One of the things that has been brightening up my days of quarantine has been getting mail. I love mail on a good day, but it’s been a great way of marking the passage of time and looking forward to things in the future, even if it’s just the bandannas I bought for the dog off Etsy, or the jeans I bought to replace the pair with the ripped hems. My Allure beauty box has become one of those things. It is hard to believe, but this is the third Allure box to arrive since lockdown (in my state) started.

For those of you not in the know right now, the Allure beauty box is shipped out each month by Allure the magazine. It contains 5-8 items that can be minis, deluxe or travel-sized, or full-sized items. Every month is different, but spoilers come out in advance in case you’re a stop-and-start subscriber. Each month is $15. If you want to get your first month for $10, you can sign up here!

Now that we got that out of the way, what’s in here?

The short version here is that Allure thinks my skin is awful and needs some serious help. This box is essentially entirely skincare this month. I was pretty disappointed that there weren’t really any color makeup items. However, I did receive lots of new brands that I was excited to try with a strong K-beauty slant. K-beauty is one of those things that appeals to me, but I’m kind of lost on where to start. I kind of appreciate some things just falling into my lap so I have a place to begin to experiment from.

Okay. First is the prettiest serum I think I’ve ever seen. It’s the Skin Inc My Daily Dose of Glow (full size, $65). It’s very millennial with pink and blue orbs suspended in the clear liquid. Very cute. Like most skincare, it needs time to really see results, and I don’t think this has finished making a difference for me yet. I have been using this a few days now, and it has made a difference in how much moisture my skin has and keeps. It is also said to improve skin texture, I just haven’t been using it long enough to see it.

I did a double take when I read the name of AHC’s Essential Real Eye Cream for Face (full size, $29). The name just didn’t (still doesn’t) make sense to me. It also seems a little finicky…the brand reformulates this product every year, so how will you know that the one you repurchased is the same one you liked before? So, besides being an eye cream meant to moisturize the whole face, and besides being variable in formula, this seems like a fairly standard moisturizer. I don’t like it more than my First Aid Beauty daily moisturizer, but it does the job without much fuss be way or the other.

And if that wasn’t enough moisture…there’s a Curology moisturizer thrown in for good measure. I can’t put a price on the Curology Smooth Operator moisturizer, because it’s only available as part of a subscription set. Curology isn’t new to me, and I wrote an extensive blog post detailing my experiences with them. I mean, it’s a moisturizer. I wouldn’t get excited about this one. If you had to pick, go with the AHC eye cream not-an-eye-cream.

What about MORE MOISTURE? Let’s toss in the When Glamour Base Sheet Mask ($7). Okay, true story: When was one of the first sponsored deals I ever did as a little baby blogger. I love their sheet masks. They feel very substantial and thick compared to most I’ve tried, and they have a good fit for my face. A lot of the sheet masks I try don’t fit at all, and I don’t like to keep them on. These (and the Neutrogena ones) fir super well and I notice a really big difference in the radiance of my skin. Bonus — these are also made of coconut fiber, not plastic.

After all that moisture, probably need a cleanser of some kind. The Acure Resurfacing Glycolic & Unicorn Root Cleanser ($$). You may be asking, as I did, what is a unicorn root. Well, reader, I fell down a rabbit hole. A weird, shitty rabbit hole. What is unicorn root? It is a lily plant, native to the United States. It’s even found here, in my hometown! Neat! Then it got weird. It mimics estrogen in the body? I don’t want that. I even read an article that said because it mimics estrogen, it should tighten skin and vaginal tone. Awesome. This is where I need to tell you please for the love of God do not put this anywhere near your vagina. I’m going to use this up, mostly because I’m always in need of a cleanser. Cleansers also don’t stay on the skin long, so the glycolic acid will probably do more than the unicorn root ever will. Weird. I’ll use it, but then it’s time to let it go.

Last thing could be considered color cosmetics, but I really don’t think so. It’s the VDL Lumilayer Primer (full-size, $32). This is a very glowy primer that glides on like water. I am definitely interested in continuing to experiment with it. A tip that they recommended was to try this on top of makeup as well, so I’m excited to keep experimenting.

So, no fancy color cosmetics, but its kind of nice to find things to use to fix my quarantine skin. I’ll get some legitimate use out of all the items in here. For $15, I got my money’s worth. If you’re interested in getting a beauty box from Allure, you can check them out here!