I just received my first Sephora Play! box a few days ago, and today I want to share its contents with you! I never do "unboxing" posts for a good reason: I don't subscribe to any beauty box, or at least I didn't until I had a chance to join the Play! program.


What is Sephora Play! ?

If you haunt beauty accounts on social media like I do, I'm sure you already know all about it, but if you're new to the concept, let me give you a quick explanation. Sephora Play! is a beauty subscription box that comes to members' mailboxes every month and costs $10, charged automatically to the credit card on file. For this price, we receive a handful of samples, deluxe or travel sizes of makeup, skincare, haircare products and fragrances. You cannot pick your samples - you just get what you get and there's no exchanging samples you don't like. I don't remember filling a survey asking for my preferences when I signed up, but the subscription is linked to your Sephora BI/VIB/Rouge account, so you might want to complete your profile just in case. This month it looks like everyone received the exact same products in the same shades/scents.

The Sephora Play! program was launched last year in a bunch of test markets in the US and just opened nationwide in April, so this is the first box with a large distribution. Subscribers are charged in the beginning of the month and the box is supposed to be shipped in the 3rd week of the month: I was charged on May 2nd and my box was shipped on May 16th, when I received an email with my tracking #. The box was sent through UPS Mail Innovations, which is a mix of UPS and USPS, where UPS brings the box to your city and USPS does the final delivery in your mailbox. It came from Maryland and took 4 days to arrive to my Southern California location, with a delivery on May 20th, no signature required.


Let's unbox this month's goodies!







The box is called The Forces of Nature, featuring products that are supposed to be good for you and natural. All the samples were put together in a small canvas drawstring bag closed by black ribbons.


What's in the May box?

Swatches of Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Kimchi and Tarte Tarteist Lip Crayon in Latergram

- A leaflet with information about each of the products and a Play! Pass for a free one-on-one tutorial plus 50 extra Beauty Insider Points with any in-store purchase. Too bad you can't get these bonus points with online purchases! The poster says you can use the Sephora App on your Iphone to scan product images and access exclusive Play! content. They seem to mean Iphone litterally: it doesn't work on my Android smartphone. I also received an email inviting me to a Play! Date at my local store on a weekday evening next week. Looks like you need to RSVP and you can bring someone, but I'm not sure if it's really worth going. If I decide to stop by I'll let you know how it was. UPDATE: I tried to RSVP and realized they only have these "Play Dates" at a handful of stores in every region. They had about 8 for the whole West, and none of the stores where in San Diego. There were a few around LA, San Francisco, one in Seattle and that was about it... Not very cool.

- Sample of Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine. Too bad I already have this fragrance! I got a travel-size spray when I bought the brand's Nécessaire Nomade set for my birthday. It's a scent I really like though so I'll probably use this tiny sample to touch up during the day or to take with me on short trips. It came with one of the signature postcards by L'Atelier Cologne that I love to collect. Oh and orange sanguine means blood orange in French!

- Mini Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche lipstick in Kimchi. I really wanted to try the new Amuse Bouche lipstick formula by Bite Beauty so I'm super excited to try this one, even though Kimchi is not the shade I would have picked. It's a bright, intense blue-based fuchsia, not necessarily the kind of color I naturally reach for, but they can be very brightening on my complexion, so we'll see! The soft matte mini tube is absolutely adorable.

- Mini Tarte Tarteist Lip Crayon in Latergram. This is a deep nude lip liner in a packaging that I find odd. The pencil is super skinny to start with (not sure if the full-size is thicker), and it gets even thinner as you remove the cap. How does that deserve the name "crayon"? And why Latergram? Do they have a Facetune or a Runkeeper shade? The shade will be a nice everyday nude and I don't have many neutral lip pencils so this is a good product for me. That said I'm not exactly super excited about it - simply because I'm not really enthusiastic about lip liners in general.

- Origins Maskimizer mini spray + packets of Clear Improvement and Drink Up Intensive masks. The spray is really tiny but I'm actually thrilled to have received this new mask primer by Origins. It's supposed to prepare the skin to the mask that follows and make it more effective. I wonder if it can be used before sheet masks too? Anyways, I was very intrigued when I noticed its release and it was on my wish-list. I'll definitely review it in a Maskology post! The sample packets of 2 different Origins masks are a nice addition I guess, but they're really small. Not sure I can cover my whole face with the 0.1 fl oz they contain!

- Deluxe sample of Korres Wild Rose Sleeping Facial. This is an overnight mask that claims to brighten and moisturize with wild rose oil. I should be able to use it 2 or 3 times considering the size of the small tube. I hadn't heard of this product before but anything brightening and moisturizing is right up my alley! Unfortunately besides the "good for you" ingredients, this contains denatured alcohol pretty early in the ingredients list. It also has a very strong rose scent: I can smell it right now although I haven't even removed the seal on the tube! I'll try it anyway, I just hope it feels light on the skin because I don't like to sleep in a thick, sticky face cream.

- Travel-size Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask. This is the only brand in this box that I had never heard of before. I finally cut my dry ends a couple weeks ago so I don't need loads of intense moisture nowadays but this little tube will be great to bring with me on short trips. It's free of sulfates, parabens, silicones, phtalates, artificial colors and "chemical fragrance" but the full ingredients list wasn't included.



I'm very, very pleased with the May Sephora Play! box! This is everything I've always hoped for in a subscription box: mostly high-end brands that I know and love with one or two new brands to discover; a good mix of skincare, makeup, haircare and fragrance; brand new, just released products to test.
A few years ago I was subscribing to Ipsy bags, but I cancelled after a few months because I kept receiving random products, such as mineral makeup or nail polish from obscure brands I didn't give a sh*t about. Nothing like that with this first Play! box. I hate Sephora for many reasons, but I jumped at the opportunity when they opened the subscription nationwide because all the products will be from brands sold at Sephora. That, for me, is a guarantee that I should receive quality, exciting products every time, and if it's the case I don't really care if they're all samples, without any full-size product. We'll see if my expectations are met in the long run, but for now this is a great success!




If you want to sign up for Sephora Play! boxes, click here. I'm not sure if the subscription is currently open or if they have a wait list. Shop the products included in this box below!



The product featured in this review was purchased by Lulle. I received no compensation to write this post, which only reflects my personal opinion. This post contains affiliate links.