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Mandara Spa Island Paradise Smoothing Shower Scrub
by ms_123
If you've read my previous review you'll know that for Christmas this year one of my friends gave me a Mandara Spa gift set, containing a shower gel, shower scrub and cooling gel. I was really pleased to receive these and as they sounded quite summery in their description I waited until a few weeks ago to start using the products. I have ... reviewed the shower gel in my previous review and will now focus on the accompanying shower scrub.
For those, like me, who had not heard of Mandara spa - they are a company who run luxury spas all over the world and originate in Bali, where they use knowledge of the healing arts which are passed down from generation to generation which are applied in their spas. Alongside their treatements they also sell some of the products which they use on their clients, which are all inspired by natural ingredients and can be used to create a mini spa experience at home.
For a number of years now I have been using a shower scrub once a week to exfoliate my skin and sluice off any dead skin cells, keeping my skin smooth, soft and healthy looking. I was therefore looking forward to trying out this offering to see how it compares to others that I have used.
The Island Paradise smoothing shower scrub itself is housed in a turquoise tube, which stands on a gold coloured flip top lid and in appearance looks very much like the shower gel that accompanies this. The tube itself is semi-transparent and the white coloured scrub can be made out through this - handy as I then know exactly how much product I have left remaining. The tube is decorated with watermarked gold paisley type patterns, which look rather like traditional Indian henna designs. I think the design of the bottle is quite elegant, and it definitely looks like a high end product. Each tube contains 150ml of shower scrub.
The shower scrub is described as containing the revitalising fragrance of grapefruit and lemon -scents that according to the back of the tube will transport you to and exotic island where the stress and tension of daily life will melt away. The scrub contains naturally stimulating ginseng, exfoliating peach stone granules, moisturising kukui nut oil, sweet orange, lemon and patchouli. It all sounds quite exotic and very summary - I really like citrus smells and this product sounded like it would be one that I would like. The scrub is free from sodium laureth sulphate, parabens and mineral oils, which is good to know.
The scrub itself is white in colour, has a fairly runny consistency and the peach stone granules are clearly visible as brown specs dispersed throughout the scrub. To use the product I applied to wet skin rubbing in a circular motion. As I did so I could feel the peach granules working away at my skin and they although they are quite fine, they also felt quite sharp and once rinsed off my skin was left tingling. Despite this sharpness once rinsed away there was no sign of redness or irritation and my skin was left feeling very smooth, soft and revitalised. The scrub has a pleasant smell, which is quite citrussy but it's not a scent I would describe as synthetic or artificial. The scent is quite delicate and I do have a preference for stronger smelling citrus products, particularly if I am using them in the morning as they do tend to wake me up! The scent has good longevity and lingers on my skin for a few hours after use which is good.
The only downside to the scrub is that I have found that the peach stone granules do tend to accumulate at the bottom of my bath tub and it does take some effort to rinse these away. I have in the past used a lot of sugar scrubs and these exfoliate my skin just as well but have the added bonus of the sugar just dissolving in the water and therefore washing away with ease.
It appears that the shower scrub can only be purchased at one of the Mandara Spas or via www.timetospa.co.uk/mandara-spa. It retails at around £6.50, which is a little expensive, although the price is in line with similar products. The scrub is currently on offer at £3.50, which is very good value in my opinion and at this price I wouldn't hesitate to purchase. Overall I am quite pleased with this product and would definitely recommend.
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Soap & Glory Breakfast Scrub
by beautyaddict101
Every year my mum buys me the big Soap and Glory giftset for Christmas...I think most people find 'bath stuff' boring and hate receiving it for Christmas but I love it! I love trying new products and always put the products to good use.
Soap and Glory are a brand available from Boots. They create skincare products, bath and ... body products and make-up aswell. I love this brand, I'm a sucker for quirky slogans and fun packaging!
THE CLAIMS:
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Don't skip...THE BREAKFAST SCRUBTM oat, shea butter & sugar body smoother. Try out this amazing, good enough to eat Soap & Glory The Breakfast Scrub Body Exfoliator 300ml body scrub.
MY EXPERIENCE:
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I'm always fake tanning therefore I'm always in need of a good scrub, The consistancy of this scrub is perfect, when exfoliating your body (especially your legs) you need something pretty gritty to remove all that dead skin so you get a nice, smooth finish. The scrub is coarse enough for this but not so coarse it takes half your skin off with it.
The smell is one of my favourite things about this, it has a sweet, maple syrup scent that's just lovely to use. When using this scrub a little goes a long way so you only need a little bit each time. The scrub doesn't look great in the tub it's a kind of caramel colour with lots of bits in but the smell is so good this doesn't matter and the feel afterwards is amazing! Your skin is silky smooth and smells delicious! Skin also feels moisturised to (must be the shea butter!)
I was interested to see on the Boots website it has also won a lot of awards for being the best body scrub by:
* Cosmo Beauty Awards 2011
* U Magazine Beauty readers 2011
* Top Santé Beauty Awards 2012
* Company Beauty Awards 2012.
This says it all to me and in my opinion it deserves every award! It really is the perfect body scrub!
PACKAGING:
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The scrub comes in a clear tub with a pink screw top with the writing on the top. I like the clear tub as I can see how much is left and know when it needs replacing. I love Soap and Glory packaging it's always fun, girly and pink with quirky titles and slogans and tongue-in-cheek catchphrases...much more interesting to read than most products out there!
VALUE FOR MONEY:
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I got this as part of a set but it retails at £8.00 for a 300ml tub, as I mentioned before a little goes a long way so it lasts a long time and really does live up to the claims. Excellent value in my opinion.
CONCLUSION:
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My favourite body scrub ever! I would definately recommend this to anyone and will 100% be repurchasing this!
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