Beauty Bar — Sample Society

Beauty Bar and Allure's Sample Society subscription box just arrived... want to take a peek inside? [total spoiler alert ahead]

What's Inside >


Sample Society is one of the old standards, along with Glossy and Birchbox, when it comes to beauty subscription services. It adheres to the original tenets of charging a low price that includes shipping ($15), monthly shipments without fail, deluxe sample sizes to try and a pop up shop online to purchase full sized versions if you so choose. Or at least it tries to. It also has the nice advantage of allowing someone to easily gift someone a series of boxes as well. The last bit made me want to order a box primarily to share here... and because previous boxes included full sized Butter London nail polishes and petite versions of perfume such as Diptyque!

From the pictures above, sadly no Butter London or Diptyque but to be honest after popping the lid that didn't even initially phase me. Instead I thought the box confirmed my suspicion that Nov. and Dec. boxes always seem to be the best. Extra polish, shimmer and fun.

Usually with anything beauty wise I test things for a while before sharing thoughts but these are all, in my opinion, instant gratification. My eyes and hand went right for the Borghese (now that's a blast from the past!) in the huge tube. It did take me a while to figure it out as it simply says Splendore brightening makeup. Looking at the super pink silly putty color my first thoughts were, oh no, not foundation. Thankfully it turned out to be a highlighter. And did I mention it's huge!? It reminds me a lot of Nars' illuminator in Copacabana, only much more refined, less glittery and wearable. It's pretty neutral too. A little goes a long way (no way would I slather this over my entire face, too disco ball) so it could last ages. That's when I looked up and found this is actually full sized. The only difference is it's in a plastic tube whereas the Splendore in the Beauty Bar pop up shop is in a glass bottle where it sells for $29.50. Score!

Everything else after that is truly a sample, some deluxe and some just a sample with the added advantage of being rather rare to get a hold of. The Annick Goutal for instance. In this case her Eau d' Hadrien fragrance. Of course it smells absolutely amazing although it is not exactly a cold weather scent. Instead it's a very bright mix of citrus with herbal greenery and a hint of creaminess. It lists Eyptian basil, Tunisian rosemary, Sicilian lemon, Citron and grapefruit, the latter of which is Goutal's signature acidity, to channel an Italian holiday. Adore the bottles but never found a scent I truly loved from her until now. Double score.

After that is a little travel candle by Illume in the scent Balsam & Cedar. I haven't met a Balsam yet that I haven't adored so it was a given this would be my new friend but it also turned out to be unexpectedly complex. It's sweet and almost fruity but has that lovely bright green moss and Christmas tree scent to it as well. After that is a little Murad pore and line minimizing lotion. We'll see about that but so far it has a lovely, slick feel to it somewhere between a primer and moisturizer. Then lastly a super cute, tiny Jane Iredale Lip Drink. The Iredale shadows that I use from time to time are lovely so I was really interested in trying this. Smelling like a lemon drop, a single pass feels so rich and moisturizing although it does leave a white cast behind. The weird part is despite repeated use the bullet looks pristine. Tiny never ending chap stick.

Sturdy reusable black box, pretty gleaming silver tissue paper... a warm candle, something for chapped lips, some illumination. This Sample Society looks a lot different from what I've seen before. I will mention there was a billing snafu on their part, back and forth with very pleasant customer service but the box did come. We'll just have to see what happens next month.



PS... for more tried and true subscription services, see the review area devoted to them here.

Image: mam for Gave That