Happy Wednesday! I hope this week has been a good one for you so far. Yesterday was my older sister’s birthday – shoutout to you, Meg! At work, my busy season is NOW, and the days seem to be here and gone in the blink of an eye, it’s absolutely maddening; I need at least 30+ hours in a day (and that I would evolve to be able to stay awake that long, of course), haha.
Last month, while reading some of my favorite bloggers’ posts, I realized that I’ve been using the same old beauty products for what seems like FOREVER, and I realized that I need to venture out of my comfort zone a little bit and explore some new options. Back in 2014-2015, I was getting monthly Birchbox and Ipsy subscriptions, and really enjoyed those surprises in snail mail, but I canceled those subscriptions years ago and haven’t gotten back into the monthly beauty subscription services until now.
I did some asking around and decided that trying 2-3 months of a beauty subscription box will hopefully expose me to some new products from new and up and coming brands. After consulting my sister (the subscription queen!), I decided to go with Sephora’s PLAY! beauty box, which costs $10/month.
What I got in my box
Who isn’t a sucker for good product packaging? Of course, the PLAY! box came in a black and white striped box and had the cutest insert with information about each sample AND a really colorful “Insta Beauty Bucket List” with examples of social media post classics on it. On top of that, each month you get a card that can be redeemed for 50 beauty insider points with ANY purchase you make at Sephora, so that’s a pretty awesome deal.
Altogether, I received 6 samples in the April PLAY! box: two makeup products, three skincare products, and a perfume. The makeup samples were Make Up For Ever’s Quick Cover skin tint and Urban Decay’s Sudden Sparkle hi-fi shine lipgloss. The skincare samples I got were Philosophy’s Moisture on the Move moisturizer, Peter Thomas Roth’s Primed, Pronto mattifying primer, and Fresh’s Facial in a Flash youth-preserving rescue mask. Elizabeth and James’s Sprtiz Blitz perfume was the last item in the box.
My reaction to the products
While I do love all things skin and beauty, I was a little disappointed that I only got two makeup products, since that’s the reason why I subscribed. Not only that, but the two makeup samples that I got were not my color, and I will literally never wear them (the Make Up For Ever is at least 6 shades too dark for me, and the Urban Decay sample is a bubblegum pink that my grandma-tendency self wouldn’t be caught dead wearing).
The skincare samples are great! I have been a fan of the Fresh brand ever since it became mainstream, and the Elizabeth and James perfume sample in nirvana white scent really resonates with my love of feminine scents with hints of musk.
If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t purchase a regular size of any of the products that I got. It made me realize that I need to be more intentional about subscribing to something and making sure it’s what I truly want. I just decided to cancel this one and I’m debating on subscribing to the Petit Vour box, which is an ethical, cruelty-free beauty box that costs $18/month, which is more aligned to my beauty routine, anyway. Will keep you posted on my decision!
Do you have any monthly beauty box subscriptions? If so, which one? Would love to hear from you!
xx Marah Elizabeth
