.About Soap & Glory® - what they say

Cult brand Soap and Glory was founded on the notion that you shouldn't have to spend an arm and a leg to moisturize one. Famed for their vintage inspired packaging and quirky fun titles, the range consists of moisturizers, make-up and perfumes. Founded by a lady named Marcia who is known to love a bit of gossip and is obsessed with a need to create budget-friendly beauty products.
Marcia (who if you didn't know, also started that now rather big spa chain called Bliss) figured that there were loads of lather-loving ladies out there who wanted to buy really good, generously-sized shower gels and blackhead fighting masks without having to panic when they saw the price sticker. So off she went, taking her nose (to pick great fragrance) and her old friends (who are spectacular at package graphics) and her fifteen years of cosmetic formulating experience (sometimes when she talks chemistry, we just nod and pretend we're right there with her) and launched Soap & Glory. We are determined to prove that you don't have to be bankrupt to be beautiful. Also a good thing to note is that Soap & GloryTM formulas are not tested on animals, only very picky people.

About the product

The Soap & Glory product that I will be reviewing today is a superhero-strength skin smoothing body exfoliator with shea butter, sweet almond oil, peach seed powder, sea salt and sugar - otherwise known as "Flake Away"

The packaging of the product great, not only does it look gorgeously girly, retro and pretty in the bathroom in a beautiful pink! I love the pun on the lid "Transforms your scaly legs from reptilian to radiant" I first bought this product after using garnier summer body - as much as I rate that product if you don't exfoliate properly after using you will end up with the strangest scaly looking skin so I decided after being very happy with all the other Soap & Glory products I had used to give this one a go!
In all my false tan reviews I always say to exfoliate before and after use, so here's how to do it ...


Testing, testing - How to apply

Apply a handful of Soap & Glory Flake AwayTM Body Scrub onto damp skin and massage in circular motions until most of the grains are gone, you can do this with your hands or for added exfoliation you can use a mit (you can usually pick these up from Boots for a few pounds and they just look like rough gloves or S&G do sell their own if you wish!!). Once you have applied this to all the areas you need to (if you are exfoliating before tanning ensure you cover ankles, knees, elbows and any other dry areas) then rinse well, pat dry with a towel and once dry apply moisturiser over the top (I recommend their body butter - The Righteous ButterTM!!)
And as they say - once you use this scrub no-one with know you've been flaking it ;)


My experience with the product

Wow! One of my friends has always been obsessed with Soap & Glory and although I have always bought her it for birthdays I never tried it myself! Well...I was missing out! I first tried the 'Clean on me' body wash and it sold me on the brand. Now I buy most of my bathroom products from Soap and Glory!
The scrub is actually a very thick, clay like paste with lots of grainy bits and a deliciously sweet, fruity and sugary scent of leafy greens, bergamot and mandarin, with floral and fruity middle notes, and a soft, sexy, musk, oakmoss, amber and woody drydown.. It applies really well with the granules melting away as you scrub.

The results: very smooth, polished skin ready for the next tan application or if your not a tanorexic like me just nice silky smooth skin! It's also not harsh or rough on the skin so long as you don't pound it in on application and what I really like is the thin layer of oil/moisture that it leaves on the skin (it's not sticky) - this just makes the application of a moisturising product so much easier and faster. You do have to rinse off in the shower really well following use as the grains are tiny so it's best to make sure they are all gone before you attempt drying off!

Ingredients:
Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Paraffin, Limonene, Ethylhexyl Stearate, Maris Sal (Sea Salt), Polyethylene, Prunus Persica (Peach) Seed Powder, C12-13 Pareth-3, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Cera Microcristallina (Microcrystalline Wax), Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Steareth-2, Parfum (Fragrance), Polysorbate 20, Petrolatum, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Sucrose, Dipropylene Glycol, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, BHT, Geraniol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Citral, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil


Marcia's Tips

Flaky-Skin Fighting Tips from Marcia Kilgore (the founder of Soap & Glory... and before that, Bliss).
1. It may seem obvious, but scrub. Regularly.
Scrubbing the dead skin off not only smoothes away lumps and bumps, it helps moisturiser sink in faster, since it doesn't get stuck on top of dry, dull, keratinized layers of skin cells.

2. Avoid long, hot, steamy showers.
(OK, keep the steamy showers, just avoid the long hot ones). The more water that hits your skin, the more it removes your skin's NMF (built-in natural oils that keep skin soft and supple).

3. Keep your washing and rinsing quick! Don't dry off completely post bath, just 'blot'. Water left on your skin's surface will soak in with your lotion, giving your moisturiser more 'might'.


Overall

The whole company is just great! From the quirky mottos, the fun packaging and the amazing products that they are producing. I would put this company on the same par as Benefit and find both companies very similar besides one very important factor... THE PRICE.

This scrub will set you back £6.64 from Boots, ***if you get there fast it is 3 for 2 on selected products*** and you will collect 24 points onto your advantage card. I think if this was a benefit product you would have to bump it up AT LEAST another ten pounds and I think that is what really makes the company stand out and how it has fast become a brilliant established make within the market. I see lots of traders trying to make copycat soap and glory fakes now within supermarkets etc. but the fact is with the price they are selling it for, you can afford to get the real deal!