elf Play Beautifully Makeup Subscription Box Review – May 2016

The E.L.F. Play Beautifully subscription box is a box full of E.L.F. Cosmetics products (stands for Eyes, Lips, Face)! This box ships every 8 weeks and promises a minimum of $40 of product in each box.

I loved E.L.F. years ago, back when they were still pretty new, so I was really excited when their subscription opened up for more spots.

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: E.L.F. Play Beautifully

The Cost: $19.99/bi-monthly, plus $4.95 shipping.

The Products: Every box guarantees at least $40 of E.L.F. products!

Ships to: US & Canada

Check out all of our E.L.F Beauty Bundle reviews and the Beauty Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

e.l.f. Makeup Mist & Set – 2.02 fl oz, value: $3

This is a very popular product from E.L.F.’s line. It’s a makeup setting spray. I’ve actually owned this before and it works well! I was glad to see this included.

e.l.f. Mineral Infused Mascara – value: $3

I don’t think I’ve ever tried E.L.F.’s mascaras before. I really like this mascara! The formula doesn’t clump one bit and I got plenty of length from it.

Here’s a close-up of the mascara brush. It did a great job helping with separation and length!

e.l.f. EX-tra Lip Gloss, Michael – value: $2

This lip gloss has a lot of color to it! This shade is also very pretty and would be flattering on lots of skin tones.

e.l.f. Makeup Remover Pen – value: $3

I didn’t think this would be a product I’d use, but then I realized this is just perfect for when your cat-eyes/eyeliner wings don’t quite match up! It’s also great for removing any mascara you may get on your face when applying (or if you sneeze/blink at the wrong time when applying!). This has definitely been handy to have in my makeup bag.

Picture on the left is a close-up of the makeup remover pen, and the picture on the right is a swatch of the lip gloss.

e.l.f. Powder Blush Palette in Light – value: $6

I’ve never tried their blushes before, and it turns out I like them. This palette has some really great colors! More pics below…

I like the colors a lot.  For a fair complexion, these colors are good all year-round. Some complexions may even be able to use the top right as a bronzer, though I personally felt it was a little warm-toned for what I like in my bronzers so it’ll just have to be a very warm blush!

These blushes have great pigmentation! They’re a little powdery, so when I used my brush to pick up pigment a lot of product came with it and there was some fallout.  That’s annoying, but not a deal breaker (especially at this price point). A little goes a very long way with these so start with a teeny tiny bit and buff it on your cheek until it’s blended! The color also lasted all day.

The photo on the left features the mascara and blush in use – the lips aren’t E.L.F. in that photo FYO. Something happened with my photos of the E.L.F. gloss that day so I had to re-snap a pic for you; the picture on the right features the correct lip gloss!

I love the blush and the way it looks here (in both photos) – I’m wearing the shade on the bottom right of the palette. It lasted all day, too.

e.l.f. Lip Definer & Shaper – value: $3

This is a lip pencil one one end and a highlighter on the other. I honestly don’t highlight my lips much except my cupid’s bow with my normal face highlighter (and it just takes a quick swipe – nothing I feel like I need a whole separate product for). The color of this lip liner is nice, but it smears easily and didn’t impress me.

e.l.f. Lip Exfoliator – value: $3

Yay! This lip exfoliator is one of their more popular items, and I’m happy to see it in this Beauty Bundle. It’s super convenient. All you do is clean your lips of any lip products and dampen them with water, and then scrub this stick on your lips in a circular motion! I love this because normal sugar scrubs work well but get messy, and I feel like as soon as I put some to my lips and start scrubbing, the product seems to not stay under my finger so I just think it takes some work. This is a great product.

e.l.f. Pressed Mineral Bronzer – value: $5

This bronzer is okay – it’s very light. In fact, I really think it’d work best as a highlighter or eyeshadow. Bronzers are supposed to create the look of shadows/dimension on your face, and this is not a dark enough shade to do that even on my very pale self.

e.l.f. Baked Eyeshadow in Burnt Plum - value: $3

This is a very pretty shade of eyeshadow, but I have to give it a thumbs down because I could barely get any pigment from it. In the swatch photo here, it’s swatched on top but I had to rub my finger on the surface a million times and keep swiping and that sheer, barely-there swatch is all I got. It applied much better with a primer on my lids, but it still just wasn’t easy to work with.

e.l.f. Contouring Brush – value: $6

Here’s what E.L.F. says about this brush on their site:

“This brush is specifically designed for advanced makeup application to help achieve professional looks. The densely packed hair and structured shape achieves flawless dimension along the cheekbones, forehead, and jawline for targeted contouring. Perfect for using with pressed or loose bronzer powder, liquids, and creams to create beautiful sculpting all over the face.”

I think they described this brush’s design and purpose very well, and I felt it performed well, too.

e.l.f. Mascara Primer – value: $3

This primer is alright. I’ve used better. Below is a photo comparing the E.L.F. mascara with and without the primer so you can see how it changes results.

Here, the eye on the left has the primer + mascara on it, and the eye on the right just has the mascara. I can definitely notice a difference. I think the eye on the left looks like the lashes are longer and fuller.

And here is a look with the blush (the shade on the bottom right corner again), lip gloss (again), mascara + lash primer, eyeshadow, and the bronzer used as a highlighter.

And here’s a closer look. I ended up really liking the look of the eyeshadow – very natural and subtle, and the color was pretty. It was hard to work with, but I’m thinking I’ll keep working with it.

Verdict: The first thing I want to let you know is that this review is getting to you late because I’ve had to deal with E.L.F.’s customer service… When I first opened my bundle, the only items included were the first items in this review… the blush palette, lip gloss, mascara, setting spray, and makeup remover pen. When I added up the value, I knew something was missing from the box because it didn’t add up anywhere near the guaranteed $40. Customer Service emailed me back quickly, apologized, and said they’d send an entire new, complete bundle! So I even got some extra products out of it, and that response is exactly what I’d hope for from CS in a situation like this.

All in all, I had fun trying all these products from E.L.F.! There were some new-to-me products as well as some of E.L.F.’s most popular/best products (like the setting spray and lip exfoliator).  The value adds up to exactly $40.

With both the box and my experience with customer service, I’m happy!

What do you think about the E.L.F. Beauy Bundle?