Allure Beauty Box Review, September 2015

If you were a subscriber to Allure's Sample Society box, you probably know that they've simplified their name to the Allure Beauty Box...a very good move, as far as I'm concerned. This box is curated by the editors of Allure magazine who I'm sure have first access to every new beauty product out there!

Allure's Beauty Box is a monthly subscription that costs $15 per month. Their glossy red boxes have a uniform look with samples packed tightly in white crinkle shreds. For September, there were six samples and one full size hair item.

A mini magazine with the most extensive product information of any of the beauty boxes is always included.  It tells what each item is, how it looks and feels, why they like it, the price and where to buy it.  One of my pet peeves is getting small samples of creams, lotions or serums with NO information; something I've seen in a surprising number of beauty boxes (who should certainly know better). So this information overload from Allure is fine with me.

This Tangle Teezer (the "Original DeTangling Hairbrush") is quite colorful; it's purple on one side and hot pink on the other.  It's ergonomically designed to fit in the palm of your hand and has pliable plastic bristles that work well to gently detangle wet or dry hair.  

Here's a side view; I don't want to open the package since I'll be gifting this. (My own hair is much too short to require detangling!)

Next is a sample size spray bottle of Replenishing Moisture Milk, a leave-in conditioning spray from Alterna. The mini mag says this works great to add shine and hydrate dry brittle hair....which makes it right up my alley.  My hair absolutely sops up products like this so I'm glad to give it a try, especially since the full size is $30 for just 5.1 ozs.

This cute miniature soap from Erno Laszlo is a moisturizing bar called Firmarine.  This ocean blue bar has a wonderful beachy scent and contains a hydrating algae extract.  At a whopping $45 for a full size bar, I won't ever be buying this soap so am glad to be able to try this sample.

This navy organza bag contains a tiny vial of Kaplan MD Cellular Rejuvenating Concentrate, another extremely expensive product at $170 for one ounce.  This is a wrinkle fighting collagen increasing anti-aging serum.  For that price, it should do my laundry and rotate the tires on my car as well!  

Much more reasonable is this Pillow Plump lip gloss in the shade "Pinkwell", which looks coral pink in the tube but goes on as a sheer petal pink.  This is from Soap & Glory, a company I've heard good things about but have never seen represented in a sub box before. The interesting thing (to me) about this product is its strong chocolate smell! Who expects that from a frothy pink lip gloss?

This little bottle of peach colored fluid is an exfoliating toner called Glow Tonic from Pixi. It's a clean-smelling toner that contains glycolic acid, aloe vera and witch hazel. There is a $2 discount coupon for Pixi products on the back of the package.

The last item is a small tube containing Jane Iredale's Smooth Affair Facial Primer & Brightener.  This has a silky, slippery feel and smells like orange juice.  It has a lot of skin friendly qualities; it's full of antioxidants, it moisturizes, soothes and absorbs excess oil.  At $48 for 1.7 oz., this is another splurge product.

The only products I might actually buy in the full sizes from this box are the Soap & Glory lip gloss and maybe the Pixi toner.  The Tangle Teezer is sort of a trendy item and will make a fun gift.  The rest of the items will be interesting to try but are just too expensive to be taken seriously (by me, anyway).  I guess that's the beauty of sub boxes...getting to try things we would otherwise not purchase.

It seems that the Allure Beauty Box website has suffered some growing pains in the transition from their former identity as Sample Society.  Although I'm a long time subscriber, I am unable to access the site.  (Not good when you're providing free publicity for a company!)  I have contacted Allure and will post any updates if/when I hear from them.

Despite my inability to communicate with Allure right now, I wholeheartedly recommend this box. It provides consistent quality and quantity and does a good job of introducing new beauty products. Also, if you sign up for a year, the price is $165, meaning you get one month for free.

Thanks for reading!

Cheryl

Disclosure:  Views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my own.  Product discussed in this post was purchased by Lone Star Shopper. Post does not contain referral or affiliate links.