Once a scrubber, always a scrubber! (St. Ives Swiss Formula - Apricot Scrub Gentle)

Member Name: claireislafrazer

Product:	St. Ives Swiss Formula - Apricot Scrub Gentle
Date:	16/10/08 (271 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cleanses and doesnt irritate

Disadvantages: NOTHING!!

Ive used facial scrubs for a very long time now, over 15 years id say. My produce of choice used to be aapri's sensitive apricot scrub and I used it for years twice a week to give my skin and extra deep clease. What I loved about it was that it was so gentle but at the same time it really cleaned deeply. Most scrubs tend to be too harsh or too gentle that they dont do anything. Ive been very annoyed recently that I cant find aapri sensitive scrub anywhere and have completely run out of it.

So I have had to change to a new scrub. I noticed st.ives scrubs in the supermarket. They were apricot based as well so I gave them a second look. The tubes they are contained in were much larger than most other facial scrubs, as big as a facial wash bottle for example, which made me think they were for everyday use rather than once or twice a week. Still, it seemed the best option at the time so I decided to get it.

There was a choice of a medicated formula for oily skin or a gentle formular for senstitive skin. Now my skin is oily and can be very spotty but it is also very sensitive. I have found the majority of scrubs for oily or spotty skin are very harsh and just inflame my skin for days and they can make spots worse as you can burst them and the infection can then spread.

So I decided to go for the sensitive version. As I said it comes in a large 150ml squeezy tube, it has a flip top lid on the bottom so when its closed you can stand it up on it. Sometimes you are able to unscrew these lids to help when there isnt much left in the bottle but ive not been able to get it apart as yet, I guess i will use the scissors trick and just cut the tube in half when the moment arises.

The tube itsself has a picture of the alpes at the top as st.ives scrubs are all a swiss formula, (why have they got to have a picture of a mountain though? its a face scrub). Anyway Where is says "apricot scrub" there is a.. well an apricot coloured stripe on the tube with a lot of apricots which look very erm.. ripe and juicy!

This gentle scrub is supposed to gently exfoliate to reveal smooth and radient skin. On the back of the tube it says it is hypo-allergenic and contains 95% naturally derived ingredients which include Swiss glacial water (ah thats why there is a mountain on the tube!) and Swiss botanicals. The vast ingredient list still looked very scientific and chemically based to me though!

Also it states that all the products are dermatologically tested in switzerland, it makes me wonder though, would their testing be more rigorous or less than UK standards?

It says the scrub is gentle enough to be used every day, it doesnt suggest whether you should use it as well as a cleanser/soap though or if its for use afterwards. Well I use scrubs twice a week in the nights and I dont bother using soap beforehand basically because I cant be bothered to do both and figure the scrub should cleanse better than the soap anyway.

What I do is splash some warm water on my face first, squeeze out a little product into my hand, cup my hand while I collect some warm water on my hand too and lather it up. Then I massage the mixture carefully over my face for around a minute and wash off.

I notice it says on the tube that the scrubs can be used on the body too. Well I would have presumed something suitable for the face could be used that way hehe.

When you squeeze out the scrub you will see that it looks like a white moisurising cream with some red/pinky little grains inside of it. The smell of the scrub was a little like marzipan, not sure why that should be! The consistency is very thick for a scrub and like that of a night cream. If you rub it into your hands you will find the grains feel like grains of sand. There are not too many of them either my previous scrub had a much greater density of them. I was worried at first as they felt rough on my hands.

When I applied the scrub to my face I found it was not as harsh as I originally anticipated, it made a good lather and when I had washed it off I found my face too not only feel completely cleansed but also it felt soft. So often with scrubs I find they make my skin feel "tight" probably as they are too harsh for my skin. But I reckon the creamy formula helped to stop this.
I still moisurised afterwards of course but it was excellent not to feel like I had stripped away a layer of skin and be left with sore patches!

I feel you could use this every day but its not my regime to do so. I will continue to use it twice a week and see how it goes. Excellent results so far. Cleansed fully and not irritated!

If you want to find out more about St.ives products you can visit www.stives.com, but as for this particular scrub you can find it for half price at 1.95 at tescos at this moment.

Summary: Perfect for sensitive skin