My June 2017 Play! by Sephora box arrived last week but I’ve had trouble getting myself to sit down and write about it. It’s not that it was a bad batch of samples; I simply wasn’t overly excited about them, so it’s been harder to motivate myself to write this post. But here I am, making it happen on the final day of June!
This month’s theme is Your Summer Starters: products deemed by Sephora to be warm weather must-haves. After last month’s plastic envelope to house samples, Play! went back to a reusable baggie imprinted with a cute retro bathing suit design:
To be frank, I wasn’t super stoked when I first took a look at my June sample brochure. This month’s box contained three samples I’ve tried in the past, one of which I got recently in my Limited Edition Birchbox x Vogue 125.
Five deluxe beauty samples plus one fragrance sample, all for me to play with:
First up this month is First Aid Beauty Hello Fab Coconut Skin Smoothie Priming Moisturizer (full-size, $28). Aside from testing out a dab or two of First Aid Beauty products in-store, I hadn’t tried the brand before. The product sounded interestingâan “ultra hydrating priming moisturizer” with “micro-pearls for a subtle dewy glow.” The brochure said to apply a dime-sized amount evenly over a clean face and that it can be worn alone or under makeup. I’ve used this product a couple of times so far, and while it smells good (so coconutty, of course!) and offers a nice luminous finish, it wasn’t especially moisturizing. I definitely need to use an actual moisturizer before applying this product, but my skin has been feeling extra dry lately so maybe I’m just getting old and crusty. Â đ I’m not in the market for a glowy primer right now, but I’d consider this one in the future. I also just don’t use primers that often, so they’re not a must-have for me.
My next sample is Ouai Rose Hair & Body Oil (full-size, $32), which I received a sample of in my Birchbox x Vogue 125. This was one of the products I was less excited about in that box, so it was slightly disappointing to receive another one in my Play! box. I’m making it sound like I hate this product; I actually don’t, but it would have been more fun to get something different. Not that Sephora would have had any idea I had just received this sample! #firstworldproblems. Anyway, I have yet to try this oil on my hair, but as a body moisturizer it’s not bad.
My third sample this month is IGK Rich Kid Coconut Oil Gel (full-size, $27). I only have a vague awareness of this brand, probably from browsing in-store and online. My first thought when I saw the name of this product was…ugh, another hair product with oil in it. The brochure says that the oil gel “softens and hydrates hair for effortless, undone looks.” So maybe it’s intended to give hair a “cool girl” sort of vibe…like maybe it should make me look like Alexa Chung? I’m totally guessing here. đ My hair is SO fine that I’m hesitant to use oil products on it. However, this oil gel is lightweight and has more of a styling cream consistency than an oil or a gel. I find that if I use just a pea-sized amount of this product it does give my hair some texture, but there’s nothing WHOA about it that would make me buy it full sized. The coconut smell is lovely, though.
My next sample is one that I received a long time ago, definitely pre-blog: Benefit Cosmetics The POREfessional Face Primer (full-sized, $31). Benefit now has a whole line of POREfessional products, but this one is the OG. I found it a little odd that Sephora chose to include two primers in this month’s box, but each has a different texture and finish…so at least there’s that. Benefit’s primer has a matte finish and is very lightweightâit would not work as a moisturizer on its own (nor does it claim to). I find the texture to be similar to that of the Coola Mineral Face SPF 30 – Matte Tint. This product does actually do a pretty good job of blurring pores, but seeing as how I don’t do full-face makeup all that often, I don’t really need to spend the money on a full sized tube of this anytime soon.
My final beauty sample this month is Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in K-Dub (full-size, $20). I received a sample of this product in a different shade (Outlaw) in a Sephora Give Me More Lip sampler, which I wrote about way back in the early days of this blog. I was quite intimidated by this color, a bright fuchsia with a lot of blue. Bluechsia? Anyway, K-Dub is not a shade I would gravitate to on my own, but if there’s any appropriate time to wear a bold hue like this, summer is certainly it. Kat Von D’s formula is no joke; it really does not budge! As with so many other liquid lipsticks, it’s pretty drying, and I cannot handle my lips feeling dry. So after I had worn this lipstick for some time and couldn’t take it any more, I dabbed some Aerin Rose Lip Conditioner on top and that helped SO MUCH. My lips were no longer matte, but I’ll sacrifice the matte look for moisture. I guess I’m just not a huge matte lipstick fan. I think it looks awesome, but in reality I know I’ll always apply something over matte lipsticks to combat the dryness.
Here I’ve swatched a couple of the products for you: the First Aid Beauty priming moisturizer on the left (which is kind of hard to see) and the Kat Von D Liquid Lipstick on the right:
Here’s how the Kat Von D lipstick looks on me. It seems so much brighter in person! Normally I feel super self-conscious wearing a color like this out in public, but after I moistened up with the lip conditioner I actually wore this out to dinner with my husband and felt totally okay about it. So, thumbs up? Â đ
Oh, and there was a fragrance sample in my box as per usual, and as per usual, I didn’t care. This month was Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium (full-sized, $91). I’m sure these fragrance samples cost Sephora next to nothing to include in each month’s box, but I wish I could opt out of them because they’re completely wasted on me. Ah well. Again, #firstworldproblems.
As you can tell, I wasn’t all that thrilled with my June Play! by Sephora box. It certainly wasn’t awful, I think it was just a little disappointing. So much of the enjoyment of these boxes is trying new things, so when I receive samples that I’ve tried before it kind of takes the fun out of it. Plus, the inclusion of two primers and two hair care samples in the same box feels a little uninspired. Wah-wah.
How did you like your June Play! by Sephora samples?
Read my previous Play! by Sephora reviews.
What is Play! by Sephora?
Play! by Sephora is a $10 per month beauty subscription that includes five deluxe samples plus one fragrance sample; the samples are curated based on your Sephora beauty profile (hair color, eye color, skin tone, skin type, skincare concerns, haircare concerns, etc.). And of course, you can purchase full-sized versions of any samples from Sephora and earn VIB points if youâre a part of that programâwhich I highly recommend signing up for if you ever shop at Sephora. This subscription program also offers subscribers a âPlay! Dateâ each month, which invites you and a friend to attend an in-store meetup to learn how to use the products in that monthâs box (RSVP is required).
