I have to admit, I was not a fan of this month’s box. It was mostly stuff I’ve gotten SO. MANY. TIMES. BEFORE. The rest is stuff I have no use for. Oh well, can’t win ’em all, I suppose.
(Jill wrote this blog but Lauren couldn’t help jumping in on some things because she just can’t help herself.)
Price: $10/month
Box Type: Beauty products, 5-6 deluxe samples
Why you’ll love it: High end brands (no drugstore products here), new and interesting products in deluxe sample sizes, plus a cute little bag each month! It’s a great mix of makeup and skincare.
How to Subscribe: Click here!
Check out what was in the Play! by Sephora box this month:
Klorane Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk ($10 for this size, $20 for full size): I do like that this is a $10 deluxe sample, but this is probably the 9th time I’ve gotten this particular dry shampoo in a sample box. Despite my intense love for Klorane shampoo (it’s true love), I really hate this dry shampoo. I have yet to find one that even comes close to my beloved Batiste Dry Shampoo, but that’s a story for another day.
Verb Sea Spray ($7 for this size, $14 for full size): Hmmm…I’m not mad about getting a half-sized bottle that they sell for $7. I just really do not need yet another sea salt spray for the summer beach waves that I don’t have. Just saying. (Lauren is super psyched to get a bottle of Sea Spray for her gym bag.)
Kat Von D Everlasting Lipstick ($20 for full size): Blah. A mauve liquid lipstick. How exciting. To be fair, people love Kat Von D’s stuff and this is a new product, so this is a Jill-specific gripe. I just don’t wear mauve and/or liquid lipstick. The container is pretty large, so at least there’s a lot of mauve liquid lipstick in there. My sister is going to get sick of me giving her mauve liquid lipstick any day now. (Lauren LOVES this formula and color. It looks amazing on her. She is also not super modest.)
Coola Makeup Setting Spray SPF 30 ($36 for full size): At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think I have about 6 of these laying around. It’s not my favorite setting spray at all. It has SPF 30 which is great, but as with most things containing sunscreen, it’s got this kind of shiny/waxy feeling finish, which is not what you want from a matte setting spray. (Lauren agrees- we do not like this and we get SO MUCH OF IT.)
Versace Bright Crystal Eau de Toilette ($55-$94 for full size): I am not a fan of the scent of this. I consider perfume samples mostly a throwaway item, so it’s not a big deal that I didn’t love it. It reminds me of cheap perfume people wore in high school (ouch).
Benefit The POREfessional Face Primer ($12-$31 for full size): If I never see another POREfessional sample again I would be a happy gal. I probably have enough samples of this to dwarf a full-sized bottle of it. To be clear, the primer is fine. It’s not amazing, but it does its job as a foundation primer. Would I ever spend $31 on a bottle of primer? Hell no. But I will toss this on my lifetime supply pile of POREfessional samples that I’ll dip into should my perfectly fine, slightly superior, significantly cheaper Ulta primer ever run out. (Lauren sort of used to toss this aside but recently started using it again… and is glad that subscription boxes keep sending them because it’s actually REALLY GOOD. Why did I stop using this? Well, luckily, I will never, ever run out, thanks to subscription boxes.)
Final Rating: B
This month just seemed like a re-run of so many other boxes in the past. I have so many of these samples, and despite being cult favorites, they aren’t mine. There are so many awesome new products at Sephora that I’d love to try, why not send some of those instead? I did give it a B instead of a C because they included three different “mostly full-sized” products this month that are sold in stores. Getting $17 of products in a $10 box is a pretty solid redeeming factor, honestly.
xo,
Jill
I bought this box, all opinions are my own. Post contains affiliate links.