Review: St Ives Scrubs

When I did my review about the Desert Essence Cleansing Pads back in October I mentioned at the end of the review that I was currently testing the St Ives facial scrubs. As it's been approximately a month of using these products I figured it was time for a review.

Product Claims

• St Ives Apricot Scrub
  - America's #1 Scrub gently cleans pores and helps stop breakouts before they occur. Oil-Free.  100% natural exfoliants. Contains 2% salicylic acid.
• Green Tea Scrub
  - Scrub with skin-soothing green tea gently fights blemishes and reduces redness and irritation causes by acne. The result is clean and calm skin. Oil-free. 100% natural green tea. Contains 1% salicylic acid. Hyopallergenic, non-comedogenic, and dermatologist tested.

Why I chose this product

As I mentioned before I wasn't happy with the cleansing scrub pads I bought and wanted to try something else. I'd used scrubs in the past (and use a body scrub in the shower) so thought I'd stick with a scrub product. I initially bought the trail/travel sizes that were 99c each from Target in the travel toiletries aisle. Things that drew me to this product were I'd used the St Ives Apricot Scrub previously (when I was in my late teens/early 20's), the product doesn't contain parabens, or animal ingredients, it's dermatologist tested and is not tested on animals. All things I look for in products I purchase regularly. Plus the Green Tea Scrub is hypoallergenic, and as my skin can sometimes be pretty sensitive I figured that was a good thing :)

My opinion

St Ives St Ives Apricot Scrub - This is a product I first used many many years ago, back when I was a teenager I think so this product has been around for YEARS, so I guess it's really stood the test of time. The scrub has ground up apricot pits in it which is where the exfoliating comes from and it's quite thorough. To use, simply moisten face with water, put a blob of product on fingertips and massage into face (avoiding eye area), rinse off with water. The recommendation is to use this 3-4 times a week but for me I found this too much. As I mentioned before my skin is undergoing a change due to age and exercising & showering multiple times a day (toils of a career in fitness) so my skin is much drier than it has been previously. I found 2-3 times a week ample.

St Ives Green Tea Scrub - This product was new to me and I don't think it's been available long as the tube I bought still had a "new" label on it. This product is considerably smoother than the Green Tea Scrub, so I was able to use this everyday without irritation or drying my skin out.

Results

After using the product separately for a week each with good results I decided on a hybrid routine for a week or two. I use the St Ives Apricot Scrub 2-3 days a week and on the in between days I use the Green Tea Scrub . This has proven to give me the best results but I guess it all depends on the individual? Typically I use the St Ives Apricot Scrub on the days I do a LOT of heavy cardio so I get all the sweat out of my pores. On occasion I have left the scrub on for a minute or two as a mini fask mask and that has worked well too! All in all I have seen great results using these scrubs. My skin is noticably smoother, reduced blackheads and aside from a small breakout on my chin when I started using these products nothing since.

I got approximately 2 weeks worth of product from each trail/travel size tube and it was enough for me to know that this was the product for me! I've since bought full size versions of both and continue to use them daily using the apricot 2-3 times a week and the green tea on the other days. Great products and I definitely recommend trying both! Plus they are reasonably priced to around $5-7 each. A little goes a long way so use sparingly!

Since trying these products I am keen to try more St IvesProducts so I'll be keeping my eyes out for trail sizes or maybe picking up a few choice products on Amazon

Tomorrow I'm sharing some scrapbooking contest info so make sure to check back!