April’s Sephora Play! arrived this past week, and it was box variant #351. I’m WILDLY underwhelmed. I got a ton of anti-wrinkle products that the product sheet says were selected for my skin concern, but nowhere at all on Sephora’s website – not in the Play! Profile or in my regular Sephora Profile – do I ever list wrinkles as a skin concern. In fact, I rather love my little wrinkles. They’re badges of honor for all the times I’ve smiled and laughed, squinted and raised an eyebrow. I don’t find trying to stop the inevitable march of time a worthy effort when I can actually do something about dry skin and acne. It’s just silly to me. Anyway, so yeah, this box was basically a total miss for me because I DO NOT CARE ABOUT WRINKLES. Way off base, Sephora. The theme this month was, “Insta Beauty” which was all about getting a perfect selfie, but again, if you know me, I’m not going to all perfect up my face when I take a selfie in my beekeeping suit. I am who I am, and FWIW, sparkly lip gloss looks terrible on camera, so. I don’t even. *sigh* But hey, at least the bag isn’t culturally insensitive this month?
- Dr Dennis Gross Wrinkle Recovery Peel – 16 treatments / $88 – (Product is 2 packets, value of $11 by volume) A wrinkle product I don’t need, not to mention how it contains AHA and increases sun sensitivity while we’re working our way into Spring and Summer. This would’ve been way better in Fall or Winter, but nevermind that because I don’t even want this. I don’t want to ‘recover’ wrinkles that are just going to come back anyway – again, I’d rather work on my dry skin and acne than worry about things you can’t stop.
- Kiehl’s Line-Reducing Concentrate – 1.7 oz / $62 – (Product is .17 oz, value of $6.20 by volume) Another ‘wrinkle reducing’ creme that contains ingredients that make your skin more sun sensitive. Poor timing, and another poor choice for my profile. Straight to the give-away box with this too.
- Burberry Blush Eau de Parfum – 1.6 oz / $90 – (Product is .06 oz, value of $3.38 by volume) Oh gosh, this is hideous. I sprayed a little on the card and it’s just a mess of florals including my least favorite, Jasmine. Straight to the give-away box you go!
- Buxom Full-On Lip Polish – 4.44 mL / $20 – (Product is 1.5 mL, value of $6.76 by volume) The color I received is Celeste which is described as a prismatic soft peach. I have to tell you that I’ve never bought a Buxom lip product because I get SO many of them as samples, and I find the tingle a little off-putting. This is no different.
- Philosophy Purity Made Simple Moisturizer – 4.7 oz / $25 – (Product is .25 oz, value of $1.33 by volume) It’s a pretty basic moisturizer, though the first two ingredients are water and silicone, so, I’m not all that impressed right off the bat. For a moisturizer, I’d expect to see an actual moisturizing ingredient in there, but silicone is kind of an inert filler, not a moisturizer. Philosophy is also not cruelty free, so while this is basically the one product in the box I’d consider using, I’d never repurchase it since their parent company, Coty, engages in animal testing (they sell in China).
- Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Perfector Skin Tint – 30 mL / $36 – (Product is 5 mL, value of $6 by volume) The color I received is #6, Warm Sand, and it’s WAY off base for my skin tone. I fall somewhere between a light and fair, and this has some wild yellow tone to it that shows up as fake-spray-tan orange on my face. Another huge miss, not to mention that the company isn’t cruelty free anyway.
Overall the value of the box comes to $34.58 which is about average. The cost is only $10.60 including tax and shipping for me, but my personal value here is basically zero. This box is pretty much a huge waste and I feel like I got a box intended for someone else since NONE of it matched my beauty profile. Hugely disappointed this month, Sephora.