Hiiii! Welcome to my first post reviewing the Allure Beauty Box! If you didn’t read on my last post, I had too many issues with BoxyCharm and decided to phase it out and replace it with something new. I gave BoxyCharm so many chances, and it kept disappointing me.
So I decided on Allure because it’s always come off as very official. And it is, right, like it’s the magazine and everything? I had looked at their website before but didn’t see that it was slightly customizable, and I do like a little bit of customizing in my subscriptions. But I was happy to see that they do allow a selection.
First off, this subscription costs basically the same as BoxyCharm. It’s a monthly thing, and my first box had a bunch of items in it, like seven. But I’m thinking this may be because it’s my first month or something, like maybe they add extra to get you really hooked. So we’ll see.
Anyway, we’ll start with the item I was allowed to pick for myself. It’s the First Aid Beauty KP Bump Eraser Body Scrub. This scrub was so good.
It comes in a big squeeze tube like the matching moisturizer, which I actually got in my IPSY this month, which is hilarious. I love that it comes in this packaging, because while the tubs of formula look nice in advertisements, the tubes are cleaner and easier to use, and more sanitary.
The formula is thick and really nice and gritty. It reminded me a lot of the microdermabrasion vitamin c scrub from the Body Shop, but for the body and not the face. It’s one of those scrubs that does really make you feel it in your fingertips, but I liked it a lot.
I felt incredibly smooth and moisturized after getting out of the shower. I also liked that it wasn’t particularly messy – some formulas, like if I’m scrubbing my legs, will just fly everywhere all over the shower. But this stuff stayed mostly where I put it on my skin and I liked that. Since it wasn’t a sugar scrub or otherwise soluble formula, I was able to keep scrubbing the same area for a good amount of time even though it was mixing with water.
So I don’t necessarily have KP, so I can’t comment on its effectiveness, but I can say that the smoothing effect was very obvious. Especially with how hard I go with body scrubs. I can imagine that for someone with concerns like KP, this combo would be super effective.
This scrub retails for $30, which is honestly so much money for a body scrub. You can get some really good dove body polishes at the drugstore for $7-8, and for the average person these would work just as well. But, like I said, it’s marketed specifically for a skin condition, and maybe it works exceptionally well in that area where others don’t. So while I do think it’s a great scrub, and may be excellent if you experience KP, I don’t recommend it for the average user just looking for any scrub.
I think this will be a good scrub for me to use in the wintertime when my skin is more dry and getting less sunlight and attention. I don’t shave as much of my body in the winter, because duh, so there’s a lot less exfoliation going on and this will help balance it out.
The next item I got was the Hair Regenerating Serum from Christophe Robin. I had heard of this brand but hadn’t used any of their products before, so this will maybe be a good way to see if I like their things.
The bottle is super cute, and feels heavy and esssspensive, and pumps out in a very good pump. I have played around with the usage, but the best experience I’ve had so far with my hair is applying 3 pumps to mostly dry hair and brushing it through. My hair wasn’t as frizzy – still a little frizzy though lol – and just seemed to sit in place and stay out of trouble the day of and day after using it.
I’m not a hair person – I don’t do much to my hair at all. So I can’t really talk much about it other than I will be using it for days I plan to have my hair up, which I don’t do often. The smell is sort of like your grandmother’s hair products, so I don’t love that, but it doesn’t stick around.
Also got a toner from Elta MD. The Skin Recovery Essence Toner. I don’t actually have a lot to say about this, I don’t use toners in my daily routine, but I did try it out on bare skin and makeup. It didn’t make me feel dry, it just felt like any other toner. Same kind of smell and texture as everything other toner I’ve ever used, actually, so I don’t have anything to point out about it that’s particularly unique. I don’t like the way toners make my skin feel unless they’re those milky toners that are more like a watery lotion.
I can say though that it did a decent job taking off my makeup, even my eye makeup. And it did alright against a couple of mascara coats. So I have been using it, just because I don’t want to waste it.
I’ve never tried any other products from this brand, but if you go to their website it’s like surfing a doctor’s office website or something. There’s a button that’s like, locate a physician? Or something? So they’re trying to come off like actual doctors, and maybe they are. So that’s their brand. It honestly doesn’t entice me at all and I won’t be looking more into the brand.
Next up is the Tu Turmeric Mask from Dr. Botanicals. I didn’t like this mask very much, even though I know turmeric is supposed to be really good for your skin. But this mask just felt goopy and made my skin feel suffocated.
So the packaging is a squeeze tube but with a screw top, not a flip cap. Did that make sense? Like the cap comes all the way off, doesn’t open and then close for you to get product out. Squeezey tube, flippy cap. Ok?
It’s also a very small package, maybe half the size of other masks I’ve had in this sort of packaging. And it was half air. I don’t know if I got a sample of it or what, but it was at least half empty. I’ve used it twice and it’s already hard to get more product out of the bottle.
The formula is an off-white sort of beige, and comes out just like a moisturizer, except when you put it on it just sits there. It doesn’t exactly dry down, but it does form like ridges where it wasn’t evenly spread out. But it doesn’t feel refreshing, or cooling, or hydrating, or any of that stuff, it just feels heavy, like my skin is wearing a heavy coat and it’s uncomfortable. I keep trying to use it, but I keep wanting to take it off after twenty minutes.
Okay, maybe that’s how long you’re supposed to use it, but you know me, I like to use masks for a long while.
So I don’t like it and won’t probably use it anymore. I have other cream masks I can use when I want to feel quenched.
Next item is definitely a sample size, but it did come with plenty to try. It’s from the brand Sunday Riley, which is a brand I haven’t used a lot from. I think I tried one of their serums out a few months ago. I’m pretty sure it stung.
Anyway, this is the CEO Afterglow Brightening Moisturizer. It comes in a little jar with cap that twists all the way off, and it has probably a week’s worth of product in it, or maybe five days if I were to use it day and night.
The product has this bright yellow-orange hue that’s honestly so intimidating, but the fragrance is super nice, not like in-your-face orange, but definitely like a pretty fruity fragrance.
The only thing with this is, I’ve noticed when I use it during the daytime my makeup has been sort of patching up on my face. Not like Pilling exactly – just like patching. Like it looks okay from a few feet, but when you zoom in it looks like a lil spiderweb of color everywhere. I’m not 100% sure that it’s the moisturizer, but I do think so. Or maybe it’s the moisturizer combined with some other product I’m using.
The texture is more of a gel than a cream, so not like whipped or heavy, very lightweight. Feels very refreshing and – how to say this, like – it isn’t hard to get all of it everywhere? Like, it is smooth and spreads out easily. Does that make sense?
Anyway, I need to play around with it a little more, but I don’t plan to repurchase probably, since it hasn’t impressed me as much as the others I have.
Last but not least! The Fierce Flicks eyeliner from Ciate London.
This liner went on incredibly smooth and was easy to apply. I did a thin line by my lashes and made maybe a 2mm wing, and everything was incredibly smooth. But, even though I had used a very mattifying eye primer before doing my eyes, this liner got oily and transferred to the upper lid. So I had a pretty eye look with a grayish line over it.
And that’s everything I got from Allure for January! I’m really excited to try the products from the next box. This one didn’t wow me like I’ve been wowed before, but the fact that I get so many products in this box gives me more of a chance to like some of it.
The only thing that I did notice, is that the products were not very varied in my opinion. I think there was one makeup product, with the rest being hair and body. Not like the places on the body aren’t varied, but there was only one makeup product. Not like that’s such a bad thing, but I noted it.
Anyway, tune in for February’s box! I picked an item from Beauty Bakerie, and I haven’t gotten to talk about them yet on the blog so I’m excited!
Talk soon,
Dani