Scruba dub dub! -Affordable Daily Exfoliating Scrubs

Exfoliating your skin is essential for removing dead skin cells & excess oils. It is important to use an exfoliant that suits your skin type to make sure that you get the best results! I have combination skin which, to sum it up, basically means it's normal but I get an oily T-Zone & some breakouts around my chin area.. Apparently that is hormonal?? Anyway I will do an update on skin types another day but there is plenty of info online & I'm sure if you go to a make-up counter they'll be able to tell you.. :) 

Okay so I have always found it hard knowing which one to buy, so many brands & prices & promises, which one do I get?! I know Boots like the back of my hand & have probably tried every exfoliant in there from cheap brands to expensive ones. Because I have problem skin I like to gently exfoliate every day, I know a lot of people say that's really bad for your skin but the 4 I am going to talk about all say 'DAILY FACIAL SCRUB' (Apart from the St.Ives one but I'll come back to that) 

First of all the main reason I decided to review these particular scrubs was because they are round a bout the same price.. I personally don't think you don't need to fork out loads of money to achieve nice skin & these products aren't too expensive... SO enough babble, let's get started!

In no particular order...

Clean&Clear Morning Energy:  £3.99 in Boots
When I first saw this I thought the green colour scheme was very inviting, as it's a very fresh colour, which promotes their 'morning energy' idea. But then I realised surley that means there are some colourants in this product, do I really want to be putting those kinds of chemicals on my skin? They also do an orange & a yellow version  I then went on to read the front, which said..

• 'Shine Control Daily Facial Scrub'
• 'Oil-Free'
• 'With bursting beads'
• 'Wakes you up'
• Gently exfoliates for shine free skin all day'
• 'With lemongrass and fruit extracts' 

From reading this I thought. Great! I can gently exfoliate my face everyday, the bursting beads sound very refreshing, it will help me wake up on those 'really don't want to get up days' ... It's oil-free so won't 'cause excessive oil build up & to top it all off it contains lemon grass; a herb native to India & Sri Lanka that contains natural anti-bacterial properties! Well let me just say now unfortunately if something is too good to be true it probably is.. 

The consistency is a gel & contains tinyyyy exfoliating granuals in it which are hardly visible, it then has some larger green 'beads' which are supposed to burst. They either didn't burst or if they did burst I didn't feel it.. You can deffo smell the lemon grass, which is nice, but as I was washing my face I really didn't feel like it was doing much? I didn't feel like I was having a real deep clean & it really dried my skin out, even though It was still oily. What is the point in that? Personally I wouldn't recommend it but I am sure it will suit someone out there! 

Johnsons Daily Essentials: £3.09 in Boots

I really love Johnsons as a brand so it didn't take a lot to make me want to try this. The front simply says 'gentle exfoliating wash for all skin types' which made me think 'Yano what? That's all I need.. I don't need any of these fancy herbs from far away places & extracts of this that & the other' & I think I was right. 

It smells really fresh & clean; just like the rest of their products. The texture is difficult to describe, the wash itself is almost velvety & contains 'micro beads' which exfoliate your skin.. They are so tiny you can barley see them but it's good because it means the product is so concentrated that you only need a small amount at a time. After using it I found that my skin was less oily, clearer & softer after the first use. I'd recommend this product to anyone & have been using it every day since I bought it. It doesn't dry out your skin if you use a daily moisturizer & it isn't a problem using it everyday as long as you don't scrub too hard. 

St. Ives Apricot Scrub: £3.99 in Boots

St Ives do a whole range  of face & body products. From 'invigorating' scrubs to firming scrubs & gentle scrubs. The one I am reviewing is the 'Naturally Clear Blemish Fighting Apricot Scrub' I felt like my skin wasn't responding to the Johnsons face scrub as well as it had been, this could be because things like a weather change or hormones but either way I wanted to try something new...

I felt really positive about trying this product because the first thing I noticed was that it's made from '100% natural exfoliants & Salicylic acid. Just the term 'acid' reminds me of harsh corrosive chemicals that are harmful but actually Salicylic acid is a GOOD kind of acid, which penetrate deep into your follicles & encourages the shedding of dead skin cells which helps to cleanse, preventing your pores from blocking & leading to acne! As if by magic. Another asset is that it doesn't contain Parabens & Phthalates which recent studies show can be harmful. 

Enough of the science-y stuff how was it? Well first of all the consitancy is almost like a cream wash with, what looks like, grains of sand in it. Obviously it's not sand.. (I don't think :S) but whatever it is it definitely exfoliates! It says to use 3 or 4 times a week, which I completely agree with as it's too harsh to use every day. Imbetween I just used my usual make-up remover & rinsed my face with warm water & my skin responded well to that. I guess sometimes our skin just needs a day to regenerate without the use of lots of products. It did help with clearing my skin & I would recommend this product. However, get the right one for you... if you don't like the thought of vigorous exfoliation then try the 'gentle' version because this scrub is quite rough. Also, when you use it don't rub it into the skin, run it over the skin & let all the granules do the work for you!   

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grape Fruit Daily Scrub: £4.95 in Boots

This is the most expensive out of the 4 I am reviewing today. I saw the advert, starring Vanessa Hudgens , & immediately wanted to try it. It looked young, fresh & girly.. plus I have never heard of pink grapefruit being in a facial scrub before. I said on the packaging that it...

• Contains 'Microclear technology' (whatever that is?)
• 'Helps eliminate spots & blemishes'
• Has a 'Fresh clean feel' 

It also says to use in the morning AND evening, which is twice a day... I did think that it would be too much but I wanted to follow their own instructions so that's what I did. It did smell lush & has the same kind of consistency as the Johnsons scrub but a bit thinner. It did feel fresh on the skin but it didn't feel like it was exfoliating. I guess because you're supposed to use it twice a day, every day, they can't make it very 'exfoliate-y'. My blemishes we'rent magically banished in fact they become very & sore & much worse than they were before so I can only think that the citrus-ness of the grape fruit irritated my skin some how? Maybe I have an allergy to one of the ingredients but either way I had to stop using it & as soon as I returned to my St Ives scrub my skin cooled down & was near enough back to normal. 

I would NOT recommend this from my experience. However, everybody's skin is different & responds in different ways.. what may suit ones person may be a train wreck for another so it's just a case of finding what best suits you & once you've found one that works for you don't change it! (Unless your skin changes like mine did)

And the winner is...... *Drum roll*