcome Box I received here.  This is an American sub so do factor in the cost of exchange although, aside from Welcome Boxes, shipping is free for Mavens - even Canadian ones :)

On to the products! 

Five Four January 2016 Review

 

Do you see what I see? Yup. . . that's a Five Four delivery sans pants.  Again.  Ugh!

This is the second month (or "volume") for the winter season with Five Four Club.  Starting in September, Five Four indicated a slight change to their subscription model in order to provide customers with a more cohesive range of outfits per season.  For the record, here is what has been sent to my husband over the Fall season and 2 of 3 Winter "Volumes":

• September:  two shirts - one dress shirt and one lightweight hoodie (that review here)
• October:  a fantastic fall jacket and scarf (that review here)
• November:  a pullover and a hoodie (that review here)
• December:  another hoodie and a button-down shirt (that review here)

Don't get me wrong - this all really nice stuff and my husband loves each item.  They are consistently the first items he reaches for out of the clean laundry.  But colour me confused - why make a point of saying he'd be getting a "range of outfits" and then not sending anything for his bottom half?!?  As we promised in last month's review, we did reach out to Five Four regarding this issue.  And they have never gotten back to us.  In over a month.  We got the auto-email response that our help request had been received though.  Not too happy about that.  Maybe they're just going to fill his next month full of pants? Because otherwise, I think we'll be cancelling :(

Never heard of Five Four Club? It is a men's clothing subscription out of California.  They have a lot of celebrity clients (including Mark Wahlberg) and offer a variety of Five Four-branded clothing items.  It is a little pricey at $60/month (especially for Canadians since there is an additional $25 surcharge for us - boo! - and exchange on top of that!) but there are, occasionally, deals to be had.  We find that with recent exchange rates, it works out to $115-120 Canadian. . . so a bit of a splurge but my husband looks great and doesn't have to go shopping.

When you join Five Four Club, you fill in a pretty detailed profile indicating your sizing and preferences so that your stylist can select the perfect items for you.  The style profiles available are Casual, Forward, Classic and Mix and my husband currently subscribes to the "Mix" option.

So, what did he get this month?

Tea Sparrow January 2016 Review

More delicious, wintry teas - including a chai variety! My favourite!

What is Tea Sparrow?  A fave sub in my house!  For $20 CAD per month (including shipping), Tea Sparrow sends 4 different types of loose leaf tea (so yes, you need some way to brew loose leaf  - tea balls are an inexpensive option) - usually a green, a black, a rooibos and an herbal but sometimes they mix it up.  The teas are separately packaged and are each approximately 0.6oz for a total of about 35 cups of tea per month (less if you use a lot of tea in brewing, maybe more if you're willing to brew twice using the same tea). 

If you want to try Tea Sparrow, check out this 60% off offer and get your first month for only $8!  When you click the above link, you will be taken to a password-protected page.  Enter "teas" as your password and you will be offered the promotional discount.  Please be aware that this will start a recurring monthly subscription but Tea Sparrow allows you to skip any month through their website (although why would you want to?) and you can cancel at any time.  Enjoy!

Bespoke Post "Mangia" Review

Despite finishing our Groupon deal for three months of Bespoke Post, I was awarded $15 by Bespoke Post to make up for a shipping issue with my husband's Christmas box.  Kudos to customer service as they reached out to me to apologize and put a $15 credit in my account.  I love when I don't have to hound a company to get a little service!  So although a box is a little pricey at $45 US (or $55 for a one-time purchase) plus $10 for Canadian shipping, I figured that a 33% discount on the box itself was a pretty good excuse to pick it up.  Although I really love Bespoke Post's boxes, this will likely be our last for quite awhile as they are pricey to begin with. . . and exchange is killing my cross-border shopping these days :(  I won't cancel (yet) though because I can easily skip until there's a box I can't resist, our dollar gets better, or I need to pick up a great gift for someone. - That said, I said this last month as well so we'll see.

Although Bespoke Post does ship once a month, their website allows you to skip a month or swap out the box they've selected for any other available box (there are usually a few new options as well as some old favourites).  If you forget to skip or swap, they will send you your default box for the month, as many of these types of subs do.  Billed as a men's subscription, I prefer to think of Bespoke Post as a lifestyle sub.  True, some boxes seem very geared towards men but a lot of them would appeal to anyone!

This is "Mangia" - a box dedicated to Italian food :)  It is currently sold out but Bespoke Post regularly brings back old favourites - you can sign up at the above link to receive an email when this one comes back in stock if you like.

Pasta maker, wooden spoon, semolina flour and a cookbook - everything you need (well, besides ingredients) to make delicious fresh pasta at home!

Mask Maven January 2016 Review - Update with Coupon Codes!!

Update:  If you'd like to try Mask Maven or the BB Bag, you can now get great deals.  Check out these coupon codes which will work until Feb. 15 at 8pm EST.

• 15% off a month-to-month sub:  LOVE15
• 20% off a 3 month sub:  LOVE20
• 25% off a 6 month sub:  LOVE 25
• and 30% off a 12 month sub:  LOVE30

Month #2 of my Beauteque Mask Maven subscription.  I love sheet masks and getting a variety pack delivered to my door once a month is rocking my world.  Beauteque is an American beauty shop specializing in Asian beauty and skincare products and they offer two monthly subs:  a BB Bag which includes 6-8 full-sized products in a cosmetics bag, and Mask Maven which is a variety pack of 9-11 masks.  While the BB Bag also sounds awesome, I know I'll get the most out of Mask Maven.  It costs $15 per month plus $6.95 shipping, in US funds, but you can get it for less if you purchase longer subscriptions.  I picked up a full year of this subscription when they were having a 30% off sale for a total of $264.06 Canadian, including shipping - that's about $22 Canadian per month.  If you would like to check out either of these subs, you can do that right here :)

As you can see above, this month's theme was "Beauty from Land and Sea" which encompasses. . . well, pretty much everything right? I don't really get the whole "theme" thing as I've yet to encounter a really clever theme or one which requires much curation.  I do love the masks though.  Here's the info sheet that comes with the masks, outlining what we received, what each mask is supposed to do for your skin, and how to use each mask.