New e.l.f. Products I Want to Try

While I feel like I’ve mostly graduated from cheaper makeup brands to discovering what I truly like and expect from a product and paying a little more for that, I still have some favorites that I shop for in the drug store instead of in Sephora. Believe it or not, e.l.f. still tops that list of brands I’ll stop and sift through. (So does NYX and Wet & Wild, though not to quite the same degree.)

Sephora Play! July 2017 Unboxing

Purchased

Yay! Another Sephora Play box is here!

For anyone who might be wondering what this is, it’s one of the many beauty box subscriptions out there, this one being from Sephora. So as you’d expect, it features deluxe samples of products sold by Sephora. It’s nice in particular if you’re like me and have been around the block a bit with other subscriptions, and you want to see familiar premium brands. Honestly, I like discovering new products, but after a while I did start to yearn for something I was more likely to actually buy, and since I’m a frequent Sephora shopper (a little more than I’d like to admit), this is perfect for me. If you think it might be for you, I’ll provide some info on how to subscribe below.

Review: Mizon Multi Function Formula Snail Recovery Gel Cream

Purchased

A little over a year ago, I decided to give the Asian beauty craze a try. My skin had randomly decided to go nuts, and I needed a solution. The idea of trying one thing at a time and creating my own unique routine that was specifically tailored to me just made sense, and the simplicity of many of the products used appealed to me. I fell in love and haven’t looked back since.

Sephora Play! June 2017 Unboxing

Purchased

I feel like I’m finally getting caught up a bit. My June Sephora Play box is the last subscription that I’ve received and fully tried out but hadn’t posted a review for. I’ve been doing a pretty good job of getting through the products included, too, so I’ve even been able to make some progress regarding my stockpile. When you get more than one of these sample boxes every month, it piles up quick!

Sephora Play is a monthly subscription that sends deluxe beauty samples and a bonus perfume sample to your door every month for $10 plus sales tax. Shipping is free. The items included can all be found at your local Sephora store and/or online, and the box includes a Play Pass that can be redeemed in stores with any purchase for an additional 50 points toward your Beauty Insider account. As you’d expect, Sephora encourages Play members to visit stores and receive help with any items included in their boxes. There’s even a monthly meetup at select stores. That drive isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Beauteque Mask Maven May 2017 Review

Purchased

Now well into July, believe it or not I’m just now finishing up the May bag from Mask Maven. As I mentioned in my review for the April bag, Beauteque has started shipping out their bags on the last day of the month, so my May bag didn’t arrive until about halfway through June, and my June bag arrived just this week. Add to that, I’m saving reviews until after I’ve actually had the opportunity to try all of the masks.

Each Mask Maven comes with a pretty sheer drawstring bag and a sheet detailing the masks included that month. You’ll get anywhere from 9-11 masks (usually sheet masks, though there can occasionally be some variation) to the tune of $15 plus shipping. If you live in the U.S., your total will come to about $18.95. If you’re interested in subscribing to Mask Maven (or their beauty box subscription), you can do that here.

Sephora Play! May 2017 Unboxing

Purchased

 

Sephora Play is a monthly subscription that sends deluxe beauty samples and a bonus perfume sample to your door every month for $10 plus sales tax. Shipping is free. The items included can all be found at your local Sephora store and/or online, and the box includes a Play Pass that can be redeemed in stores with any purchase for an additional 50 points toward your Beauty Insider account. As you’d expect, Sephora encourages Play members to visit stores and receive help with any items included in their boxes. There’s even a monthly meetup, but the closest one to me is in Atlanta. That drive isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Beauteque Mask Maven April 2017 Review

Purchased

Yes, I know it’s July. Shut up.

Worth noting, Beauteque had some changes to their shipping starting in in April, but they did at least notify their customers via email and gave us a 15% discount on the next billing to make up for it. I got my April bag in May and bumped up my masking routine a bit to every other day once I got my masks so that I could use them all up before my May bag came in, only to find out that this was the new norm. Beauteque now ships out on the last day of the month, so you’ll get that month’s bag in the following month. Stupid, I know, but at least they’re still fairly reliable when it comes to getting masks to my mailbox.

First Impression: Benton Papaya-D Sun Cream

Promotional Sample

I know I’ve got a mess of other reviews to post, but I do want to get to this one first because it’s my first true promotional sample in a while, and I wanted to get on this as quickly as possible. Please note, while I like to test things for a full 2-4 weeks before reviewing, I’ve not had the opportunity to give this particular product that kind of mileage, so this is only a first impression. I’ll definitely write up an update on a later date giving my thoughts after having used this for at least a month. Please note that while Benton did send me this sample free of charge in exchange for my review, all thoughts expressed here are purely my own.

According to the information Benton sent, they are a Korean company that “is inspired by and named after the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (that movie where Brad Pitt ages backwards). They’re purpose is “to restore skin back to its original, healthy condition with healthy recipes, rather than to give temporary effects with harmful ingredients. Also, Benton presents freshly made products by sticking to small batch production.”