Play! By Sephora – Play! Smarts K-Beauty: Skin Innovation Available Now + Spoilers!

They were probably taken down because they were not reviews of the product but statements disagreeing with Sephoras inclusion of the CC cream. I didn’t see where anyone stated that they had purchased and received the item in question (I could be wrong). It’s one thing to write an honest review when you have received and tested the product and quite another to write your opinion as a product review. Do cosmetic companies need to do a better job at including the skin tones of WOC in their lines, yes.
That opinion alone does not tell me whether this particular product will or will not work for me. There was nothing stated like ‘it leaves a white cast on my skin’ or ‘it doesn’t blend well’.

I bought a box with the shade Medium/Tan- I am a WOC. I haven’t tried it on my face yet but I did swatch it on my hand. It blended in and didn’t leave a white cast. When I have time later, I will fully test it out to see whether it really works.

Thank you for this! I was so bummed that this box was a complete non-starter for me as a WOC, as is almost every other Sephora box. Virtually ANY color product is a set up for disappointment. But what I do appreciate is other folks like you at least recognizing that fact 🙂 you are appreciated!

DITTO! You nailed my complaints exactly. I would just add the following to Sephora’s marketing and management folks: “When in doubt, do without.” Either allow us to customize make-up selections by skin color/tone (i.e. only work with make-up companies that offer a wide selection of choice) or stay away from including these products in the PLAY boxes.

This. I was all set to purchase but I found that gross. I probably could have made the tan box work but knowing darker people wouldn’t be able to buy or use was a big no for me. Sephora knows better so they need to do better.

So don’t buy. I can’t use Eborian products because they’re too orange but other people like them.

Skip this box and move on. It would be impossible to include every shade in a limited box. In case you haven’t noticed, Korean brands are not generally inclusive.

Go buy from brands that create exactly what you want. Vote with your dollar bills.

Agreed!

Totally agreed with you. It bothers me as well. They are either too light or too dark. They either should not include shade specific or a range of colors or let subscribers choose. Or even give them a voucher to go to a store (if possible) to color match and get a sample at the store or give people who don’t live near a Sephora an option to get a non-skin tone colored item in lieu of an in store sample of a tinted item or foundation sample. It never made sense to me because these items actually should be tested in person, plus you get people into the stores and I usually buy more than I intend to when I go into the store. Its very shortsighted and biased by Sephora. I am going to write them directly about this.

Oooooo maybe . Maybe it was curated from Korean companies because Asians has been sooo under represented. I mean it took 20 years later to make an all Asian cast since joy luck club. Only 6 Asians ever to host SNL. Not a single picture of an Chinese person at the Transcontinental Railroad ceremony historical joining the West and East parts of America even though they were the backbone of the labor. Soooo yes. Im glad this box represents the Asian communites long supressed in America. Thanks for the inclusion, Sephora.

Incredibly well said, thank you.

It’s probably a small $3 size. I was just looking to get a full size yesterday. That stuff is amazing!! I saw a set on Sephora with a full size and 3 different scent minis for 28 dollars. Either getting that or the full size alone, instead of this set.

Yep! But I have this cc cream. I have the light one and put it on a alot of ppl even tried mine on my daughter that is dark. The cc cream isnt a foundation. But u dont see us fair ppl shaming anyone bc we cant pull the color card out like to to many ppl do daily. Geez u think some ppl would just stop with there mouth. Sephora will prob stop all of this bc all the ppl talking trash before they try!

I feel you! It is upsetting to see how we divide OURSELVES in this way. We are all different in so many ways and that is something we should embrace.

Why are you upset? Because people in 2018 want their hard earned money to be met with respect when they decide to spend it. I think it’s a little naive to say there are no pale options compared to darker tones. Only in the last few years have brands started to seriously consider wocs buying power. Before there were only a variety of pale shades and maybe 3 dark, deep and tan to choose from.

It doesn’t go both ways, though. Please tell me what makeup companies are failing to provide a variety of options for pale skin. It says something that you’re more upset about people voicing their frustration than at this kit not being inclusive.

In pretty sure it is the CC creme they are offering which comes in 2 shades.

I agree with Annie S in that the Korean cosmetic companies are creating these two shades because that’s what the majority of the their customers fall under. It’s definitely not to disrespect anyone. Just what’s practical. If there was enough demand to make investing financially in carrying more shades I think they would do it. I know that it’s no where as impressive as Fenty Beauty, but Laneige does carry more shades (six) including a shade called Cacao in a cushion foundation which is $38 at us.laneige dot com. I think it’s wonderful that we come in different sizes and shades. And being Asian I’m glad I can finally find foundations that work better for me. I’m grateful that I now have an easier time with K Beauty. And I love the skincare. I hope everyone who wants to wear foundation is able to find a good match for their skin tone as well as products that work well for them.

The point is that Sephora could have opted to include a non shade specific product. They opted to alienate part of their audience by throwing in a product that is not inclusive. I’ve purchased almost every special box from sephora but will not purchase this one. I’m not buying a throw away product as I don’t have throw away money.

Lol! I’ve said my piece about it and I don’t have anything more to add. But even though my opinions are what they are, I would never judge anyone who is happy about this offering, plans to purchase it and posts as much. Exclusions from a large company with a diverse clientele like Sephora is disheartening, but I can think of many more pressing issues that I’d like to see people rally around. I’ll write to Sephora to let them know my opinions and I hope others do as well, but I certainly won’t be calling for a boycott 🙂

Most K-beauty foundations are even wrong for us with pale skin. They tend to have the wrong undertone, or they are just REALLLY light. I’ve tried a few that I’ve gotten in other boxes, and they never work for me. And I’m freakin pale.

I really don’t think Sephora set out to exclude people with one likely teeny tiny sample of BB cream. It seems a little strange to include a product that won’t work for many many people, but then again, they did send out that MUFE foundation in one of their boxes that almost all had Y undertones.

This is a major slight for anyone with the tiniest bit of melanin… while I recognize that Korean beauty companies are tailored to Korean skin tones, it would have been SO EASY to skip the bb cream and opt for a serum, or a sheet mask, or a nice lip stain from TonyMoly or PeriPera… I thought for sure based on the promo picture that one of the Its Skin macaron lip balms would be included, although I suppose with the Laniege lip mask they worried that would be too many lip products?

Sorry, I’m rambling. The point is, there are tons of options of interesting K beauty products that would work for all skin tones, so why on earth did they choose something so offensively limiting?

Agree 100%. K-beauty in general still hasn’t fully acknowledge WOC, but that doesn’t mean that Sephora had to include this particular product. There are several other k-beauty products that could have been chosen. I’m sure Sephora counts several thousand WOC among their regular customer base, and to see such blatant disregard for them is very disappointing and makes me glad that I cancelled my regular Play subscription.

It’s a Korean skincare line – they only sell it in two shades (though supposedly it’s pretty versatile and doesn’t rely on an exact match.) Sephora could possibly have tried to find an alternate Korean brand with a broader range of shades but the focus of the bag is Korean skincare. They aren’t purposefully trying to leave anyone out.

Agree!!! It’s so unfair that almost all K-beauty products do not offer foundation/concealers for WOC. Companies like Sephora should speak up more about this issue.

I agree. I would like to try a Erborian foundation product, but I hoped there would be some higher value samples I could try to make this worth getting since I’ve already purchased the Belif products from Sephora so I want to try other products.

I’m pretty sure it’s the CC cream, because the BB cream comes in 3 colors.