I love a good scrub. I love my skin feeling silky smooth and soft. I use a facial scrub every single morning in the shower. One of my favorite scrubs is St. Ives Apricot Scrub. It scrubs off the dry skin and leave my face soft and smooth without leaving me overly dry or with that ’’tight’’ feeling.
Ingredients
St. Ives Apricot Scrub is made of natural botanicals that other products simply don’t offer. It contains apricot, obviously, to moisturize. It also has sunflower and elderberry extracts. Elderberry is supposed to be soothing to the skin. It also contains the usual multi-syllabic ingredients that I am not going to list, but it feels good knowing that there are some natural ingredients included.
Appearance
The scrub is a peachy brownish color. It is very thick like the consistency of a mud mask for example, but it is easy to spread around and massage into your skin. It comes in am easy 6 oz. squeeze tube with a flip lid that can stand up on the counter or edge of the tub. You can see tiny brown flecks in the scrub. These are small ground walnut shells in it. This is what sloughs off the dead skin. The walnut shells are small enough to not hurt, but strong enough to work effectively.
Use
You only need to squeeze a small amount on your hand, I rub it into my hands first and then rub it on my face. It seems to spread around better this way. Massage gently over your face and neck. Be careful around areas that are more sensitive like near the eyes. Spend a little extra time working the scrub into areas that need a little extra attention. For me, that is my chin and the sides of my nose. When you are finished, rinse the scrub off. You will need to work at it to get the scrub all off. A light splashing will not do it! Pay close attention to your hairline and behind your ears or you may find gritty walnut pieces there later!
Scent
The scrub does have a fairly strong scent. It is supposed to smell like apricots, but too me it smells fake and a little too sweet. I prefer a cleaner, fresher smell. It isn’t really a bad smell, just too fake smelling. I still use this product despite the sweet smell.
My results
This scrub removed all the dead skin cells from my face, especially the ones that like to cling to the sides of my nose or my chin. It didn’t irritate my skin at all. I was able to use it everyday. If you have normal skin, it shouldn’t bother you. My skin was left soft and smooth from the exfoliating walnut shells as well as fresh and clean. It scrubbed my face enough to leave me with a healthy rosy glow without drying my skin out. I felt refreshed and ready to face the day!
What if My Skin is Sensitive or Prone to Breakouts?
I think this product is gentle enough to use everyday, but I wouldn’t recommend it for people with sensitive skin or skin prone to blemishes because there are the walnut shells that could potentially irritate your skin. But you are in luck! St. Ives offers a sensitive skin version that works well also.
The sensitive skin scrub is a clear cleanser with small white beads (jojoba beads) that do the scrubbing. No walnuts in this one! This scrub is much more gentle and will not irritate blemishes and breakouts. I also prefer the smell of this scrub to the traditional apricot scrub. It is not quite as sweet. It has a cleaner, fresher apricot smell. Currently, I have the sensitive skin formula scrub in my shower simply because I like the scent so much better!
This scrub also is available in a medicated formula. I have only used this once a year or so ago when Target was out of the regular Apricot scrub. It is exactly the same as the regular scrub, but with salicylic acid to deep clean pores and remove dirt and oil.It does have a slight medicinal smell to it as well. I don’t need a medicated scrub and I didn’t notice any difference in my skin between the regular apricot scrub and the medicated scrub.
Does this Scrub Only Work on the Face?
You don’t have to use this scrub only on your face.It works on any part of your body that needs a little TLC. Rough knees or elbows, even feet! It is a wonderful exfoliator to use anywhere!
This scrub last a long time. It is an excellent value for your money. I use my scrub everyday and it lasts me at least 3 or 4 months. Someone with more sensitive skin or someone who doesn’t need to exfoliate everyday could have it last even longer. For around $10 (Australian), there isn’t another scrub that works this well.
I really like this product. St. Ives is an excellent brand that makes high quality products. They never test on animals and this scrub is hypo-allergenic. It is very inexpensive and available in any grocery or drug store. It works well while being gentle on the skin. I highly recommend this scrub.