HOW IT WORKS
For $15/month Sample Society will send its members 5 deluxe-sized samples from beauty brands like stila, Murad, Sisley, Alterna, Butter London, and Too Faced, and a $10 off $50 monthly discount code to BeautyBar.com. As a bonus all new members receive a complimentary one-year subscription to Allure magazine (a $12.00 value). There is no official word about that anywhere, but the magazine just randomly shows up in your mailbox one day. Click here to join Sample Society. You can also buy some of the past boxes here.
Zoya Nail Polish in Rayne – Never ever will I say no to Zoya nail polishes, even if it’s a dupe for something currently in my collection, because their formulas work really well with my body chemistry, and even if it’s a color I already own, I can easily re-gift it to someone else. Sample Society sent an assortment of pastel shades, which is an unorthodox pick for Winter, but Allure Magazine is always a step ahead of seasonal trends – gotta get those digits ready for Spring! I received metallic baby blue Rayne, which is part of Delight Collection for Spring 2015.
Erno Laszlo Sea Mud Deep Cleansing Bar – I used up two full-sized bars of this soap, formulated with Dead Sea mud and charcoal powder, but it’s been a while and I haven’t purchased more since. Not because it’s bad, but because I wanted to try something else: my newest obsession – Nubian Heritage soaps. You know the brand is doing something right, when known fashion and beauty icons like Madonna, Greta Garbo, Jackie O, and Uma Thurman all used it in their routine and raved about the company.
Revlon PhotoReady Eye Art Lid + Line + Lash in Cobalt Crystal – It looks pretty in the bottle, but there are several reasons why I won’t be using this duo. 1) I just can’t pull off glitter, and to be honest, these colors are just not going to work for my complexion. 2) This. I now also refuse to support Revlon-owned companies that include Revlon, Jean Nate, Charlie, Sinful Colors, Mitchum, Colorsilk, Crème Of Nature, Almay, Gatineau, Ultima II, Pure Ice, CND, Roux, American Crew, Bedhead, Catwalk, S Factor, Rockaholic, and Love, Peace & The Planet. I was just recently pitched to review new Sinful Colors Valentine’s Day polishes, which I normally would have agreed to, but in the light of recent events, it’s not going to happen.
Philip B. Light-Weight Deep Conditioning Creme Rinse – Philip B. is a line of fancypants salon products that stars absolutely adore, and I got to try some of them before via Glossybox. Lightweight is the perfect name for it, indeed, because it sort of melts into my hair after the application, and I can’t even tell if I covered a certain spot or not. It does its job well at detangling and conditioning, but it feels very unorthodox. The sample is good for two uses, unless you have very long or very thick hair.
philosophy renewed hope in a jar – Let’s hope this new skin treatment from philosophy works better than the original hope in a jar, which I hated, because it has a strong smell and also broke me out really bad. Looks like I wasn’t the only one. For now, I’m the chicken.
[BONUS] StriVectin Intensive Illuminating Serum – This was the sixth sample, not listed on the website or in the product booklet, but everyone seems to have gotten a nice travel-sized pump bottle of StriVectin’s brightening serum. I always thought their products were well-formulated to be highly effective and fairly gentle, but I have a lot of other skincare I want to try [mainly from Memebox] first, so this will go in the giveaway pile. It’s growing fast! Spoiler alert: this same sample will be included in the February box.
THE VERDICT
This box was more of a win than a miss, even though there were two products I am iffy about – Revlon duo, and philosophy renewed hope in a jar moisturizer. I’m loving this cute Zoya color on my tips, and the soap is the perfect size for washing my face in the shower [always had to slice off small pieces from the large full-sized brick].
| Product | Retail value |
|---|---|
| Zoya Nail Polish in Rayne | $9.00 |
| Erno Laszlo Sea Mud Deep Cleansing Bar | $4.24 |
| Revlon PhotoReady Eye Art Lid + Line + Lash | $7.19 |
| Philip B. Light-Weight Deep Conditioning Creme Rinse | $2.16 |
| philosophy renewed hope in a jar | $5.87 |
| StriVectin Intensive Illuminating Serum | $22.25 |
| Box Retail Value | $50.71 |
I want to try that cleansing bar!! Bars seem to take the oils off my face better!
You have oily skin, right Eugenia? Mine is usually combination, but right now it’s a bit on the dry side from all the central heating, so I use cleansing oil + foam combo. Definitely loving solid soaps for the summertime though!
Rayne is stunning! The shimmer in it is so amazing!
It’s really pretty, I don’t think the picture does the polish justice! I took a closer look at the entire collection, and added the purple shade (forgot the name) to my Spring wishlist as well.
The Erno Laszlo Cleansing Bar is a classic. I haven’t used it in years, but I’d love to try it again. On the Revlon front, has there been any more information about the situation there?
I haven’t heard anything new yet, official or not. But until there’s more information, I definitely refuse to use their products.
Definitely a good box. Lots of skincare though
True, and some of it I wasn’t really interested in, but that’s just my weird skin that can’t stand philosophy products.
This looks like a great box. I’m with you on Revlon. Until heads roll and policies change, I’m going dark on that company and their subsidiaries.
Yep, I’m not writing them off completely just yet, but not giving the company any support until there’s some kind of resolution.
That is an awesome collection of products!
They do a pretty good job curating these boxes. I’m not surprised, since it’s Allure, and they’re always on top of all things trendy.
StriVectin? Nice!
Indeed 🙂 And we are supposedly getting another sample of it in February! My Mom already called dibs on that one though.
that Zoya polish is gorgeous!
Allure is getting us ready for Spring! I still want to try that other purple color from the Spring collection though, it’s more up my alley.
Of the new Delight collex, Rayne is at the top of my wish list!
It’s a beautiful shade!
Now how did I not know that Allure had a subscription service? Man, am I out of it or what?
They had it for a while, but the boxes were curated by Beauty Bar. Sounds like subscribers were not too happy with the boxes after a while, and since September (or was it August?) Allure themselves curate the box, and it’s been amazing and very on-trend ever since.
The blue zoya is so darn pretty!
It really is, and seeing it on my nail polish rack every day reminds me that it’s Spring soon. Yay!! (well, and so do the giant meltinc icicles on my porch. Those things are so scary!)
i thought the same thing w/ philosophy moisturizer, awful awful smell.
Yeah, I just don’t know why it smells so bad to me. I know there are plenty of others who love the product and the scent, but it gives me nothing but rashes and migraines. Too bad, I heard it actually works quite well 🙁
I love Erno Laszlo!
I’m a big fan as well! Their dual-phase makeup remover is my HG.
This is definitely a fabulous box this month. Yay!
It’s quite lovely. I think Allure curators are doing a pretty good job at making sure Sample Society subscribers get only the trendiest samples.
THats an awesome box this month!!
I liked it as well! I wish i could use that philosophy sample, because I heard good things about it, but there’s something in it my skin just doesn’t agree with.
Nice brands!
Sample Society always features well-known brands. I remember one month they sent out samples of Sisley skincare, and just recently a whole full-sized jar of $85 eye cream!
I LOVE that Zoya!
It’s beautiful! Zoya always comes up with gorgeous collections, I don’t know how they do it 🙂
Such a good box
I liked it as well! That tiny black soap is just so adorable 🙂