After last month's fantastic box, was Sephora able to impress me again with the March edition of their popular beauty subscription box? Let's find out!


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 March 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. Once again, I only got a shipping confirmation email with my tracking # once the box reached USPS, and it arrived on March 18.


Let's unbox this month's goodies!







This month's box is called The Gleam Team and it's all about the glow, with no less than three different liquid or cream highlighters. Glowing skin is all the rage these days, so the theme is spot on for people who like to follow the latest makeup trends. As for the bag, we're back to classic white canvas this time, definitely not as cute as last month's sating. I think a sparkly bag could have been a better fit considering the theme of the box!


What's in the March box?






- Glamglow Glowstarter Mega Illuminating Moisturizer in Nude Glow: I've never bought a product from Glamglow, the reason being that their initial products, clay masks, always seemed overhyped and overpriced to me. This moisturizer sounds intriguing, and the shimmer it contains seems very fine rather than over the top. I dislike its sweet scent but I'm hoping it goes away after applying. I'll gladly try it to see if it gives my skin luminosity without turning me into a disco ball while providing enough moisture.

- Josie Maran Surreal Skin Argan Finishing Balm: another brand I haven't explored much (I did love their gel blushes), and another skincare-makeup hybrid. The texture feels like a buttery balm, and the subtle glow it creates is gorgeous, with a little bit of bluish pink duochrome effect. Apparently you can use it as a primer, or on top of makeup for a more visible sheen. I know the brand loves to talk about the argan oil their products contain, but a search on sephora.com taught me this product is actually a silicone-based balm: dimethicone is the second ingredient after water. The sample here is also very small.

- Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid Highlighter in Opal: and here's the 3rd cream luminizer of the box! This one has been around for a long time and is one of Becca's best-sellers. I already have at least 2 samples of it laying around, so I wish Sephora had included another less known shade of this formula, like the newly released Prosecco Pop. The shimmer in this one is much more intense than in the first two, it is a true liquid highlighter to use with a light hand for a natural look!

- Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Big Bang: oh dear, this sparkly metallic fuchsia is definitely not a shade I would have picked! But, in Sephora's defense, metallic lips are another major trend this spring and it ties together nicely with the glow theme.

- Verb Ghost Oil: if I had known hair care brand was from Austin, TX, I would have tried to track them down when I was in town last week for SXSW! This is the second sample of Verb we get in a Play box, and I really liked the first one, a leave in spray. Hopefully it will make my look shiny to match my glowing skin and metallic lips... I have a sever frizz problem and not much works to tame it, so we'll see if this helps! (I recently tried the Living Proof No Frizz leave in and it was a total fail).

- The fragrance sample this month is Atelier Cologne Clémentine California: Atelier Cologne is certainly a cool brand, but I think it's the third time I'm getting it in a Play box. And I've received samples many times as well. A bit more variety would be appreciated. At least Clémentine California is their newest scent and one I haven't tried before. I generally love their colognes, I even bought a set a while back, and this one is no exception with its fresh and citrusy scent.

Left to right: Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Big Bang, Becca liquid highlighter in Opal Glamglow Glowstarter moisturizer in Nude Glow, Josie Maran Surreal Skin

I think this box will be a case of love or vengeful hate. I personally love it: being able to try different products from popular brands to recreate trending looks is exactly what I always expected from my Sephora Play! subscription. Here I get 3 products to master the glowing skin effect, so I may find a new favorite, plus a metallic lipstick - another current craze in the makeup world. All products tie together nicely with the "gleam" theme, and I appreciate that as well. This month, I really don't feel like Sephora just threw any deluxe sample they had gathering dust on the warehouse shelves into the box, like I sometimes did in the past.
On the other hand, I can imagine some people will be disappointed by the lack of variety in this particular box. There are 3 very similar products, so subscribers who prefer to discover a bunch of different things, from makeup to skincare, might not be too excited. In the end, it really comes to what you expect from a beauty box!





Check the Sephora Play! page to sign up for a subscription - there may be a wait list. Shop the products I got in my box below:



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