Scrubs up nicely (The Body Shop Blue Corn Scrub Mask)

Member Name: ihatebroccoli

Product:	The Body Shop Blue Corn Scrub Mask
Date:	11/11/00 (587 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very effective - deep cleanses as well as exfoliating

Disadvantages: Does dry if you leave it on too long

Who’s it for? – Normal to Oily and Oily Skin

How much is it? - £4.50 at time of writing

How much do you get? – A 100ml tub, and lasts plenty long enough

Packaging – a black tub with a blue label. Simple and effective like most of the Body Shop products, not overly packaged.

What’s in it? – Blue Corn powder exfoliates and removes dead skin cells, oil and dirt, Kaolin clay draws out impurities and excess oil, and Yarrow extract has soothing properties. It is also fragranced with three essential oils – bergamot (a personal favourite), geranium, and ylang-ylang, although I can’t really smell any of them, but maybe they are just that bit “too” subtle for me.

I have been using this product for a number of years, and have found it to be very effective. The best facemask for me that I have found in fact! It has the consistency of a facial scrub, but slightly thicker, and it is slightly blue in colour, but very pale. It is recommended for normal to oily and oily skin, and is a terrific exfoliator. I occasionally tend to use it as a facial scrub alone, by massaging it over damp skin, because the grains in it are large enough to really stimulate the blood flow in the skin, and remove dead skin cells from the surface when you are exfoliating.

Directions: I apply it all over my face, avoiding the eye area, as you would with any facemask, and then leave it for 10 to 15 minutes. It says that it doesn’t dry, but it does if you leave it on too long! Then I usually wet my face again with warm water, and begin to remove the mask, by gentle circling motions with my fingers, until the mask has become moist again. Then, just use it as you would a facial scrub, and massage it over your face, until the entire mask is “on the move” and there are no dry patches left. Then you can start to wash off the product as usual. It’s really a two-in-one product
, because you get a deep cleansing facemask for normal to oily skin, and a facial exfoliator in one.

It has a pleasant but very subtle scent, and it makes your skin feel *so* smooth afterwards. I know it says you can use it once or twice a week, but I tend to really use it if I am getting ready to go out in the evening, because it makes my skin really soft, and make-up sits really well on it afterwards.

I also tend to use it on isolated spots if I don’t have time to apply a whole facemask, as the kaolin clay really seems to bring out the impurities in the skin.

Also available for Normal to Dry, and Dry skin is the Honey and Oatmeal Scrub Mask, which is priced the same, but in a pot with a brown label.

Quite amusing: I read on the Body Shop website that Blue Corn is grown by the Native Americans of New Mexico, and the men “sing” their corn to maturity, and think about “good things” just so that their crop will grow up strong. I suppose it’s no different than talking to your plants, and after all, taking care of something often results in a fruitful outcome, and this can also be said of your skin.

Overall: Excellent as a scrub as well as a mask, two for the price of one.

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