Sephora Play Luxe

As if Sephora Play isn't enough, they are periodically doing "luxe" versions that cost twice as much. ($20 rather than $10.) They don't come on the subscription, you just have to order them. I think maybe I got an e-mail about it, so I'm not sure if they show up on the website if you're not already a Play subscriber. Honestly, if you're not, don't feel too bad about it because I don't think they're worth the extra money. (Is that a spoiler?)

I didn't take a picture of the box, apparently, but you know it's extra-fancy because it's in a solid black box instead of the striped one.

My favorite thing is the iridescent bag, honestly:

I'm not sure you can tell much from that picture, but you can see it better below. It's good-sized flat bag with a zipper. It's big enough that it barely fits in the box - about 7-1/2"  square, but the usable size is only probably about 6". Still, that's not bad. It holds quite a bit of makeup.

And then you get little tarot-card things that tell you about the products:

And here's what was inside:

L-R, it's Diorshow mascara, SK-II Facial Treatment Essence, Hourglass Veil Primer, Amore Pacific Moisture Bound (that's the one in the squarish box at the top), Tom Ford (mini-size) lipstick in Indian Rose, and a Flowerbomb sample that's considerably larger than the usual little sample sprays.

I partially got this because I was thinking it might be the only time I'd ever get to try a Tom Ford lipstick (which is otherwise far too expensive for me), but I'm not crazy about the color, it's too pale - or well, not really that pale, but too mauve, or too neutral, probably the latter. I dunno. I do like the Amore Pacific moisturizer a lot, that's the one I've actually used the most so far. But on the whole I'm pretty underwhelmed. It is somewhat nicer than the normal Play box, but not enough that it's worth twice the price. I am not a person who's heavily into luxury brands, so if you are you might like it more. But I've seen several threads complaining about it on the Sephora forums, so I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Here's somebody unboxing this box: