Dona body polish - scrub by System JO - review by - Kira -

Dona is a new line by a brand you may already have heard of - System JO. This new line in the JO family has formed to bring you a line of personal care products that are aphrodisiac infused. The idea behind the products is to create a ritual with them. When this ritual is followed, the user will have the ultimate experience that will "nurture your mind, body, and sensuality."

There are five steps to the Dona ritual. These steps are relax, cleanse, nourish, illuminate, and engage. The Dona Body Polish is part of step two - cleanse. The polish is used to remove dead skin from the body and reveal glowing skin beneath it. It can be applied either with the hand, loofah, or sponge. It is intended to leave the skin feeling moisturized after using it.

The polish as well as most of the steps in the Dona ritual can be used by men or women. The scent is not overly feminine and could be enjoyed by anyone.

Dona Body Polish is currently available on Eden in Mangosteen, Blue Lotus, or Goji Berry. I have the Mangosteen scent, so this review will focus on that.

Dona advertises that they are an all natural company. They say they use all naturally derived ingredients, no parabens, no sulfates, no harsh chemicals, and no preservatives. I'll go into the ingredient details later in the review. You should make sure to check these for possible sensitivities or allergies.

This is called a polish, which leads to the question of what is the difference between a polish and a scrub. To be honest, pretty much everything I was able to find uses the two terms interchangeably. The few things I have found that make a distinction as well as what I have noticed in my own products is that a scrub is more grainy. If you have something that looks like chunks of salt or sugar, it's more likely a scrub than a polish. If there is lots of other things surrounding the sugar or salt, then it's probably a polish product.

Dona Body Polish is a salt based polish which also has coffee seed in it. It has a base of oils, waxes, and rice. When you look at the polish, it looks very thick. You can almost see the rice ingredient in the base, which I assume is part of what helps make it the thicker consistency. While it is a thick product, it comes out of the container easily. It's not firm like a body butter or balm.

Within the base there is a light amount of the "polish" which translates to grit. This is spread out in the product unlike a scrub where the grit makes up the bulk of it. The grit is finely milled within the product aside from what I believe to be the coffee seed (the darker colored grit). When rubbed in between the fingers, it feels slick almost like a more solid conditioner with tiny solid particles in it. It does not feel greasy or sticky at all.

Mine is the Mangosteen scent. Mangosteen is type of fruit that apparently tastes nothing like a mango. Mangosteen is a tropical yet sweet scent, unlike anything I have every smelled before. It's very hard for me to find something to compare this scent to because it doesn't really smell like anything other than itself. It smells sort of like citrus but then not because of the sweetness. The citrus brings down the sweet scent though, so it can't exactly be described as a sweet smell either. My husband says he thinks it smells like a candle shop, which I take to mean that it smells like a hodgepodge of other smells. I kinda get this description because of the weird citrus yet sweet smell. I personally really like the way it smells, I just can't pinpoint what exactly it smells like.

The smell is medium in strength. You can smell it when you use it, but it won't take over the entire bathroom. I get migraines and even now that I've been sitting here sniffing at it for five minutes trying to figure out how to describe the scent I still don't have a headache from it. It manages to be noticeable in strength but not overbearing. After using it, it stays on the skin for only a short period of time - perhaps 30 minutes or less.

I was very excited to get the Dona Polish. After I opened it and smelled it, my excitement grew. Upon first application to my skin, I was immediately disappointed with the amount of grit in the product. It felt more like a moisturizing body wash than a scrub or polish. The amount of exfoliant in the product just wasn't enough to really scrub the skin effectively.

I would have been willing to call the polish average, but then a minute into use my skin started to burn very badly. A few seconds later, my skin was turning red and blotchy and generally feeling like it was set on fire. Even after rinsing the product off, my skin still burned lightly and remained red well after I had gotten out of the shower and dried off.

I checked the ingredients in the polish again to double check I was not allergic to any of them. Nope, I'm not. I emailed one of the reps from Dona to ask what this reaction might be due to. Her reply was that the salts used in the polish contain high levels of minerals. These minerals help to absorb the aphrodisiacs into the skin. She said that her chemist said this was likely what was causing the sensitivity.

One bonus to this reaction was that I only used the product on half my body. This let me test how much softer that half of my skin felt in comparison to the side that I didn't use the Dona Polish on. I really didn't notice any difference in skin softness on the side I had applied the polish to. I don't feel like there's enough grit to the product to get a good amount of skin exfoliation. The oils do seem to moisturize a bit, but for all that I can just use lotion or a moisturizing body wash. A polish or scrub I use to remove dead skin cells.

I will give this product that it doesn't leave any residue behind after you rinse it off. Some scrubs or polishes leave an oily feel behind them and this one doesn't. It feels similar to a thick body wash after rinsing it off.

There is no packaging outside of the jar the product comes in. The front says "Dona an aphrodisiac infused ritual" and lists the scent of the product. The back says "Let the goddess in you shine." It explains what the product is and how to use it as well as lists the ingredients.

The ingredients are:

Sodium Chloride, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Oil, Glycine Soja Wax, Isopropyl Myristate, Modified Corn Starch, Sodium Lauryl Sarcosinate, Cetyl Palmitate, Sorbitan Palmitate, Sorbitan Olivate, Cetearyl Olivate, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed, Laminaria Digitata (Algae), Passiflora Edulis (Passion Fruit), Oriza Sativa, (Rice), Orbignya Oleifera (Babassu), Euterpe Oleracea (Açaí) oils, Coffea Arabica (Coffee) Seed, Garcinia Mangostana (Mangosteen) Fruit Powder, Fragrance

Sodium Chloride – Also known as table salt or common salt. An inorganic compound. It is used a condiment and food preservative. It can also be used as a cleansing agent.

Glycine Soja Wax – Soybean wax. An antioxident, fragrance ingredient, skin conditioning agent, and emollient used in cosmetics.

Isopropyl Myristate – The ester of isopropanol and myristic acid. It is used to help absorb product into the skin in cosmetics. It is a binder, fragrance ingredient, skin conditioning agent, and emollient.

Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate – Modified fatty acids and their respective salts. Used in the formulation of shampoos, bath, and cleansing products. They clean the skin and hair by helping water mix with oil and dirt. This allows the dirt to rinse away easily.

Cetyl Palmitate – Composed of cetyl alcohol and palmitic acid. This is a naturally occurring fatty acid. It is used as fragrance, a skin conditioning agent, and an emollient in cosmetics. It may be derived from a sperm whale’s head or a dolphin, so vegetarians and vegans may want to avoid this ingredient. Possible irritation when used around the eyes.]

Sorbitan Palmitate – A monoester of palmitic acid and hexitol anhydrides derived from sorbitol. It is a surfactant and emulsifying agent used in cosmetics.

Sorbitan Olivate – A surfactant based on olive oil and sorbitol. Used as an emulsifying agent in cosmetics.

Cetearyl Olivate – Composed of cetearyl alcohol and fatty acids derived from olive oil. It is used as a conditioning agent in hair and cosmetic products.

The performance of this wasn't really there, burning skin aside. If you have sensitive skin, I would avoid this at all costs. Even if you don't, I don't think it's a great performing exfoliation product. The scent is great though, so maybe other Dona products in Mangosteen would work better than this one.

This was an awful experience for me. It made my skin burn like crazy. I was red and blotchy for quite some time after I used this product. I do have sensitive skin, so take that in to account somewhat. Suffice it to say that I won't be using this polish again. I have the Cake Milk Made Sugar Scrub that works a lot better for exfoliation AND doesn't burn, so I'll be sticking to that.

DISCLAIMER

This product was provided to me free of charge for a review. I had to submit it as a regular review due to the circumstances, but I wanted to make sure I put a disclaimer on here.