Allure Beauty Box: September 2018

It's that time of the month when some of us gals get a special surprise..... no not that kind of surprise. It's beauty subscription box time!!! **insert excited cheering noises here**

 I've been a faithful advocate of mail order beauty subscriptions for the past 6 or so years now and its been an absolute delight throughout. It's like getting a gift every month to you from you and what could be better than that.

I've had the opportunity to try so many different and amazing brands through beauty subscriptions. I am a born cheapskate by nature so this allows me to branch out in ways I never would if I was buying these products myself. I get a chance to try things out before really committing myself to buying the full-size which allows me to be confident that when I do add a product to my rotation it's always a gem not a dud.

Ok, with all that said and done let's get into the box in question which is the Allure Beauty Box.
For those of you who might be living under a rock somewhere, the Allure box is a subscription which is curated by Allure editors each month; occasionally they might do a collab box with a celebrity or a particular makeup brand but this is not a typical thing. This little red box of goodness will cost you $15 buckaroos plus whatever tax might be in your area and you can expect to receive between 5 & 6 deluxe to full-sized products to try out. I often find a good mix of makeup, skincare, hair/nail care and a beauty tool of some kind, which makes this box really well balanced.

Unlike some other boxes there isn't a lot of personalization going on, there's no answering a quiz to find out your beauty preferences, it really is just the editors picking the items they thinks are of note. (I actually really love this for the record. They rarely let me down in the awesomeness  dept.) That being said if they need to send a shade specific product such as a foundation they will send you an email asking for your specification.

This box for the month of September 2018 features products from the Allure magazine annual Best of Beauty Awards. Not all of these products are from this years awards but they have all been featured in a Best in Beauty Awards in recent years.

Makeup: M.A.C. cosmetics lipstick full-sized in shade Ruby Woo or Lustering $18.50

First up our makeup product is a full-sized lipstick from M.A.C. cosmetics in the shade Ruby Woo which is a classic cherry red in their Retro Matte Finish or Lustering which is a watermelon pink shade in their Lustre Finish. My box included Ruby Woo which I was really happy about. This was my first time trying a M.A.C. lipstick and I'm sad I waited so long to try them out. The smell is a really delicious vanilla frosting scent which is evident as soon as you open the bullet. It takes a few swipes to get full opacity but I found the color payoff to be good and long lasting on me. It doesn't glide over the lips like other matte bullet lipsticks I've tried but there was no uncomfortable dragging either. The formula feels dry on the lips but not sahara desert dry like a matte liquid lipstick. I wore it all day and never felt like I was dying for a lip balm. The color is rich and vibrant and will appeal to anyone who loves that retro 1940's kind of cherry red lip, which happens to be a favorite of mine.

Tools: Tarte Tarteist Pro Lashes in Girl Boss $12 & Tarte Tarteist Pro Lash Adhesive in Clear full-sized $9

Next up we have what I would categorize as our tools in this box, we've got Tart Tarteist Pro Lashes in Girl Boss and lash adhesive from the same brand in the shade clear. I'm going to be honest and let you guys know I have never not once used falsies because they always freaked me out. But I was keen to try these because they are really natural looking so I summoned the courage to give it a go. The lash bands on these are very flexible and easy to manipulate which makes them very comfortable to wear and apply. I did have to trim them just a bit to fit my eyeball but after that little bit of DIY they fit perfect. The lash glue is  easy and mess free  to apply due to the nice brush applicator and the smell isn't the vile chemical reek I was expecting which made me less nervous to put it close to my eyes. It applies on the band a pearlescent blue color which fades as the glue dries and gets tacky. I am not going to say the application process was without difficulties but it was easier than expected and I never felt like I was going to poke my own eyes out so there's a plus. This has really helped to dispel my anxiety about putting them on and  I will definitely be trying lashes out more in future.

Skin Care: Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial  deluxe sample sized $25 or Lala Retro Whipped Cream sample size $12

With the skincare portion of the box we delve into the realm of what I consider to be the super expensive with Drunk Elephant. This month we received either the T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial or Lala Retro Whipped Cream. I got the Babayfacial and this product in it's full-sized form costs a whopping $80 and it has a huge cult following of people perfectly willing to pay that price. This product is
 a facial peel that's supposed to be gentle enough for sensitive skin but effective enough to fade acne scarring. I don't have scars but I do have sensitive skin so I did try this out before bed to see how it felt. The smell reminded me of Dove bar soap which reminds me of my mom funnily enough so not bad. I followed the directions and applied an even layer all over my face, keeping away from my eye balls. It said to leave this on for 20 min but seeing as I had never used anything like this before I opted for 15 min instead. Even though I kept it well away from my eyes it still made them burn a little bit for some reason but my face only tingled the tiniest bit. It felt slightly tacky and a bit tight after the 10 mins were up and then I rinsed thoroughly with warm water. This is the kind of thing I'll need to use for a while before I know for sure if it really does anything for me so I may touch on it again later on in the future.

Hair/Nail Care: IGK Rich Kid Coconut Gel sample size $15 or Living Proof Full Dry Volume Blast sample size $15

In the hair care dept we got either IGK Rich Kid Coconut Oil Gel or Living Proof Full Dry Volume Blast which are both $29 respectively for full-size. My box contained the coconut oil gel which is kind of a dud for me and my fine and super straight hair. It has a  citrusy/salon kind of smell which I like but coconut oil products tend to really weigh down my hair. It seems like it would be suited to a person with curly/ wavy hair rather than my own. I would much rather have had the Volume product to see if it might give my hair some boost. This is a good example of an instance where a basic questionnaire might be beneficial. I may still use this on one of the rare days I try to curl my hair and see how I like it.

Final value of the box: $79.50

All in all I'm pretty happy with this months box. I will only be giving away one product out of 5 and I'm ok with that. If you have never tried Allure Beauty Box you can get $5 off your first box and there is usually some kind of extra item for first time subscribers as well. Hope this was informative or at the very least a little entertaining, until next time, bye!