body scrub

I love body polishes that don't require excess force to work, particularly ones that use sugar, which is gentler on the skin. Over the weekend, I tried out St. Ives Moisturizing In-Shower Exfoliating Body Polish, Oatmeal & Shea Butter ($8), which contains natural sugar crystals for exfoliation, oatmeal to soothe, and shea butter for softer skin. While this polish is a little difficult to scoop out of the jar due to its texture (think of a dense Crisco), once it hits the skin and some water, it almost melts, creating a rich, spreadable lather.

The polish has a sweet almond scent and a finer, more dissolvable grit than the famous invigorating St. Ives Apricot Scrub ($4). Before shaving, I spread a little of the polish on my legs for a smooth, non-irritating result.

I like it for a pedicure, too. After scrubbing my feet with the body polish, I used my beauty shortcut to fake a real pedicure. A little goes a long way with this product, making for an affordable — and effective — drugstore find.

Rub-a-dub-dub, let's put a homemade scrub in your tub. Check out six sumptuous recipes to pamper different parts of your body (other than just hands and feet). All sugary sweet but not to eat, the crafty concoctions below will have your skin soft in no time.

Brown Sugar Body Scrub	Sesame Ginger Body Scrub	Honey Mint Body Scrub
Lavender Pecan Body Scrub	Lemon Sugar Lip Scrub	Coffee Clove Body Scrub

A few weeks ago my friend decided to make hot buttered rum on a whim. None of us had ever had it, and it sounded kind of gross... yet somehow appealing. (YumSugar has a recipe.) Is it good? It was a mixed bag on that one, but the batter itself served as my inspiration for this brown sugar scrub. Oh, and I just found out that National Hot Buttered Rum Day is this Saturday. Who knew? Yum even has a fun quiz all about this old school drink. Check out some pics below, along with my recipe, too.

Bella's Booze-Free Hot Buttered Rum Brown Sugar Body Scrub:

• Mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar; 1/4 cup almond oil (olive oil would work, too); a dash of ground cinnamon or cinnamon essential oil; and a dash of ground nutmeg or nutmeg essential oil. Apply. Optional: Add a dash of rum extract — Oh, I suppose you could get the real stuff out and mix up a little rum cocktail for yourself, too. Whee!

Source

Last week we switched things around by updating our weekly Beauty Mark It feature. Instead of asking you to go out there and find products that correlate to a specific topic, I asked you to go to our ever-fabulous Product Review Site to give your honest opinions instead. The subject matter this time around? To tell me what you think about your fave/not so fave Body Scrubs and Exfoliants.

I loved reading everybody's opinions, and the following three reviews really stood out:

• Stooped reviewed Victoria's Secret Stimulating Body Scrub ($9) — "I usually prefer scrubs with bran or finely ground seeds, as the sugar scrubs I tried dissolved too early to be effective on the body. VS scrubs don't dissolve right away so you can work in some scrubbing without irking your skin. The fragrances are a bit too sweet at first, but soon wear off to a subtle, pleasing smell. Plus, you can't beat the price. They are also often on a bogo sale in stores."

To see the other two reviews, read more

Does it say something about my lifestyle that in all of these DIYs, the only thing I am apprehensive about is wasting coffee? Luckily, what I came up with is not wasteful at all but instead a delicious body scrub that works as well as it smells. Also, instead of mixing it up in a bowl like I have in the past, I washed out a tub of Kerastase Masquintense. So much environmental responsibility in one post!

For ingredients and instructions, read more

I'm always down for changing things around, and now it's time to ruffle up things a bit on our Beauty Mark It challenges. From now on, I'll provide the topic (suggestions always welcome) and ask you to provide a review of a product within that category. Then, we'll add it to our ever-expanding Product Reviews page, where you can add your own star ratings.

This week, let's kick things off with body scrubs. Whether it comes in a tube or jar or sloughs dead skin with beads, enzymes, or crushed walnuts, one thing's for sure — these products feel great. Just go to the body scrubs section, and the rest is easy. I'll feature my favorite reviews here next week, so what are you waiting for? It's time to voice your opinion.

And don't forget: every day you share a product review, you're entered to win a prize. Huzzah!

Try saying this one three times fast. Not only is this new SweetHoneyDip ChocolateBrownSugah Scrub ($34) from Carol's Daughter so good that you can almost eat it, but it works wonders to slough away dead skin cells. After trying this sweet treat in a hot bath last weekend, I loved the way it left my skin feeling moisturized, soft and luxuriously smooth.

It's packed with real chocolate, honey, vanilla bean and chunks of brown sugar (a natural exfoliant) so it smells divine and feels incredible on your body. It's also formulated with a blend of evening primrose oil, omega 6-fatty acids, vitamin E and olive oil to help restore elasticity and hydrate dry skin.

You may think that the honey, sugar and chocolate would be way too sticky to put on your body, but it's actually not that bad. If you apply a teaspoon at a time to the palms of your hands, then rub it into your wet skin in small circular motions, you'll be all set. Oh, and if you lick a little "by accident" while you're at it, don't worry, it's not going to hurt you — although I'd advise nibbling an actual dessert after a good scrub instead.