Since I’m back on blogging, here’s my Sephora Play! box for January 2018! My box was variant #279, and I have to say it was mostly a miss, but I’ll get into that below in the box contents. I’ve been subscribing to this one since nearly the beginning (since it was available in my area), and sometimes it’s a big hit, and other times it’s just all wrong. They still can’t seem to get the curly hair items together, and I really don’t need yet another Smashbox Primer product (I’ve gotten Photo Finish twice, and I know I have samples of the Primer Water around too). I do like the switch to these plastic zip bags – I mean, they’re plastic which, meh, but they’re way more useful for travel since they’ll contain spills and products that accidentally open mid-flight, but again, overall I could do without the bag.
- Hum Daily Cleanse Supplement – 60 capsules / $25 – (Product is 6 capsules, value of $2.50) These are going straight to the trash. I don’t want ‘dietary supplements’ in ANY beauty box, not to mention that stuff like this is worthless. You’re not going to detox or cleanse anything by taking these, other than that you’re going to pee out nearly 100% of what’s in there, and you could possibly do harm to your body by taking a supplement you don’t actually need. What a waste.
- Bite Beauty Matte Creme Lip Crayon – 1.56 g / $24 – (Product is .89 g, value of $16.27) Color received is “Glacé” which is a dusty mauve. Mauves usually don’t work well with my skintone, but this one is just cool enough that it looks great! Plus, Bite is cruelty free and already a favorite.
- Origins Clear Improvement Mask – 1 oz / $13 – (Product is .5 oz, value of $6.50) Charcoal masks are great and I use them all the time, so I’ll definitely use this one. It’s nothing new to me since I know I’ve bought this before, but at least it’s not sketchy vitamins.
- Smashbox Primer Water – 115 mL / $32 – (Product is 5 mL, value of $1.39) Meh. I don’t use primers often since I rarely to never use foundation, and I know I have a sample of this around here already anyway, plus I have probably a dozen of the regular non-water Smashbox primers too.
- Laneige Water Sleeping Mask – 70 mL / $25 – (Product is 10 mL, value of $3.57) I have super dry skin, so this will be fun to try!
- Marajo Cleansing Creme & Deep Treatment Butter – 8.5 oz / $29 and 5.3 oz / $29 – (Products are both .23 oz, total value of $2.04) A hair product that contains silicones, acrylates, and sulfates. Curly hair that isn’t washed using a traditional shampoo with SLS/ALS cannot use these products because they cause buildup. This is going straight to the trade/give-away box.
I think the reason I’m so disappointed with this box is that here we are starting a new year, and it’s all old products really. I’m super disappointed with the inclusion of a supplement especially considering the science keeps proving over and over and over again that they’re useless and can actually do more harm than good. It’s irresponsible to send these out without having some kind of opt-in for this kind of product. The value in total comes to $32.27. For a personal value, the Bite Lip Crayon makes this box worth the $10.60 cost for me alone since I really do love the color and will absolutely use it. The rest is kinda meh. Two products (hair care and supplement) are either being tossed or traded/gifted, and while I’ll probably use the remaining three (primer, two masks), I’m not really thrilled about them. I know Sephora is sending out TONS of these boxes at this point, but they’re doing a really poor job at customization and keeping things fresh and new – it’s been a lot of repeats and old products instead of new items to explore and discover. I wish they’d let you review your box and give ratings to let them know what you loved, hated, didn’t use, or were ambivalent about. Anyway, I suppose for $10.60 a month, I really don’t have a lot to complain about, and getting samples to try, even if I’ve tried them three times before, is still worth the money for now, but if this keeps up, it might not be.