One of my FAVORITE things to get in the mail each month is my Sample Society box from Allure. I have a HUGE affinity for deluxe samples and mini sized beauty products, not only are they great to test out products before you go all in and get the full size, but also just to keep your gym and/or travel bag stocked. That being said, I really, really need to start doing the latter of the two more often. I’ve been slacking in both the gym and travel departments as of late.
Recently Allure/Sample Society has updated their packaging, it used to be this matte finish dark gray box, now it’s shipped in a shiny red box – which is super pretty and I can’t wait to reuse them to wrap gifts in. It also doesn’t hurt that the past two months of the relaunch I’ve loved the samples included in my box even more than most of the previous boxes. This month I was shipped:
- Ciate Paint Pots nail polish in Cha Cha Cha
- Jane Iredale Longest Lash Thickening and Lengthening Mascara in Black Ice
- Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Melted Peony
- Oribe Surfcomber Tousled Texture Mousse
- Kate Somerville Dilo Oil Restorative Treatment
I’ve gotten a bunches Jane Iredale samples in previous boxes before, and have never really been that impressed with the brand. However, I am loving this mascara already even after only a few days of use. While I would say this is more of a day look/use than some of the other mascaras (read: I am a mascara junkie – I will have to do a mascara post soon I think), I’ve used lately. I was really surprised with how large the brush actually was considering how small the container appeared, but I think this helps with taking off a lot of the extra formula when you open it. It has a really nice finish, not clumpy, doesn’t make you look spidery, and the finish is very flexible. It kind of feels like I’m not wearing mascara at all actually. Apparently it contains fibers for lengthening, which initially put me off because they always end up in my eyes and itch like crazy. I did not feel anything like that with this formula. +1 to Jane Iredale. I’m def going to be using this as my go to work mascara from now on.
I’ll admit, I’ve only recently started trying to up my lip game, prior to I was much more of a lip balm girl. I was all about the Maybeline Baby Lips and the Bite Agave Lip Mask. While I still use those a lot, I’ve been trying to expand my horizons. I’ve found that I ADORE matte lips (even if I feel like I can’t pull it off as well as some), so I was crazy excited to try out the Too Faced Melted lipstick. The formula is a little dry, but not overly so, and the finish is so so nice. I did try and swatch it on my arm to show the color, but the lighting wasn’t as on par as I was hoping. It’s much lighter on than the photo shows. I was unsure how I’d like the spongy applicator part, but it’s kind of nice and buffs the product into place when you put it on.
I don’t know how I feel about this yet, and am feeling like it will have to have its own separate review later on when I’m done with the bottle. I recently, well comparatively recently, chopped off a bunch of my hair, so I’m still trying to get a hang of how much product the new length needs – this means that yesterday and this morning I am pretty sure I added too much. The formula smells really nice, but left my hair sticky when I applied it to dry hair yesterday, and then crunchy when I applied it to damp hair this morning. That being said, the waves do look nice, if you don’t touch them and get grossed out by the crunchy sound. But like I said, I’m thinking I just used too much of the product and will re-evaluate later.
I’ve gotten really into face serums and oils lately too. Mostly because I‘ve been dealing with a patch of dehydrated skin around my chin/nose area, which has been driving me crazy. The little sheet said to use only one or two drops – which I did not believe would be enough, but it surprisingly was just enough to really work into the skin and absorb nicely! I put it on after washing my face and using toner, then followed with my Jurlique Herbal Recovery Night Cream after the Dilo Oil had sunk in. While I did notice that my skin was super smooth this morning, the smell is where this product really gets me. I can’t quite place what makes it smell so amazing, whether its the rosemary leaf extract or the lupin-seed, but it smells like you’re putting a tropical holiday on.
Overall I loved my box for August and look forward to using these products for the rest of the month!
♡Em
