PLAY! by Sephora Subscription Box Review – September 2017

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Play! by Sephora is a monthly subscription box that brings only the best and exclusive Sephora beauty and makeup samples. The subscription costs $10 per month, and you’ll get 5 deluxe beauty products, playlists, a fragrance bonus item, plus coupons you can use when you visit in-store.

Everything arrived packed in a bag, preventing items from rolling around in the box. While I like the look of this month’s bag, I wish it matched the Play! Pass or the information brochure. I love the retro look of the polka dots.

Don’t forget about your Play! Pass. It gets you 50 extra Beauty Insider points with a purchase from the box (in-store only). Your subscription also entitles you to Play! Date meetups, if your store participates.

September’s theme is Fall Into Beauty – It’s Fall Good. The brochure is highlighting cool-weather beauty tips from other Sephora members as a way to introduce the newly launched Beauty Insider Community. Create a profile and get started on joining the discussion!

The fold out poster shows a list of all the items included in this box plus product/brand trivia and beauty tips. You can access all of the information and also watch videos right on the Sephora site or use the app to scan the sheet for more info!

Everything in my box! My variation was box 912. Click here to see variant items in other boxes!

fresh | Lotus Youth Preserve Face Cream ($6.30): This is a lightweight face cream that provides 24 hours of hydration and uses fresh‘s Super 7 Complex (which includes antioxidant rich lotus root extract) to fight aging. When I put this on, I noticed that it smelled like cucumbers… as it should because it DOES contain cucumber extract. That’s probably why it also left my skin feeling a bit cool to the touch. As someone with combination/oily skin, I’m always worried that face creams will be heavy or make me oilier than normal. No worries with this. I wore it all day, under makeup, without issue.

benefit | Gimme Brow Volumizing Fiber Gel – Deep ($8.00): This volumizing fiber gel is available in 3 shades to compliment natural hair colors. Deep is for those with dark brown to black hair, which includes me. You may have noticed that bold brows are making a come back in a major way (think Cara Delevingne and Lily Collins). Gimme Brow adheres to skin and brow hair to create a thicker look. The tapered micro wand not only blends in the formula, but it also helps it to look like actual hair. Something that I should have done before using this was to line the shape of my brows.

Sephora | Contour Eye Pencil 12 Hour – 01 Lace Black ($4.00): I LOVE waterproof eyeliners. Living in the south, humidity does a number on makeup – eye makeup, especially, is affected badly by smudging. Some days I go home with raccoon eyes, and other days I have no liner left. Not only is this matte liner waterproof, but it also promises up to 12 hours of wear. This pencil glides on smoothly (no tugging or skipping) and leaves a clean line. Thin, thick, or smudged… just wear it.

Ciaté London | Liquid Velvet Moisturizing Matte Liquid Lipstick – Diva ($5.85): Diva is described as a true red. Not sure if that is accurate, but it is a vibrant red for sure. The formula is infused with hyaluronic acid to hydrate and condition dry lips. The lipstick is easy to apply, thanks to the precision tip wand which takes the place of a liner. I have a strong cupid’s bow and usually end up using a lip brush to fill in the peaks when using most other lip wands. The color was long-lasting as promised and didn’t feather or bleed. However, unlike other matte formulas this did have a lot of transfer, and by the end of the day looked like a very bright stain.

Swatches from top to bottom: benefit Gimme Brow, Sephora Contour Eye Pencil, and Ciaté London Liquid Velvet.

DevaCurl | Melt Into Moisture Matcha Butter Conditioning Mask ($6.75): This is a weekly deep conditioning treatment that uses matcha green tea butter, almond oil, and beet root extract to hydrate and nourish parched hair. Depending on the level of conditioning needed, this can set for as little as 5 minutes or as long as overnight (wear a shower cap so you don’t mess up your pillowcases and to add heat). I haven’t tried it yet, but the yummy almond scent is calling my name. I wish that Sephora had also included the Deep Sea Repair mask since all of the videos show users multimasking with the two products.

Living Proof | No Frizz Nourishing Oil ($1.45): This was my bonus item for the month. Yay?!? Sounds odd to say this, but I miss my bonus fragrance. Anyway, I’ve actually tried this before and wasn’t a super fan. While I really like the No Frizz shampoo and conditioner, this did not do as much for my frizz in Florida’s humidity. On the plus side, my hair was softer. I am going to hold onto this sample for cooler weather and try it again. I’m hoping the lack of humidity will give better results.

I had some time on my hands and decided to play with my box items. On the left is my not-so-naked face (I’m wearing the fresh Lotus Youth Preserve cream). The right is me after using the brow gel, liner, and liquid lipstick. I also threw in the Hourglass foundation and Kat Von D concealer from last month’s box plus a few other things. Looking back, I should have finished the look like they do in commercials and taken the time to do something with my hair too. LOL!

While I don’t always like the fragrances I receive, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get one. BTW, Sephora’s website says that I should get a bonus fragrance, and this month’s variations showed 4 different ones that went out! I literally grabbed this picture as I was writing this review. I’m not sure that the packet of Living Proof No Frizz Nourishing Oil was a better bonus item.

My September Play! by Sephora had a value of $32. Compared to last month’s box, this one was just OK. On the positive side, I really like the face cream, eyeliner, and brow filler. The lipstick wasn’t bad either.

Are you a Sephora Play subscriber? What did you think of the box this month?

Visit Play! by Sephora to subscribe or find out more!

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