After several long months of disappointing boxes, I was THIS close to cancelling my membership to Sephora Play! beauty subscription box. But just as I was about to give up, Sephora blew my mind with a fantastic box. Let's take a look at what I got for February!


What is Sephora Play! ?

By now, I'm sure most of you already know. If you don't, here's the deal: 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 5 samples, deluxe or travel sizes of makeup, skincare, haircare products and one fragrance sample. 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. Different subscribers may receive different samples every month, so what you see in my box might not be what someone else got.

The Sephora Play! program was launched in 2015 in a bunch of test markets in the US and opened nationwide in April 2016. Subscribers are charged at the beginning of each month and the box is supposed to be shipped in the 3rd week of the month: I was charged on February 2. The box was sent through UPS Mail Innovations as usual, which is a mix of UPS and USPS, where UPS brings the box to your city and USPS does the final delivery to your mailbox. I did get a shipping confirmation email with a tracking number this time, but 3 days after it shipped on February 12. I received it on February 17.


Let's unbox this month's goodies!







The theme this month is The Soft Side, with products supposed to create a subtle look enhancing your natural beauty. The little bag all samples come in is absolutely adorable this time: it's made of a silky satin fabric in a blush pink color, and to me it looks like a piece of expensive lingerie. It looks soft, romantic and sexy, so it fits the theme really well. I love that Sephora is improving the quality and variety of these bags, because I can only keep so many white canvas bags before I start throwing some away!


What's in the January box?




- Nars Velvet Lip Glide in Bound: yes! I have been wanting to try this highly pigmented gloss formula ever since it launched last year. The color is a deep, mauve-y nude that's right up my alley, so I'll definitely enjoy using this product.

- Too Faced Lip Injection Glossy in Milkshake: Too Faced has been doing lip plumping products under the name Lip Injection for a while, but this Glossy variation was launched last year just before summer. I really like Milkshake, that I would describe as a champagne color: a pale pinkish beige with warm undertones and fine gold shimmer. It's a little weird to have 2 lipglosses in this box, but I was super excited to try this one with its cute tube! I actually used it today and unfortunately it burns the lips really badly, but I'll try again and see if I can get used to it. Anyways, beauty boxes are made to try new formulas, so the fact that this product may end up not working for me is not Sephora's fault, and I'm very glad that I get to test it.

- Sephora LashCraft Length & Volume Mascara: I love mascara samples, not only do they give me the opportunity to test a formula I would never have tried, they're also great for traveling. I'll say it once again: I wish Sephora would be generous and make the products from their own brand included in the Play box full-size...

- Clinique Pep-Start HydroBlur Moisturizer: yet another product launched in 2016 that I had been wanting to try! I love blurring moisturizers because they can replace my smoothing primer by making my pores disappear. That's another sample I'm very excited to test, although I remember seeing it in the rewards bazaar and/or VIB perks not that long ago.

- Origins GinZin Refreshing Eye Cream: this product is definitely not new, in fact I used up a full-size jar a couple of years ago. I did like it quite a bit, so I'm happy to get a travel-size tube to take with me on vacation or business trips.

- The fragrance sample is Marc Jacobs Divine Decadence: I'm very intrigued by this fragrance's unusual bottle, but from the description I don't think this is going to be a scent for me. I haven't tried it yet, but I may give it to someone who likes florals with vanilla and amber more than I do.






This box is a winner for me, and probably the second best I've ever received from Sephora, after the one from July 2016. It contains brands that I love and many recent launches that I had been wanting to try, in a gorgeous little satin bag. Oh, and can I say thank you for not including a hair product this time?! There's still room for improvement: nothing here is brand new (no products launched in 2017), there are 2 glosses which is odd, some of the samples were available as rewards or perks very recently, and most of the products are just loosely related to the theme (what about a finishing powder instead of a mascara? That would fit the Soft Side a lot better). So I can imagine that some people might be less enthused than I am, but it is a hit for me!





The box featured in this review was purchased by me. I received no compensation to write this post, which only reflects my personal opinion. This post contains affiliate links. I receive a very small commission when you click on those links, and the money generated covers a small portion of my expenses to purchase products for review. Clicking on those links helps ensure that Beaumiroir continues to publish reviews of new and exciting high end French products - at no cost to you!