June 2019 Sephora Play Review

Play! by Sephora is a $10 monthly subscription that provides members with 5 beauty samples and 1 bonus item. The samples are never full sized and the bonus is usually a perfume but can sometimes be a foil packet. Wow, I’m doing a terrible job of selling this, guys. The only one benefit of the Sephora box over other similar boxes is all items can be found inside Sephora or available online at www.sephora.com. That is, until the chain discontinues something but that’s not too common.

·         Tarte Foundcealer SPF20 in 42N

·         Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in Vanilla

·         Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner

·         Biossance Squalane + Tea Tree Detox Mask

·         Belif The True Cream Aqua Bomb

·         Hum Nutrition Hair Sweet Hair Gummies

Tarte Foundcealer SPF20 in 42N

Once again, Sephora tries to match my skin tone and once again, Sephora fails. This time, they failed in the other direction. Tarte’s Foundsealer in 42N is about 2 shades too light for me, which I suppose can be worked with either in a dark room or the deep recesses of winter with some bronzer. The coverage is not my favorite. Like the name suggests, it is supposed to double as a foundation or a concealer. I’m not into high coverage foundations so this was an immediate miss, though I appreciate the opportunity to try it out. It’s too light for me to try to spot conceal with it over my normal foundation shades, but the coverage is definitely there. I will continue to play around with this around the house when I can guarantee nobody will see me out in the wild.

Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in Vanilla

This was somewhat of a repeat item. I’ve tried (and loved) the original Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in Strawberry. With its sweet scent, hydrating power, and generic petroleum jelly flavor that discourages me from eating it off of my lips, I intend to blast through my jar this winter.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner

Yet another product I’ve tried in the past. I should start off with the negatives first, and keep in mind, this is just all personal preference. I have hooded eyes that are difficult to work with and a pretty low-key preference for eye looks. I do not enjoy wearing eyeliner outside of my waterline and I like liquid liners even less.

That said, this is a fine eyeliner. It’s felt tip, which is more difficult for me to use than a brush tip liner (see Kat Von D’s Trooper Eyeliner) but it’s the finest felt tip I’ve ever encountered. It’s also the blackest liquid eyeliner I’ve ever tried, but I’ve never actually tested its waterproof claim. If I had to have a felt tip liner, this would be my choice.

Biossance Squalane + Tea Tree Detox Mask

I really enjoyed this face mask. It’s interesting in that it never dried down fully like a typical clay mask. It did a great job of moisturizing my skin and brightening my complexion a bit. It didn’t have any lasting effects over time but the immediate brightening was lovely.

Belif The True Cream Aqua Bomb

I’ve tried this moisturizer before and I really like it. The gel formula is moisturizing but not greasy so it’s great for daytime use, especially in the summer.

Hum Nutrition Hair Sweet Hair Gummies

This is generally a wasted sample in a subscription box because one dose isn’t enough to get an idea of how well a vitamin works. The flavor was rich; these were a pleasant gummy flavor. The texture was odd though. They were hearty and I even noticed a little extra texture to them. Now, this is a terrible analogy, but imagine eating rice pudding and noticing a heartier texture to it. IT was something like that, or perhaps a real fruit leather, where it’s heartier than an over-processed Fruit Roll-Up or Gushers snack. I can’t ever see myself paying what this product is asking. I might instead go for Nature Made Pre-Natal vitamins or something to that effect, If I’m looking for a hair/skin/nail multivitamin.

L to R in indirect natural light: Stila Eyeliner, Tarte Foundcealer in 42N

I’m no longer finding joy in subscription boxes like I once did, as evidenced by my posting once every 3 or 4 months now. Maybe it’s the stress of the move and fixing up a house, maybe it’s just an overabundance of items and I’ve found what actually works for me. Unfortunately, FOMO (cook kids’ translation: fear of missing out) is preventing me from quitting anytime soon. I’m slowly trying to whittle things down but damn this compulsive buying!

February Empties

Over the years I've amassed quite a horde of makeup and beauty items. I tried containing it, organizing it, and purging it to no avail. So I've decided to take a new approach: monthly inventory. I am the type of person who has to bookmark upcoming chapters in a book just to be able to power through a chapter, and that's even when I love a book. Why wouldn't this work with making sure I use my beauty items? It's not a guarantee that I will end up with piles of garbage and unwritten blog posts following up on this project, right? *cough*

November 2018 Ipsy

Ipsy is a $10 monthly subscription that promises subscribers 5 sample or full sized items and a makeup bag personalized to their profile (referral link here). Each month is curated around a theme but for the past year or so the themes have been more vague and thin. Personally, I prefer the camp from days of old but that’s just me.

November’s bag was not the cutest bag I’ve ever seen. I appreciate the pleather material for easy cleaning but I didn’t care for the black hearts on a dark field. It did not scream autumn to me in the slightest and it was difficult to see the hearts. The contents fared better though:

October 2018 Sephora Play Review

Play! By Sephora is a monthly subscription box that delivers skincare, hair care and makeup items that can range from the house brand to high end right to your front door. Sample sizes are always on the small size, sometimes deluxe size, but the value is usually there (for me). The boxes aren’t anywhere near as personalized as Ipsy bags. In fact, I would say its level of personalization is about on par with Birchbox for me. There are a ton of repeats within a calendar year but if you like the brands and items Sephora ships then this box would be a good call. If you are a frequent Sephora shopper, each box has 50 bonus reward points that can be redeemed and put toward a future mini not unlike the items found in each box).

July 2018 Sephora Play Review

Sephora is a $10 monthly subscription box that provides members with sample sized items that can commonly be found within your local Sephora stores. I recall until my last Sephora post hoping beyond hope that my shitty (for me) June box was due to late billing. I believe I was wrong because July was just more of the same. Firstly, the box seemed to be a bit of a Tarte takeover, for better or worse. I received:

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blush in Paaarty - $7.77 Cruelty Free

Tarte Color Splash Lipstick in Salt Lyfe - $5.83 Cruelty Free

Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil Face Butter - $4.00 Cruelty Free

Tarte Deep Dive Cleansing Gel - $1.25 Cruelty Free

Caudalie Vinoperfect Concentrated Brightening Essence - $1.40

Rahua Color Full Hair Mask - $3.11

The Tarte Amazonian Clay blush is a nice enough item: decent sized, convenient, good value, good quality. Unfortunately it blends in so well with my skin tone that it does not show up in the slightest.

I received the Tarte Color Splash lipstick in the shade Salt Lyfe. Nice color if I had a lighter skin tone. It is almost the exact same color as the Too Faced Melted Matte lipstick I’ve received in the past from Sephora. It also looks painfully similar to the shade Set Sail that I destashed sometime earlier this year. The lipstick is highly pigmented and very creamy but it didn’t have the best staying power.

 

I am loving the Josie Marian Whipped Arian Oil. It has more of a cream texture, which is not what I was expecting given the name of the product. I love how well it moisturizes and absorbs but it might be just a tad too heavy for the summer months. I think it will be perfect when autumn rolls around though.

July wasn’t my first experience with the Tarte Deep Dive cleansing gel (reviewed here). It’s a gel that cleans. That’s pretty much it, nothing special about it, other than how incredibly tiny the sample is.

I like Caudalie products and the Vinoperfect Concentrated Brightening Essence was no exception. It smells a little bit like mushrooms and feet and from what I gather it is supposed to be applied after toner but before serum. I found it hydrating and non-irritating but I haven’t seen any brightening or visible difference so far. Not something I see myself buying in the future.

 

Last but not least is the Rahua Color Full Hair Mask. I do not have dyed hair so I was not able to try this product out yet, unfortunately. I cannot imagine it being any different from any other conditioner though. I rarely color my hair but I’ve been bored lately and since locs are so hard to start and transition to or from, dying my hair is the most reasonable change I can make to my hair.

While not a bad box, I just don’t feel like they’re ever tailored to fit my needs. Of all the boxes I receive, Sephora is often at the bottom of the list regarding items I receive and not because the items are awful quality. Quite the opposite, really. My dissatisfaction stems from the fact that I feel like shades are never taken into consideration when my box number is randomly drawn from the hat.

July Ipsy Review

A primer for the uninitiated. Ipsy is a $10 a month beauty subscription service that sends subscribers a unique bag design, and 5 items ranging from skincare, hair care, makeup, tools, polish and fragrances. Items are curated for subscribers based on a personal profile that is set up upon subscription. Disgusting, I know but it was my first and gateway subscription, leading to Birchbox, Target and now Sephora Play! but so far I want to say Ipsy does it best. The items are more closely tailored to my preferences than any of the other subscriptions, thus far, and the points system is superior to Birchbox (if you can manage to earn enough points, that is). The sample sizes are pretty decent and often include deluxe and full sized items. One thing to note though is that Ipsy's  inventory ranges from high end to drugstore so if that is an issue for you you may want to opt for Sephora Play! which has better sample sizes and more makeup items or Birchbox which has high end products and the occasional full sized item.

Quick and to the pointless: not the best month, Ipsy. Not bad, just not the best. This month was a collaboration with the Sanrio character Gudetama, the world's laziest egg. I see a depressed egg and I'm pretty sure if he had an opposable thumb he'd pull the trigger. Poor little guy. I can't say I'm a fan of the bag design, nor am I a fan of the zipper position but it's very well constructed. The bag has a bit of a pearlized finish, a matching yellow satin lining and the outside feels waterproof/easy to clean. The contents were equally underwhelming: staples but boring. Side note: I've already updated my profile last month to mix up the items I will receive but I believe it takes a month or two to for any changes to reflect. This month's bag included:

March 2017 Ipsy First Imperssions

Both of my subs came in the same day this month (best day ever?) Let's start with the easy one. Ipsy is always pretty easy, low maintenance, a cheap date. Works for me though.

Ipsy is a subscription box that sends a (sometimes cute) bag and five beauty products a month. Ipsy usually ranges the gamut from sample, deluxe to full sized. I don't recall ever receiving any single use foil packets in my (holy shit!) 12 bags from them and the value is usually at least double the bag (referral link here)

Full shot of bag

Folded over

This month I received:

• Eyeko London Fat Eye Stick in Satin - $12 CF,V
• Tarte Tarteist Lip Paint in Vibin' - $3.33, CF
• Elizabeth Mott Blending Brush - $15, CF,V
• Curl Keeper Leave-In Conditioner - $2.24, CF
• Cake Desserted Island Supreme Body Mousse - $2.75 CF,V

Per usual, CF=Cruelty Free, V=Vegan.

December Ipsy First Impressions

Another month, another "meh" bag. I think I've fallen into a rut of having a subscription for far too long. Bright side, I just got a year's subscription for Birchbox as well so there will be something new to complain about! I no longer know what I would get excited about, product wise. Just discovering new brands at this point, but I have so many duplicates that it feels like a waste when I don't get to something I love a bit less. That and I can't justify giving things away once I've tried them and I feel obligated to try everything at least once. I sound extremely entitled and critical though so let's tuck it in and be objective about this. Scroll down for some incredibly shitty photos due to a combination of not knowing how to utilize technology, inability to operate a phone camera, zero sunlight for days now and poor apartment lighting. 

 

And a closeup of the bag

Angry muppet!