Binge-watching may be America’s favorite pastime, but at Allure our pursuit of choice is product testing. And in the months leading up to our Best of Beauty Awards, the plotlines are as thick as the competition. Is that dark-horse conditioner really going to unseat a longtime favorite? How many of us will get rashy while testing body washes? The tension, it’s palpable! So as you count the days until our 2018 winners are revealed in the October issue (your calendar’s marked for September 18, right?), consider this month's Beauty Box a recap of episodes past — the makeup, styling products, and skin-care innovations that got us completely hooked.
M.A.C Lipstick Ruby Woo or Lustering
You have one of these shades in your box this month and let me
just say: Congratulations. This is a true win-win. Lustering (above
right) is a glossy watermelon pink — when it won its Best of Beauty
Award, we deemed it “not an all-or-nothing bright.” You can do one
swipe for a sheer pink stain or keep layering to dial up to a bolder
fuchsia. And Ruby Woo (above right), as we imagine you already
know, is the matte cherry to end all matte cherries. It has racked up
an Allure Best of Beauty Award, three Readers’ Choice Awards, and
(give or take) 3,674,591 makeup-artist recommendations. The
opaque color has blue undertones that flatter every skin tone and
make your teeth sparkle, as if a drop of coffee has never passed
your lips. I usually pair either shade with little else — a trace of black
liquid eyeliner, mascara, brow gel, and strategic concealer.
Value: M.A.C Lipstick Lustering or Ruby Woo, $18.50 each
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Tarte Tarteist Pro Lash Adhesive in Clear
A lot of lash glues come in little squeezy tubes that can leave you
dealing with too much of a good thing. This one comes with a slim
brush — swipe it along the base of your fakes and you’ll always get the perfect amount of evenly distributed sticky stuff. “And the formula is thinner than other glues I’ve tried, which also helps prevent dripping or blobbing,” says Kathleen Suico, beauty assistant and
resident lash editor at Allure. After you’ve painted it on the strip,
give it a few seconds to turn tacky before you continue. Don’t
delay after that, though: Once you press the glue on, you only have
a few seconds to make adjustments before it dries and locks those
lashes in place. “It kept my strips on all day — and it was a day that
included a spin class — and removal was easy: just a quick tug at the outer corners and they came right off.” Like all of Tarte’s products, the glue is cruelty-free and made without parabens, phthalates, and mineral oil.
Value: Tarte Tarteist Pro Lash Adhesive in Clear, $9
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Tarte Tarteist Pro Girl Boss Lashes
These lashes are glam with a capital G. Also, a capital L and A and
M. Long and full and lush, they’re perfect for anytime you want a
really sexy, really dramatic effect. “And they make your eyes look
huge in pictures,” says Suico, who considers them her go-to lashes
for Instagram. The first time you take them out of the box, hold
each end between your thumb and forefinger and give them a little
wiggle; this will loosen them up so they can really hug your lash
lines. You may also want to trim the inner corners so they only
extend across about three-quarters of your lids and can’t poke your
tear ducts (like we said: they’re long and full). Coat the strips with
the Tarte lash glue, tilt your head back, and press them onto your
lash lines, working from the outer corners in. After each use, clean
them with makeup remover so you can get more mileage out of the
set. (These haven’t won a Best of Beauty Award, but the Tarte lash
adhesive that’s in your box has, and we weren’t going to give you
glue without lashes to go with it!)
Value: Tarte Tarteist Pro Girl Boss Lashes, $12
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Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial
It would be fair to assume that T.L.C. stands for tender loving care: This creamy, fragrance-free peel has earned its burgeoning cult status (and 2017 Best of Beauty Award) for being as gentle as it is effective. But the acronym actually refers to tartaric, lactic, and citric acids — three of its skin-brightening, pore-tightening ingredients.
(Glycolic and salicylic acids round out the list.) Another fun fact: It
won its Allure prize in our naturals category, which means it’s free of
parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, and eight other not-so-green
ingredients. There’s not an editor here who doesn’t use this stuff, but
digital editor Sarah Kinonen is perhaps its biggest fan: “I have very
sensitive skin, so normally I can’t use peels. This one only leaves me
a little red for the first few hours, and it’s helped fade my acne scars.”
Value: Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial, $80
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IGK Rich Kid Coconut Oil Gel
Want your hair to feel entitled?
Spoil it with a dollop (or two) of this
silky cream-gel hybrid. It infuses
straight hair with piecey texture,
enhances God-given waves and curls, and smells fancy (like bergamot and lemon zest). “I love how it makes my fine curls tousled, not
stiff or tacky,” says Devon Abelman,
digital beauty reporter at Allure. “I
rake it through my damp hair, do a
little scrunching for extra oomph,
and air-dry. My curls stay defined
and frizz-free for three full days.”
Value: IGK Rich Kid Coconut Oil Gel, $29
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Living Proof Full Dry Volume Blast
This spray won our coveted Breakthrough Award in 2016 for its innovative formula — inspired by insulating foam (stay with us). It contains hollow balls made of polymers puffed up to become bigger and lighter than standard volumizing ingredients. “Other volumizers are heavier, so they work for only a few hours and can make hair crunchy,” says cosmetic chemist Ni’Kita Wilson. This one lasts all day, and “you won’t feel it in your hair, but you’ll see a difference — the ingredients create space between each strand” to add lots of touchable volume.
Value: Living Proof Full Dry Volume Blast, $29
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