February Play! Samples: Lovestruck Beauty
My February Play! by Sephora samples are here! They sent my box to my old apartment, but when I emailed customer service about it they shipped a box to my new home right away. So I appreciated that! I filmed my first unboxing in my new master bathroom (woohoo!!), and you can watch it here:
Lovestruck Beauty
Not surprisingly, the February theme involves love. The Lovestruck Beauty theme is about showing your routine a little love “with bold makeup and revitalizing skincare.”
This month I received three skin care samples, two makeup samples, and a fragrance sample. No hair care samples to be seen, and I’m a-ok with it!
The Skin Care
The first skin care sample I pulled out of the bag was the Fresh Rose Face Mask (full-size, $62). And I was very excited about it! I received this same sample in my July 2017 Play! by Sephora box and I loved it. Repeat samples usually annoy me, but not this one! This mask is pretty pricey so I was thrilled to get another sample to play with. I’ve really liked the couple of Fresh masks that I’ve tried and would love to splurge on them someday.
Here’s a look at the rose mask texture…check out those rose petals inside! In my video I said it looked like fig jam, and I stand by my statement.
My second skin care sample this month is Caudalie Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet (full-size, $39). This brand gets a lot of love from skin care Instagrammers (Skinstagrammers?), but I haven’t been wowed by any of the samples I’ve tried. I have yet to try the Radiance Serum sample from my October 2018 box because I’ve been testing the Bare Minerals Vital Power Infusion Serum that I received as a PR gift, but I’ll be giving it a shot soon.
This moisturizer is described as a superlight gel-cream but it seems more like a whipped cream than a gel-cream. I do like the texture, though…here’s a look:
I’ve been using this product as my morning moisturizer for the past few days and it’s pretty good. It doesn’t irritate my skin and it absorbs quickly. I have had to reapply a bit later in the day because my cheeks start feeling tight as the day goes on, but that’s from trying out the Drunk Elephant A-Passioni retinol. The cream has a light scent but it doesn’t linger, which is great. I’m not in love with this cream enough to buy it full sized, but I always like trying new moisturizers.
My third skin care sample this month is a pair of Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Masks (set of 6, $25). I was super excited to receive this because I love their rose gold eye masks! I’ll never say no to an extra pack of these.
The Makeup
My first February makeup sample is the Milk Makeup Blur Stick (full-size, $36). I have a mini of this from the Milk Makeup Meet the Fam set and haven’t used it much. The couple times I’ve tried it, it pilled with my skin care products. But since I received this even smaller mini I decided to give my other one another chance, and I’m liking it more now. It might just work better with the products I’m using at the moment. It does actually do a good job of blurring fine lines and pores, so I’m pretty happy with it as long as it doesn’t pill. In my video I thought I’d hang on to this sample for a future giveaway, but the top of it has a little blemish that makes it look used even though I haven’t touched it. So I’ll probably just keep it for myself. 😛
My second makeup sample this month is Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Rhubarb (full-size, $26). Speaking of blemished-but-untouched products! It looks like this mini lipstick has been used but I think it’s just a flaw in the bullet. Anyway, I love Bite and the Amuse Bouche formula is so creamy and lovely. Sephora describes Rhubarb as a rich, plum-rose.
Here’s a swatch of Rhubarb on my arm in the sunlight…you can actually see how creamy it is!
And here I am wearing Rhubarb for a dinner out with friends. It reads as more of a berry shade on me, but I really like it. The lipstick feels moisturizing and has pretty good staying power. I’m 100% down with Amuse Bouche lipsticks!
The fragrance sample this month is Stella Stella McCartney (full-size, $73), which is on theme because it is “an homage to the English rose.” It also has notes of amber and smells pretty good, but a little grandma-y for my taste. I tried it on once and didn’t love it, so in the trash it went.
Overall Impressions
While this box wasn’t filled with new-to-me brands and samples, I was still happy with it. The samples that I’m already familiar with are ones that I actually like and will absolutely use. So no complaints here with my February Play! samples.
Did you fall in love with any samples from your February Play! box?
Read my previous Play! by Sephora posts here.
What is Play! by Sephora?
Play! by Sephora is a $10 per month beauty subscription that includes five deluxe samples. The product samples are curated based on your Sephora beauty profile (hair color, eye color, skin tone, skin type, skin and hair concerns, etc.). And of course, you can purchase full-sized versions of any samples from Sephora and earn VIB points if you’re a part of the Beauty Insider program—which I highly recommend signing up for. This subscription also offers a “Play! Date” each month, which allows you and a friend to attend an in-store event to learn how to use the products in that month’s box (RSVP is required). Click here for more information on the subscription.
