Beauty Bar and Allure Magazine Partner to Launch Sample Society

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The premier beauty retailer, Beauty Bar, is collaborating with The Beauty Expert, Allure magazine, to introduce Sample Society—a breakthrough in beauty sampling. A members-only subscription service, Sample Society delivers the most exclusive samples of hair-care, makeup, skin-care and fragrance products plus expert information each month.

As the number-one driver of discovery and purchase, sampling has solidified its position as the backbone of the 30-billion-dollar beauty industry. Product sampling has long been a marketing tool, with samples of all kinds reaching 70 million households each quarter.*  In fact, according to a national poll, 49 percent of women say sampling is the top purchase motivator when it comes to new beauty products.**  Beauty is the only industry to reinvent sampling and turn it into a paid service.

The beauty sampling experience has evolved from the passive and free department store gift-with-purchase model to a sought-after service women are willing to pay to join. Beauty Bar and Allure are reinventing it yet again—by marrying expert advice and insight from Allure editors with deluxe samples culled from Beauty Bar's expansive selection of high-end domestic and international products—to create the ultimate beauty Sample Society.

"Given the thousands of beauty products that are introduced each year, sampling just makes sense," says Linda Wells, editor in chief of Allure. "Who can really buy all those products? Who has the time to try them all? With Sample Society, the products are edited, and the sizes are ideal for multiple uses—so you can really figure out if the product is right for you. And what I also love about it is that the box feels like a present. It offers the pleasure of discovery."

A Sample Society membership introduces consumers to the latest trends and innovations in beauty through sampling. As members, customers receive the following every month:

• Five deluxe-size samples from premium brands such as By Terry, Dermalogica, Fekkai Advanced, and Bond No. 9. Samples are deluxe-size, meaning they are intended for more than one use, allowing customers to truly experience and test products' efficacy.
• Original content written by Allure editors with each month's samples, giving the customer relevant expert information that can optimize her experience and ultimately help her make purchase decisions.
• A $15 gift code that can be used toward the purchase of any product from the featured brands received that month (not just the specific product sampled), meaning that each box pays for itself .

Allure, the only magazine dedicated to beauty, is an insider's guide to a woman's total image.  Allure investigates and celebrates skin care, hair, makeup, fragrance, and fashion with objectivity and candor, and places appearance in a larger cultural context.

*source: Allure's Beauty Insights

**source: Promotion Marketing Association

Visit beautybar.com/samplesociety for more information.

SOURCE Allure