Sephora Play! March 2019 Review – Beauty in Bloom Subscription Box

It’s time for my March 2019 Sephora Play Box review. Play! by Sephora is a subscription box that offers five deluxe beauty samples and a bonus foil packet or perfume vial for $10 a month plus tax. Shipping is free. Only items sold at Sephora come inside the Play! box so most items are from well-known, high-end brands. While Sephora does carry a few low-end and luxury brands, they do not really appear in the subscription boxes. There is not a traditional rewards program with this box so you cannot get points for referring friends or writing reviews. It does award 10 Beauty Insider points to Beauty Insiders, 12.5 points to VIB members, and 15 points to VIB Rouge members. This Play! box also applies $10 toward your purchase minimum to maintain your Beauty Insider status. Visit my Sephora page for descriptions on points and status. The $10 charge processes immediately for new subscribers and from the 1st through the 4th for succeeding months. Boxes usually ship from the 11th through the 15th.

Annual Play by Sephora Review

See a synopsis of a year of Play! by Sephora Box reviews vs a year of Birchbox reviews. Every year, I review my $10 boxes against each other, so I can declare the annual winner. This is also helpful for those who would like to see a year of reviews for either box in one place.

About the Play! by Sephora Subscription

You can view contents on one box at a time accessing the links through your Sephora order history. There are times when I can see all my Sephora history from that link and other times where it cuts older orders off. The past boxes link does give complete details on the last six boxes.

Boxes get customized based on your profile. Make sure you update your Play! Profile, because it does not use the Sephora profile for this box. There is not a lot of variety in the boxes, but there is enough to justify updating your profile. If you received a box that does not suit you, update your profile. You can continue to play with your settings until you are happy with what you’re receiving. If no adjustments help, cancel your subscription. You can view 8 samples that were available this month through shop the products link. My box version is 2182707, Box B.

Sephora Play March 2019 Box Theme

Each box comes with a Play! Book. This is a booklet that unfolds into a large sheet of photo paper to show info about all the items inside the box.

It also goes over the theme for the box and shows how the products tie into the theme. The theme for March 2019 Play box is Beauty in Bloom. This wants us to step into spring with tips and tricks that are perfect for this season’s budding beauty.

Getting More from Your Box

Each box comes with a Play! Pass. The Play! Pass is valid in-store though the end of the following month. It is redeemable with any purchase (even items not received in the box) for 50 Beauty Insider points. Only one 50 point pass is valid per day, so using two in a single trip will not work. These points may take up to 24 hours to apply. You can also use the Play! Pass for a one-on-one consolation with a beauty expert. Using promo code PLAYMAR19 online with a $20 purchase will also award 50-points. That code is valid from 03/15/19 through 04/30/19. Getting 50-points for an online order is not ideal unless you have free shipping and are only spending $20 or really have no interest in any of the active promo codes. At $25 spent, there are always a number of promo codes you qualify for. Considering it takes 100-points to redeem one perk and the perks are usually about the same as the free product in a promo code, you’d pass on a promo worth 100-points to redeem the promo code for 50-points.

It takes 100 points to receive a deluxe perk, but online orders $25 and over can use a promo code, which is usually deluxe perk. While this is wonderful for those trips you have to make in store or when you are spending less than $25, it will generally be a better deal to order online and redeem a deluxe perk.

Items come inside a thick ziplock bag. You can reuse these bags.

My March 2019 Sephora Play Box Review

The 0.08oz NARS Bronzing Powder in Laguna is worth $11.43. This is a bronzer I love, so there is a chance I might keep this duplicate. If someone I love needs a bronzer, I will probably give it up though.

The brown with golden shimmer shade looks great on my skin tone. I like that the shimmer is only noticeable in certain light.

The 0.18oz Sephora Collection LashCraft Big Volume Mascara retails for $5. There are no Big Volume $5 tubes for sell at the moment, but that is what the mini mascaras go for. I already own this and have not yet felt the desire to try it, so I will not keep this duplicate.

The 0.34oz Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40 is worth $6.40. I like this sunscreen, so this is a duplicate I will probably keep.

The 0.35oz drybar Triple Sec 3-in-1 Dry Shampoo is worth $2.72. I’ve received so many samples of this, but I have not tried it yet. It is hard to say whether I will keep this duplicate unless I try it and love it before someone in my life asks me for dry shampoo.

The 0.75oz amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo is worth $7.50. I think it is strange to get 2 dry shampoos in one box, and I can imagine it frustrating people who don’t use it. Until a few months ago, my hair got oily fast to overcompensate for my dry scalp. Of course I would get a box with two dry shampoos after my hair finally stopped producing so much oil. It is something I have to laugh about. Even when my hair was really oily, I would usually opt to wear it up on day 2. Only when I wore it down did I apply dry shampoo, so I did not go through a lot. I liked having it on hand to give me options though. There was no way I could go two days without washing it before. Now, I can.

The 0.03oz Versace Bright Crystal is worth $2.65. This is another duplicate I’ve never been tempted to try. I will not keep this.

Was the March 2019 Sephora Play Box Worth it?

The box has a $35.70 value. This brings the average box value for the year to $40.36. My personal value is at least $6.40, because I will keep the duplicate sunscreen. There is a chance I might keep some of the other items, so my value could go up. I will not get $10 in value from this box even if I only keep the sunscreen, so it was not worth it if that happens. It is hard to get my value back when I get a box like this where I own all six of the items before the box arrives. If I really loved a lot of these, I would call it a score. I do love the sunscreen and the bronzer, but I have not even tried the other four, even though I’ve had them here for a while.

What are your thoughts on my March 2019 Play! by Sephora Box? Let me know below. Sephora does not inform any Beauty Insider of all promotions. It does list a great deal of them on its Beauty Offers page, but I list some it does not on my Sephora Deals Page. Between the ones it lists and the ones I list, you can catch most of them. Subscribe to emails to get targeted offers. If you’re spending over $25 online, there is always a promo code that you can apply. Most major events run on a set schedule, which is why I track them. See all Sephora Play! articles. Read Tips For Getting the Best Deal When Shopping Sephora. View my main page for the guide map to the site and deeper deal exploration.

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