ProductWhores

Scrubbing It Up

I love a good scrub.  Body washes are great, but it's nice to give yourself a good exfoliation every once in awhile.  The Almond Cookie Sea Salt Scrub by Carol's Daughter is a recent addition to my shower and from my experience, it should be to yours as well.  The packaging is adorable - it comes in a plastic jar with actual almonds floating in the scrub.  I'm such a sucker for touches like that.  Since the scrub itself is made with sea salt, it's a little rough in its consistency.  I had no problem with it and in fact, the roughness makes it a great exfoliator, but those of you with sensitive skin might want to test it out on a small section of your skin first.  The best part about this scrub is the scent.  It smells delicious - it's so good that I've had to force myself not to use it in the morning because it makes me hungry and I end up at Starbucks ordering one of those bacon, cheddar and egg sandwiches.  (They're amazing, but once your diet includes something like that before 9 am, it's all downhill from there).  The scrub is described as smelling like "the sweet essence of almonds blended with marzipan and enticing, warm accords of sandalwood and mists of musk, almond, lemon, sandalwood and vanilla, tapioca pearls and apple slices."  That's a lot of words to describe what I can sum up like this - "Yum."  It leaves my skin soft and silky, but make sure you're careful - it's a little slippery, so if you drop it on the floor of the shower, you're going to turn into a cartoon character, slipping and sliding around.  But hey, there's an easy fix for that - make sure all of the precious scrub makes it onto your body.  Your skin will thank you!

Photo courtesy of Carol's Daughter

Scrubbing That Doesn't Involve Sinks and Countertops

I love a good scrub.  The feeling, whether psychological or not, of it taking off all my dry skin and impurities is so lifting.  And don’t even get me started on how soft my skin is as a result of constant usage.  Some people could discuss politics for hours… I could discuss the benefits of a really great scrub.  I am a huge fan of the Aromatherapy line of sugar scrubs from BBW for a few reasons.  They smell fantastic (Eucalyptis Spearmint is my fave), come in a giant cool-looking glass pot, make my skin super soft and are inexpensive considering all the scrub you get for twenty bucks.  What’s not to love?  I recently discovered that they even double as a wonderful hand scrub.  I bought a little travel size and, in a desperate attempt to soften my chapped, sore hands, pulled it out of my cabinet.  With a little scrub spread all over my hands, a miracle occurred.  My hands actually got soft and without the horrible stinging that so many creams and scrubs can cause when my skin is already suffering from the cold!  Brilliant.  A definite must-have for any beauty junkie who’s addicted to scrubbing.  Why can’t I be addicted to working out.

Bananas Foster

When I was a kid, I saw a TV show where a restaurant was serving bananas foster and ever since then, I've wanted to try it . There's bananas! And rum! And brown sugar! And the entire thing gets set on fire! What's not to love? But for some reason, it's never quite worked out and I still haven't tasted the flaming bananas. (Uhm, that sounds vaguely dirty. It's not, I swear). So when I saw that Sephora has a new scrub in that very scent, I had to buy it. It smells pretty much how I always pictured the dessert smelling, like bananas and vanilla and sweet, like burnt sugar. And as far as scrubs go, it works well. It exfoliates without being too harsh and when it washes off, it leaves your skin softer than before. All in all, a good buy, especially at only $18. Now, can anyone recommend a restaurant in Los Angeles that serves a good bananas foster?

Nuts About It

I love The Body Shop.  Before Bath and Body Works, it was my go to store for shower products, but after I fell in love with BBW, I found myself going into The Body Shop less and less, which is kind of sad.  It was like a break up where you've slowly drifted apart, the kind where you cry and swear that you're always going to be friends, but then never talk again until you randomly run into each other at the mall and have an awkward conversation in front of Hot Dog on a Stick.

Lucky for me, when I found myself in one of their stores recently, it made me remember all the things I loved about it when we first started going out.  They have some really great products and they're very environmentally conscious, which makes me feel a lot less guilty about spending money there because after all, I'm helping the rainforest.  And if the rainforest wants me to have a yummy shower scrub, who am I to argue?

One of my favorite purchases was the Brazil Nut Body Scrub.  It smells ridiculously good, like toasted nuts, which is perfect for me because I'm a sucker for products that smell like food.  The scrub is thick but not abrasive, so you can use it on your legs even after shaving and not irritate your skin.  And because it's thick, it doesn't fall all over your shower floor and make it slippery, a big consideration when you're as much of a klutz as I am.  (I have an irrational fear of falling in the tub and knocking myself unconscious.  It sounds stupid, but I've come close a few times.  There are some really hazardous products out there).  I also like that it left my skin soft when I got out of the shower - I could've gone without moisturizer if I'd wanted to.  Plus, it's only $16.50, a bargain compared to some of the scrubs that are out there.

I'm so glad  we've found our way back to each other, Body Shop.  I can't promise I'll stop seeing other stores though...    

There's a Reason They Were On Sale

So my dear friend BBW (yeah, that’s Bath and Body works) was having her semi-annual sale.  Since their prices are actually a bargain (unlike most of the Victoria’s Secret semi-annual sale items) I am always psyched to go and bin-dive with my mesh shopping tote.  This time around I found that most of the Tutti Dolci scrubs were on sale.  Sweet!  I loaded up with an Angel Food Cake and a Lemon Meringue and happily carted them home to use.  Now, you’ll understand my deeply saddened feelings when you hear what a mess they make.  Okay, great scent, seemingly good scrubbing sugar granules and that’s where my praise ends.  It was a slippery mess all over my body and shower.  Whatever other ingredients are in the body scrubs made my skin feel like I had rolled around in a pool of Vaseline.  It gave my skin that horrible sensation of something always being on it.  I know they were thinking this would feel moisturizing, but it just made me physically mad.  I needed to use another scrub to get rid of my Tutti Dolci scrub!  Then, once I stepped out of the shower and began to dry off my skin, it looked as though skin was actually peeling off.   I know it was, once again, the strange ingredients in the product, but it is so annoying!  Ugh.  If you’re at BBW roll your eyes at the shelves of Tutti Dolci scrubs and head over and pick up a scrub from 100% Pure – a wonderful line with no annoying traits whatsoever.