I feel pretty corny posting this but since I found other people’s posts about what they got in mystery boxes from Julep to be helpful, I’ll post one in return. This is about nail polish, so if that’s not your jam, you should probably pass.

These are the 10 polishes I got in the $20 grab bag. I was a little wary of doing it after seeing lackluster sets from past grab bags, but I’m glad I went for it. There are two dupes here and one that I’m probably not going to wear, so I’ll give them away to friends. Here’s what we’ve got, from left to right:

• Lena – teal with gold microshimmer. Real excited about this one, even though green polishes always get everywhere and stain your fingers a little when you’re taking them off. If you don’t wear a base coat, I would bet money it would stain your nails, too. So don’t do that.
• Paula – Persian blue with gold microshimmer. Already have this one, but it’s one of my favorites so I’ll happily pass it on to somebody.
• Bette – electric neon purple crème. Also already have this one, and I’ve definitely worn it at least once but don’t recall it having bad coverage as people say in the reviews. Pretty color, though it’s not what I would call neon.
• Tara – silver/periwinkle/copper chunky glitter top coat. I kinda hate wearing glitter polishes because they’re annoying to remove, but this is still pretty fun.
• Queen Anne – lilac confetti microglitter. Again with the glitter but this is super pretty.
• Princess Grace – rich papaya crème. If ever there was a perfect description of a nail polish color, this is it. (For my fellow web developers, it’s way darker and more orange than papayawhip.)
• Kelsey – powder peach crème. There is zero chance this is going to look good with my skin tone, so let’s hope somebody I know wants it. (Actually, this reminds me of papayawhip, with more pink. Yuck.)
• Jules – warm powder pink crème. Reviews say it’s very thin, but I’m actually looking for a replacement to a semi-sheer pink I used to have so it might work out perfectly for that.
• Vicki – pink flamingo crème. I looooove this color and have nail polish thinner on hand if it’s as goopy as reviews say.
• Sydney – red-orange crème. Despite this saying creme, there’s a definite silvery shimmer in the bottle. I’ll see if it’s still that way when swatched. If not, I’ll be a little sad, because I like the shimmer and it’s basically a dupe of April without.

My September Maven box shipped at the same time as the grab bag, and I bought some other end-of-season sale stuff with the grab bag, so might as well list it out while I’m at it. The last 3 are from my Maven box, including the free Maven shade. I got cuticle cream as my third item, in case you’re wondering why I only got 2 other polishes. I don’t think I’m going to keep going with monthly boxes after this – I’ve done them for a while and have enough polish to feel guilty about it, and this was the last of my pre-paid ones. I do like the program as I have it though – $60 for 3 boxes pre-paid at a time, 3 products (I do swap outs for top coat and such when I need them, which is a nice savings), with unlimited skips. I think newer sign ups have a limited number of skips, but I’m grandfathered into the previous program where you couldn’t swap individual products so skips were more liberal. I’ve gotten a lot of really nice beauty stuff that I love now but would never have bought for myself though, so I might still think about it as each month’s email rolls in. They’re doing a nice job branching out past nail polish, and frankly it’s a relief not to have to read horrible (and frequently straight up distasteful) puns for names.

• Annie – electric blue topaz crème. I have a thing for blue polishes and this fits right into a little shade gap I have, plus I like it. I’d describe it as a little short of electric, but real close.
• Laken – azure iridescent shimmer. This is gorgeous, the end.
• Sam – limeade crème. This isn’t yellow at all – it’s a straight up inside-of-a-lime green. I knew that going in, though.
• Avery – hot pink crème. I weirdly did not have a true hot pink, so yay! This was sold as a set with Sam above, I think to evoke a watermelon. It’s a cute pairing.
• Alex – regal purple microglitter. Bought this because it’s a really interesting shade of purple, although it’s got a lot of silver going on in the bottle, enough that I think it’ll look that way actually on, too. Not a bad thing.
• Maven – the purple of Julep’s branding. It’s not on the site yet, but it’s pretty much a slightly darker shade of orchid than Rae. Has a metallic cap, too. We’ll see if it’s different enough to keep, especially because Rae is possibly my absolute favorite out of the (embarrassing number) nail polishes I have.
• Lizzy – cappuccino crème. This is actually from August, but at the time I didn’t think I would ever wear anything like this. Then I saw it paired with orange and fell in love so now I have it.
• Zoey – sea spray crème. Really great color, looks slightly less blue in person. Really great for neutral/work wear with a little interest.