Monday, August 18, 2014

Allure Sample Society - August 2014

In July's Beauty Box 5 post I had mentioned that I was going to upgrade my subscription to a quarterly subscription and commit to at least 3 more months.  However, before I did so I kept hearing more on Makeup Talk about the Allure Sample Society Box subscription and how it was improving.  I decided to give it a try this month in addition to BB5 and Ipsy, and then choose one subscription to cancel at the end of the month.


Allure Sample Society is a monthly subscription service that costs $15 and includes 5 deluxe sample sized products that typically seem to be high end products rather than drugstore.  The boxes all ship on the 5th and unlike BB5 and Ipsy they are shipped UPS, so the shipping process is much faster.  I'm not sure how many spoilers they release, but for August I had heard about 2 of the 5 products I was receiving and the rest were a surprise for me.  Currently all subscribers receive the same box, with the exception of color variations.  As with BB5 and Ipsy last month I unboxed this subscription on my Makeup Miscellaneous YouTube Channel and I've also embedded the video at the end of this post.


The first item in my box was a sample of Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Peony.  I've seen a lot about these lipsticks lately so I was excited to try it out and also glad that it came in Peony since that's the color I would have most likely chosen myself.  The lipstick squeezes out of the tube onto a felt applicator and applies much like a gloss but it is very pigmented.  I do think it's a little too pink on its own for my skin tone but I should be able to make it work when paired with lip gloss.  This 5ml sample is worth approximately $8.87.



Next was the Oribe Travel Size Surfcomber Mousse.  I used to use mousse on my hair all the time before I blow dried it but haven't done so lately so I'm interested to try this out and see how it compares to my usual routine of It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Treatment.  Oribe sells either a 5.7 oz or 2.2 oz size of this mousse so I'm not sure why they shipped a 2.5 oz size of this instead of the 2.2, but for value I'm going to go with the $21.50 for the 2.2 ounce size since it's so close to what I received.


The third item in my box was the Kate Somerville Dilo Oil.  I had never heard of this product before but I have tried a couple of small foil packet Kate Sommerville samples that I got for free and they were nice products.  As for face oils I've only ever tried the Garnier cleansing oil which I didn't like, but since this is a moisturizer it might perform differently.  I'm still skeptical of how it will work for me since I have combination oily skin, but I'll give it a try.  This 3ml sample is worth $6.50.


Fourth was the Jane Iredale Longest Lash Mascara in Black Ice.  A black mascara sample isn't very exciting for me but this mascara is different than others I've tried because it has tiny fibers that are supposed to help both lengthen and volumize.  I am interested to see how well this works and whether or not the fibers stay put.  It's also a pricey mascara at $33 for the full size which gives the 3 gram sample size I received a value of $8.25.



Finally in my box I received a Ciate Mini Paint Pot nail polish in Cha Cha Cha.  I've heard of Ciate before but don't have any of their polishes and I'm always excited to get nail polishes in my subscription boxes.  Cha Cha Cha is a neon orange polish but when I first opened it it came across more pink in the bottle to me.  Once swatched it does look orange, though I think maybe a neon orange-coral would be good description for this polish.  It went on pretty thin on the swatch stick so I think this may be a three coat polish, and as with most neons I'm guessing it would benefit from a coat of white polish as a base.  This 5ml Ciate mini is worth $5.55.



Overall I'm pretty happy with this months Allure Sample Society Box.  It's fun to receive high end products to try, and while I might be less likely to repurchase them, its also nice that if I do discover something I really like that I'll have tried it first before pulling the trigger on a high price item.  August's box had a total estimated value of $50.67.  I am going to continue to subscribe to Sample Society and in September's YouTube unboxing video I will give a more complete review of this months products.  My August unboxing video is embedded below.



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