August’s Sephora Play! has arrived! This month’s theme was, “Wink Outside the Box,” so of course there are a bunch of products for eyes. All of these are samples, no full-size products in the lot, but for a box that costs $10, I guess that’s to be expected! It does give me a chance to try products and not end up with a full sized product that doesn’t work, so that’s good.
- Make Up For Ever Artist Shadow – .07 oz / $21 – (Product is .02 oz, value of $6 by volume) The color received is I544, “Pink Granite,” though it looks less pink and more purple to me. It’s velvety smooth and iridescent. It’s a nice color, nothing really outrageous, just a pretty basic color that probably everyone can use. I’m not sure I like the packaging since it’s plastic and cardboard, but it *is* a sample, so..
- Lancome Energie de Vie Smoothing & Glow Boosting Liquid Moisturizer – 1.69 oz / $55 – (Product is .16 oz, value of $5.21 by volume) The tube is probably about half full which means this is a teeny little sample of a pretty expensive product. It smells nice, and the formula is basically like a watery gel so it applies easily. I’d probably never buy it because of the price and because denatured alcohol is the 4th ingredient which is no bueno for my dry skin, and moisturizer my ass – none of my moisturizers contain alcohol! I’ll still try it though, but I can’t see how this is a good product to include here when my preferences are set to dry skin.
- Algenist Complete Eye Renewal Balm – 15 mL / $68 – (Product is 7 mL, value of $31.73 by volume) This is the highest value item in the box and the one I’m least interested in. Yeah my eyes get puffy and have dark circles and wrinkles, but after trying eye cream after eye cream, nothing has ever made a difference, and I find them about as effective as water. It’s a thick cream that has a very light fresh sort of scent. So far it hasn’t irritated my eyes, and the ingredient list, outside of extracts and shea butter, has a bunch of silicones but no parabens, sulfates, or phthalates. I probably would’ve preferred getting a full-sized mascara or something else instead of this product.
- Clean Reserve Eau de Parfum – .34 oz / $25 – (Product is .05 oz, value of $3.68 by volume) This is probably not a scent I’d ever pick for myself. I could smell this when I opened the box and it basically smells like fresh laundry which is a nice scent, but not for a perfume. It warms up a little on the skin with a hint of a deeper sort of musk, but it still mostly smells like laundry. It’s not too overwhelming or floral which is nice, but I don’t think I want to smell like clean clothes all day. I do like that the company is committed to eco-friendly practices, but this perfume is just not to my style, and as it’s on me while I write this, I definitely like it less and less as time goes on. It’s like I doused myself in fabric softener. I ended up having to go wash it off since it was starting to bother me.
- Urban Decay Perversion Mascara – .4 oz / $22 – (Product is .1 oz, value of $5.50 by volume) It’s just a hair smaller than the travel size which is .13 oz for $10. I’ve heard LOTS of good things about this mascara, and taking a check over the ingredients, no cyclopentasiloxane or parabens! It’s a keeper! Or at least, I’ll be able to try it and see if there’s something else in it that irritates my speshul snowflake eyes.
- Sephora Waterproof Contour Eye Pencil – .04 oz / $10 – (Product is .017 oz, value of $4.25 by volume) The color received is #33, “Love Affair,” which is a shimmery plum color that I rather like. It’s another product that seems to be okay for my eyes as far as the ingredients go, so I’ll have to give this a try and report back if it irritates my eyes or not!
The total value of the box by my estimation comes to $56.37 which is pretty decent for only costing $10.60 including tax. I’d definitely have preferred to see more eye makeup products (a shadow primer or fake eyelashes?) in a “Wink Outside the Box” theme and less skin care type products, or at least have one of the makeup products be full size. For the over $30 value of the eye cream, we could’ve had a mini palette from Tarte or Smashbox, or a nice mirrored compact, or something other than an eye cream (I’m really not feeling the eye cream for the price it takes up which is over half the box value). It is a good variety of products though, just not as eye-focused as I initially thought, and I do like getting a perfume sample every month even if both of them have been complete misses so far. Finding a scent you like can be a real pain and having a sample to try and think about on your own time instead of a snap decision in a store is pretty nice. Anyway, sort of mixed feelings on this box I guess – I was expecting something entirely different this month!