Play! By Sephora: April 2016

Hi, friends! It looks like we’ve had lots of new visitors lately, checking out our Play! by Sephora reviews. So if you’re new around here, hi! Take a look around! Stay awhile! And if you have been faithfully reading since Day 1, you are probably related to me. So, hi Mom. Or my friends, who I have bullied into reading. You know who you are. Basically, I am glad you are ALL here. 🙂

I’m excited to review the April Play! by Sephora box! This is one of my very favorite (and cheapest!) beauty subscriptions at only $10/month. The problem is that it’s not widely available yet! However, Jill finally got off of the (long) waiting list and just got her first box last month! Woohoooo!

Some of the benefits of joining PLAY! by Sephora:

• The awesome products, of course
• The $10 you spend earns you Beauty Insider points if you are already part of their rewards program. (I’m VIB Rouge because I clearly have A Problem buying makeup.)
• Each month you will also receive a card that you can bring into Sephora that will earn you 50 additional bonus points on your purchase!
• The PLAY! BOOK rivals the Allure Beauty Box Mini Mag. It’s that good.

So, let’s check out what Jill and I got this month!

Play! by Sephora comes with one of the best box inserts I’ve ever seen. I’ve said it before, that it rivals the Allure Mini Mag (I love you, Mini Mag.) and it does.

See all that detail? And you can also see the Play Pass that you can take to Sephora to receive the extra 50 Beauty Insider points. However, I have to admit that I have only remembered to use this card one time. I wish that this could somehow translate to my Sephora app, so it would always be with me.

Here’s everything. It’s a lot.

Sunday Riley All-In-One Lactic Acid Treatment ($105): I was most excited to try this, because… well… it’s expensive, AND it’s a brand I’ve heard a lot about but never tried. That is one of the reasons I love this box- I love trying high end things. I saw spoilers for this box, and immediately went to the Sephora site to check out this product. The reviews were mixed… mostly everyone said the cream does what it says it does (brighten, help fade dark spots/hyperpigmentation, exfoliate, plump lines, etc.) BUT it smells bad. I thought to myself, “Eh, whatever. I don’t care if it smells bad. If it will fade my acne scars, I would write a blank check.” But y’all. I have to tell you. This stuff seriously smells like true garbage. And I am not saying that lightly. Seriously smells AWFUL. THE WORST. BUT. After a few minutes, the smell does dissipate, so it’s not terrible for too long.

Clinique Pep-Start Eye Cream ($26): I was also really excited to try this! I have been seeing Clinique’s ads for this in all of my magazines and I am a sucker for advertising. It really does work on me. But more than that, I really liked this! I’m pretty picky about my eye creams because some gels that are supposed to tighten/firm irritate my eyes. But this cream moisturized but wasn’t over-the-top, so it was a great base for makeup. And this came at a great time, as my current eye cream is running out. I might even pick up the full size!

NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien ($26): NARS and Sephora love each other. I feel like I get a lot of NARS samples from Sephora, from deluxe samples to their birthday gift. So I have tried a few different colors of this in the past and really like the formula. This color looks like a great every day color. I swatched below.

Sephora Colorful Cheek Ink Gel ($14): I’m really excited about this! I normally gravitate towards peachier colors but that’s why I like receiving things like this that I don’t normally wear. The color looks bright and fresh on my skin tone so I think I will experiment around with this. I’ve swatched below.

Check out the swatches of the NARS Lip Pencil and Sephora Cheek Gel.

MILK Makeup Sunshine Oil ($38): This is one of the coolest ways to package a foil sample ever. I’m such a sucker for packaging so it’s the little things. Anyway, this oil is enriched with a blend of mostly natural fragrance and essential oils, including grapeseed, avocado, grapefruit peel, tangerine peel, mandarin, and lemon peel, for supreme hydration. The full-size version is a rollerball, and you are supposed to use it all over: elbows, cuticles, hair and face. The scent is great, but I probably won’t be putting it on my face. I might see how it does with my cuticles!

Derek Lam 10 Crosby 2AM KISS ($95): Ugh, here I am again, having to try to describe perfume. According to Sephora magazine, “Modern and intoxicating, this blend of salty woods and crystallized amber channels the hip, fashion-forward style of New York City.” I sprayed it on myself without really testing it before and it’s giving me the worst headache because it’s so strong. I’m just not into strong perfumes at all. It has also made Matt’s allergies go crazy. We will not be purchasing this.

Final Grade: A

I love trying all the things they send and I love the way that Sephora so thoughtfully puts together their boxes with their magazine and high-end products. I am not totally sure if they are completely open to the public yet, but you should put your name on the waitlist if they aren’t, because this box is thebomb.com.

Purchased; All opinions are my own
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