Brightening Exfoliants

Well. G is off shaking her bon bon to her heart's content in lovely Brasilia-- and I am here manning the fort in NYC. Like G promised, there will be plenty of intrepid reporting on the beauty 'secrets' of those hot Brazilian Girls from the southern hemisphere. Meanwhile, I'll be here letting you know how to get your winter relief on.  

Recently as the weather gets cold and dry, my skin has been flaking (read my put down of the poor moisturizing powers of Oil of Olay's  Total Effects line)-- and I have been looking for a way to make my skin look bright and clean. I am a sucker for brightening serums and washes. 

I've been using 2 exfoliators head to head-- and there has emerged a clear winner. I am happy to announce, with a 3 star rating, that Fresh Appleseed Brightening Exfoliant is a beautiful light gel-based scrub that really works in getting rid of those dry and flaking areas that spring up this time of year. It's full of things like mulberry root and strawberry and plumseed oils and primrose butter. I don't really care for these things. The bottom line is this: It smells awesome, it has wonderful, extremely fine exfoliating particles, and it works. It instantly made my skin seems brighter. In 3 uses,  it has practically eliminated all the patches of dry skin around my nose, mouth and chin. The major drawback is that it costs $60 for 3.4oz. Luckily, Fresh gives me lots of samples so I get to try their products before I buy. Go in to the retail boutiques and see if you too can get a nice premium sample of this exfoliant to see if it is worth your $60. I also recommend another exfoliator at this same 3 star level (although, when I used it I wasn't measuring it's brightening capabilities) -- which is the BeFine Exfoliator (please see my review under 'face'). 

Falling short of the mark is a product from a line that I have often held in high regard, which is Clarins' Bright Plus Gentle Brightening Exfoliator. Over the summer, I had a couple of lovely facials at the Clarins Skin Spa in New York-- but I truly believe that the products they use in the spa are much more concentrated than the ones you can buy and take home. I used the Clarins exfoliator three times last week to help with my dry skin, and it didn't even put a dent in sloughing away the dryness. It is $32 for a 1.7oz tube. I love the smell, which is light floral/soapy one-- but this scrub contains big particles that aren't fine enough to help scrub away all the dead cells hanging out on your face. It is supposed to be used as part of a series in order to brighten your face-- but when such disappointing results are achieved through the use of just the exfoliator, it makes me question whether it is smart to buy the rest of the line. Again, I ain't too shy to ask for samples-- my logic being I would rather take a little, try then buy rather than buy a tube and return it, thus wasting a whole lot of the product.

For me, the instant results, the fine consistency and the enjoyable experience of using the Fresh Appleseed Exfoliator make this a product I recommend-- the $60 are justifiable because you are getting quite a lot of product for that money, considering it just takes a little pea size drop to get your entire face with the micro fine particles. A long time ago, a wonderful aesthetician that I used to visit gave me the tiniest sample of her clinical quality exfoliant. It was the most amazing product I had ever used, this tiny amount of product (probably the size of 1/4th of an M&M) lasted me 1 year because it was so fine and potent. I feel the Fresh exfoliant would be in that league-- it will last you forever because a little goes a long way. 

Whatever you use, remember to exfoliate to keep your winter skin looking bright. 

Luminous Kisses!

S.