Play! by Sephora Review November 2017

Sephora Play is a monthly subscription box that sends our 5 makeup or beauty samples and a bonus fragrance monthly for $10 plus tax. It’s a great subscription service if you care about product accessibility and mid-range to high-end brands that are also available in store and online. Sephora Play tends to be skincare heavy so if you are more interested in makeup I would recommend Ipsy as a similarly priced alternative. Usually Sephora ships out around the 15th of each month so imagine my shock and awe when I received my box on the 7th of November so why is this going up on the 25th 28th the day after Christmas?

This November I received:
Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Mascara - $13.81
Sephora Collect Ultra Shine Lip Gel -$5.00
Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask - $8.10
Caudalie Vinosource Thirst Quenching Serum - $16.33
Moroccanoil Treatment - $6.80
Burberry My Burberry Blush - $3.60

Lately I've been so overrun with mascara so that I don't care if I get a mascara sample but oh my lord, I love this Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir. To date my favorite mascara has been the Smashbox X-Rated mascara followed my either IT Cosmetics Superhero Stretch and with Urban Decay rounding out the list. Velvet Noir however defines beautifully as well as lengthens. I'm not positive it actually added any volume but I would say it holds silver medal to X-Rated, displacing my previous number 2 and 3 mascaras by one rank. I also didn't experience any flaking or smudging throughout the day and I absolutely love the wand which resembled the IT Cosmetics Superhero Stretch wand. Update: My beloved Lizzie grabbed my mascara wand out of my hand as I was taking photos and may have ruined the mascara. And her clothes. I tried cleaning the swans but it doesn’t work nearly as well as it used to. Shortest mascara lifespan ever.

That moment when you realize it's time to invest in a lightbox...

So far I have enjoyed all of the Sephora Collection products I've tried and the Ultra Shine Lip Gloss was no exception. This formula is more gloss than pigment and the color provides a beautiful, sheer, natural flush to the lips. The formula is hydrating and has minimal stickiness. I also love the hourglass shape of the applicator for a more even finish. I really didn't expect to like this gloss that much between the color I knew was being offered this month and the simple fact that I am not really a fan of super glossy lips-it just looks so passe and artificial in general. Different strokes, I guess.

I enjoyed using the Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask. I’m biased though, I love charcoal masks. I loved feeling that tightening effect of certain clay wash off masks that lets me know that they’re actually working. That said, it did. Or dry out my skin, but I did feel like it cleared and brightened up my complexion a bit. It also wasn’t a beast to wash off like other wash off masks I’ve used in the past. I did try this to spot great two blemishes on my face and that... well that was wholly ineffective. At least it didn’t aggravate the situation.

I gave the Caudalie Vinosource Serum a little love now. I love how my skin feels after application. I have to be honest though, the price is a little steep for anything I would ever pay for and I have a few variants of the Vinosource line now and I have yet to see what advantage one serum might have over the other. Well shit, I guess that was a bit of a mixed-to-contradictory review. Sorry about that.

I’m never excited to see a hair oil in a subscription box but at least Moroccanoil was a thicker one and smelled nice. A little went a long way in the kids’ hair but alas the sample was only 10mL so I only got about 2 uses per child out of this. It did soften and help detangle and add some much needed sheen and hydration to the typically straw-like hair.

I’m growing to love getting perfume samples in my Sephora Play boxes. In the beginning I was ambivalent at best but now I almost look forward to getting them. My Burberry Blush is a beautiful fragrance that just smells classically light and floral with notes of pomegranate, rose and jasmine. The pomegranate sold it, I think.

Wearing the Sephora Collection lip gloss and Marc Jacobs mascara (not that you can tell) in fading natural light

Same lighting with flash

All in all I loved November’s box. The value was definitely (maybe?) there at $53.64, according to my public school math. The skin care was great, the mascara and fragrance were fabulous where the mascara might even be worth purchasing, the lip gloss was a wearable color and the hair item was somewhat usable.