I'm going to come right out with the bad news first: this scrub contains phenoxyethanol. Phenoxyethanol is a preservative I typically avoid, but when I was recently given this scrub, I couldn't resist trying it out. I was completely prepared not to like it and therefore intending to pass it on to someone else after one or two uses without so much as a second thought, but that's not quite how things went...
The first thing I noticed was the delicious smell. It smells like a fantastic combination of orange and vanilla that's very reminiscent of a creamsicle. As scrubs go, it's extremely gentle. Though it contains walnut shell powder, which can be quite harsh, that isn't the case here. It doesn't seem to have very much, so there's actually very little grittiness to this product. What you're left with is basically a creamy cleanser with a few exfoliating granules mixed in. It leaves my skin super soft and while I don't feel like it does a good enough job exfoliating to work as my only scrub, as a cleanser, or alternating with other exfoliators, it works great. The flipside of this is that it's probably gentle enough to use on your skin everyday.
Other than the phenoxyethanol, Sukin's products have great ingredients. So, bearing everything in mind, I've decided to hang onto the scrub for now. I figure, it's a product that gets washed off quickly, phenoxyethanol is low on the ingredients list, and since I'm 99.9% sure it's the only product I own that contains this ingredient, I'm not overly worried about its effects. (How's that for justification?)
I'm tempted, but unless the company reformulates without phenoxyethanol, I doubt I'll be trying any further Sukin products or repurchasing this scrub once I use it up. That said, if you're not someone who avoids this ingredient, I definitely recommend checking out the brand. If the scrub is anything to go by, the products are basic, but still quite lovely. They're also super affordable and I gather the delightful orange-vanilla-creamsicle scent is somewhat of a signature for the company and is common across much of their line.
I'm tempted, but unless the company reformulates without phenoxyethanol, I doubt I'll be trying any further Sukin products or repurchasing this scrub once I use it up. That said, if you're not someone who avoids this ingredient, I definitely recommend checking out the brand. If the scrub is anything to go by, the products are basic, but still quite lovely. They're also super affordable and I gather the delightful orange-vanilla-creamsicle scent is somewhat of a signature for the company and is common across much of their line.
Have you tried anything from Sukin? Is phenoxyethanol an ingredient you're concerned about?
Where to Buy: $9.95 from Sukin
Ingredients: Aqua, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Ceteareth-20, Bambusa Arundinacea Powder (Bamboo), Juglans Regia (Walnut) Shell Powder, Glycerin, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil (Rose Hip), Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract (Chamomile), Arctium Lappa (Burdock) Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Citrus Tangerina (Tangerine) Peel Oil, Citrus Nobilis (Mandarin Orange) Peel Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Vanillin,Vanilla Planifolia Extract, Linalool,* Limonene.* (*Natural component of essential oils)
