When it comes to beauty categories, oil has certainly earned the superlative of Biggest Overachiever. The hydrator has surreptitiously snuck its way into our hair products, our cleansing routines, and our showers — but that doesn't mean I took to the trend.
Sure, I knew all about its skin-softening, hair-smoothing benefits. I wanted to like the stuff — I did. I just hadn't found a slick concoction that made it worth the slimy texture it left behind on my skin (which, IMO, is unequivocally the worst). Then the St. Ives Coconut Oil Scrub landed on my desk with its flashy coconut label, and changed absolutely everything. Let me explain.
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For starters, it's classified as an "oil scrub" for your face — which, at first, sounded completely foreign from the oil cleansers flooding the market right now. But it's also entirely different from the oil-laden body scrubs found at most spas, too. That is, it doesn't feel greasy or harsh. Instead, this gel-like exfoliator is surprisingly gentle: It has fine flecks of coconut-shell powder that get the job done without making me feel like I was scrubbing my skin with sandpaper. And when I rinsed it off, it did leave a residual coat of moisture — courtesy of grapeseed and coconut oils — but it didn't feel suffocating in the slightest.
But let's be real here: I'd buy this sudser for its smell alone. While the exact fragrance notes are hard to pinpoint, I'd call it a delicious blend of tropical coconut, fresh fruit you'd find in the lobby of an all-inclusive resort, and vacation air (whatever that means). I'll spare you the novel, and leave you with this: This is one oil worth all the hype.
St. Ives Exfoliate & Nourish Coconut Oil Scrub, $6.99, available at Target.
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