Hello! And welcome to ANOTHER review of the August Play! by Sephora box! When I saw Jill’s review last week, I realized that I got completely different products so I thought it would be worth reviewing mine as well! Play! by Sephora is my favorite affordable beauty box because they feature brands found from my mothership – Sephora.
Price: $10/month
Box Type: This is a beauty box that contains deluxe samples (and occasionally full-sized) products that can be found at Sephora.
Why you’ll love it: Ummmm, did you see it’s all fun products that come from Sephora? Some boxes will send you random products from brands you’ve never heard of before but Play! by Sephora will only send you brands from their own store – basically all high end fun things you are excited to try! Here’s a breakdown of the benefits:
- 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!
How to Subscribe: Click here!
As I mentioned in Jill’s review, the founder of Makeup Geek, Marlena Stell, was not pleased when this bag popped up in the Play! by Sephora box because, well, that is her whole brand and it’s not sold at Sephora. I will write a review about some Makeup Geek shadows someday, because they are incredibly pigmented and super high-quality, but very, very affordable.
This month’s insert was super cute, as it depicted ingredients found in different makeup products, depicted in a periodic table-esque chart.
And here’s everything I got this month! Woo hoo!
Korres Golden Krocus Ageless Saffron Elixer Serum ($98): I have been holding onto this because this stuff is esspensive. The reviews are so good that I am definitely excited to try this. You know I love my Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair but I’m considering trying this after my next bottle runs out since Korres is cruelty-free. I’m not going totally cruelty-free at this point but I am trying to think about it when I am purchasing things. If there is an equal product that is cruelty-free, I am going to go that route. Sephora’s return policy is legit so if it didn’t end up being what I want, I could always exchange it for my Estée Lauder.
Alterna Haircare Caviar Anti-Aging Miracle Multiplying Volume Mist ($30): You know that Jill and I are constantly looking for volume. It’s all we want. I also have really enjoyed Alterna hair products I have tried, so I think this will be great as a blowdry-type spray that won’t weigh my hair down.
Burberry My Burberry Black ($29-$125): For those of you who don’t know, which is probably all of you because I’m not sure I’ve ever shared this on my blog – Why did I even start the sentence that way? I have loved Burberry scents for a long, long time. One of my favorite scents when I was in college was Burberry Brit Red. I also used to wear and love the My Burberry scent. When I first smelled the My Burberry Black scent, my first thought was that this smelled so sexy. The notes are: Sun-drenched Jasmine, Peach Nectar, Candied Rose, Amber Patchouli. I might buy the rollerball version so I can try it out for longer!
Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick in Shell ($46): This is one of those products that almost everyone in the beauty community universally raves about. This is constantly in everyone’s Top Foundation/Favorite Makeup lists and so the hype got to me and I bought it. And I thought I liked it for a bit… but then I realized that it sunk into lines I didn’t even realize I had. Like, I looked this stuff highlighted my smile lines so much I looked like a marionette. I thought maybe I could just use it for filming but it makes my skin look bad so quickly that I am just not sure I can wear it much more at all. Maybe I need to play around with primers to see if I can find one that looks good on me? I don’t understand why this works so well for everyone else but me! Do you have tips? Let me know!
Clinique HIM Dual-Ended High Impact Mascara & Primer Duo ($18/each?): I couldn’t actually find this product on the Sephora site so I am wondering if each side is just sold separately. I have honestly never been a fan of Clinique mascaras because they don’t really do much for me. I also do not care for those white primers. I don’t know when the cosmetics community got together and decided that mascara primers have to be white because that doesn’t even make sense. Then you have to work harder to try to cover up any of the white bits. Why don’t they just make the primers dark? I think Benefit is halfway there with their brown one! But yeah, I am probably going to give this away because I have so many mascaras that I love though I might see if it works ok on the lower lashes?
beautyblender micro mini ($18/set of two): I love the idea of this because sometimes a regular beautyblender is hard to navigate in the inner corners of the eye and while this smaller one is a little easier to get in that corner, it is almost hard to hold and use? Jkissa uses the blush version of the beautyblender because it’s in the middle of those other sizes. However, I was always interested in trying this mini size, and alone it would be $9, which is almost the whole cost of this whole box!
Final Grade: A+
I thought the products I received this month were high quality, big brands and very popular products. I think the value was incredible, as they included a beautyblender mini which is basically the cost of the whole box! While I don’t personally like the Hourglass foundation, it’s incredibly popular (and expensive) so it’s neat that they sent out samples of it. I am also a big fan of the My Burberry Black scent! The only thing I’m meh about is the mascara but I think everything else was so great that it didn’t matter!
If you are interested in trying Play! by Sephora yourself, click here!
Purchased; All opinions are my own
Post contains affiliate links!
laurenelectro
A self-proclaimed beauty junkie/hoarder with a serious Sephora problem. This blog is a total rationalization of that problem. Everything is TOTALLY fine. Her free time is a mixed combination of making fun of reality TV with her husband, hanging out with cats and finally trying to figure out how to do her hair.