Allure staffers know you're not really reading the mag for its insightful editorial pieces or up-to-the-minute hair and makeup tips. Let's face it, you're reading it because it's the only magazine your at your doctor's office other than Highlights (and some sickly looking kid already grabbed that) or because you bought a 2-year subscription for only $8.99 on ebay.

And that's why they've upped their marketing campaign this time around, and discovered a little known strategy they like to call, "bribing you with expensive products."

The magazine has stepped up its effort to make the most of print and online at the same time, bringing back its August sampling issue after a successful dry run last year. Many products advertised in this year's version, which a cover line touts as "The Free Stuff Issue," are available as samples, either bound into the magazine or through the AllureAccess.com Web site.

Our verdict? Any magazine that asks its readers "if you were going to get a nose job, whose photo would you bring to the plastic surgeon?" needs a hell of a lot more than free moisturizer to get those copies flying off the racks. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're off to satisfy our intellectual curiosity by reading the rest of Julia Allisons' tips for maximizing your sex appeal in this month's Cosmopolitan.