I signed up for the Play! by Sephora wait list several months ago and just received my first box for May 2016. For those not familiar with these boxes, Sephora launched a monthly subscription service and for $10 per month you will receive a box that has:
- 5 deluxe samples plus a fragrance bonus
- a pamphlet they call Play! Book which has information on the box contents + tips and tricks
- a card called Play! Pass which allows you to redeem a free one-on-one tutorial + bonus points with any product purchase during the same store visit
- collectible makeup bag
Right now you can only subscribe online at Sephora.com/play – they have you sign up for a waitlist and once a spot opens they will send you an e-mail to claim a spot and join.
I have a first impressions look at the May 2016 Box contents as it just arrived in the mail a few days ago – eight sample-sized products come wrapped in a super cute drawstring pouch. It’s photographed above on my desktop to show the scale and size relative to other items.
A look at the contents below, as of right now I haven’t had a chance to try the items with the exception of the colors and perfume. I’m in the process of testing some other skincare items but once that is finished I’ll be diving into the samples from this box. Inside the May 2016 Box:
- Korres Wild Rose Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial (0.34 fl oz/10 ml)
- Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Kimchi (0.05 oz/1.55 g, swatched on lips here)
- Origins Maskimizer Skin-Optimizing Mask Primer (0.05 fl oz/1.5 ml)
- Origins Clear Improvement Mask Packet (0.1 fl oz/3 ml)
- Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask (0.1 fl oz/3 ml)
- Briogio Don’t Despair Repair Deep Conditioning Mask (1 oz/29 ml)
- Tarteist Lip Crayon in Latergram (0.04 g)
- Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine (no size listed, but it’s a tiny vial)
My beauty friend Café Makeup has a post on the same box and many of my thoughts are similar to hers. I think it’s a fun low-investment kind of beauty buy and at $10 per month I think the cost is relatively low and considering the cost of shipping (which they do not charge you extra for). Based on the May Box I think Sephora sent out a good selection of decent sized samples for that price. Even though the sizes of the samples are small enough that you should be able to get for free at the counter I have found samples to be scarce when shopping in store at larger retailers. Of course there are exceptions and building a good relationship with a sales associate does help. However as Amy mentioned in her post I agree it seems like a few years ago you could shop at a store and counters were much more generous with samples. These days they seem to be scarce.
I’m happy with my first Play! by Sephora Box. I think it’s fun to get a surprise box of samples and it offers some things I would have never thought to try so the exploration part is fun. At this time I plan on keeping my subscription to see how it goes.
If you haven’t subscribed for these you can add your name to the wait list online at sephora.com/play – right now the only way to purchase a subscription is online. I’m not sure how long the wait is. I think I entered in my e-mail early in the year and received an e-mail that I was off the wait list in April. There’s a full page of FAQs here in case you have more questions.
I hope you enjoyed this first look at the Play! by Sephora Box 🙂 Have you signed up for it? If you were able to join earlier and have already received a few months of boxes what do you think? Would love to hear your thoughts!
