Julep Maven 2018 Birthday Gift Review Free Nail Polish – Zodiac Collection Passionate Pisces

Julep used to award 200 Jules for your birthday. Read my last subscription box review to learn about Jules and how they work. When my birthday passed and my Jules did not arrive, I reached out to customer service to see if they eliminated the birthday gift. The main reason was to update my master list of birthday beauty offers, but I am almost always willing to place an order when the deal is right. Customer service responded that Jules are no longer awarded for your birthday. There is a new birthday offer for 2018, but I had to write back to see what it was. I never received any birthday offers from Julep at all this year.

Customer service replied that it is a code for a free nail polish color. No, not a GWP, but a free nail polish. Considering it takes at least 400 Jules to redeem a polish and sometimes more for newer releases, this is a birthday upgrade. I also love when any retailer offers a completely free gift with no purchase required. That is one I will almost always redeem as long as it is convenient. Although some will argue that you had to make past purchases (which is usually the case but Sephora is even an exception to that one), it is still free in the moment you pick it up. As someone who skipped celebrating her birthday this year, the free gifts from the retailers were literally all I got. It made them even more special, because I can still say I’ve never had a birthday without a gift. Not that gifts make a birthday, but it is always nice to receive gifts.

Julep emailed a unique code for a free polish, and I promptly placed my order. While I do love getting completely free gifts, I admit it feels strange doing so by mail. When a free gift is given online, the retailer must also cover the cost to ship the product to you. Of all the retailers on my master birthday list, Julep is the only one that offers a completely free gift online. The others offer a free gift if you pick it up or a GWP online. That either makes Julep kind or crazy. Considering I’ve met Jane in person, and she was incredible, I am going with kind. This is just another reason I love this brand so much. It is a brand that really appreciates customers. Jane is willing to “drive you to the airport” when she can.

In 2014 and 2015, I collected every birthstone Julep created. Yes, if you take care of nail polish, you can collect and use nail polish way past the two years many recommend. Most of my polishes, even the ones from 2014, are still in great shape. I did the same for its Zodiac collection in 2016. In 2017, as my depression started closing in on me, I decided not to go for all the Zodiac polishes. There is no 2018 collection to my knowledge.

This Passionate Pisces I selected was from the 2017 collection. If this does not look like the Julep Pisces you are familiar with, you might have the 2016 polish in mind. It is a completely different color, or technically a shift between two colors.

All twelve colors from this collection are still available so it is always possible I may get the other 11 at some point. With my nail polish collection sitting at 472 and over half are from Julep, I think I should start slowing down on collecting them. After making the mistake of ordering another duplicate in my April 2018 box, I decided to skip even receiving a May 2018 box. I have a spreadsheet and usually look at it to make sure I do not already own colors I find nice. That gets trickier when they are in the 7-9 polishes available for the monthly options. Those are usually new polishes, but polishes from the vault are occasionally available. At least my duplicate is a namesake of a family member meaning I know exactly who I will gift it to.

Julep Passionate Pisces is a resourceful burgundy for the passionate and powerful Pisces. I’ve never really craved power, but I crave passion. This statement got me half right. It retails for $14 ($11.20 Maven). There aren’t really a lot of nail colors I dislike, and I probably would have grabbed this for my Pisces collection anyway. Liking the color makes owning it an added bonus. Pardon the rough finger swatch. As soon as I get my swatch spoons from my ex, I will update this with something more appealing. Compare this to my other salmon and wine polishes.

Those who did not receive a code but would like a free polish can use TREATME to get one. It requires a $10 purchase and expires on 04/30/18. You do not need a subscription to purchase nail polish or use that code. If you are looking to subscribe, use code POLISHGIFT for a 12-piece full-size nail polish gift ($168 value) when you sign up.

You can always shop Julep without a subscription, but this gift is only open to active subscribers. As long as I can skip as many months as I want, I will probably keep my subscription. If you want to join Julep, visit my Julep Maven page to see all start-up offers. Product reviews do not always make it into the haul article, but you can always type the product into the search bar to see if I’ve mentioned it or reviewed it elsewhere. Visit my regular Julep page to see more offers for shopping. All polishes above are swatched once. They get darker with more swatches. See all Julep Subscription articles and all Nail Polish Swatches. Tips For Getting the Best Deal lays out every way I can think of to save money at Julep. View my main page for the guide map to the site and deeper deal exploration.

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