Brown sugar scrub - scrub discontinued by Cake Beauty - review by Howells

I received this product after I had already been using the Milk Made white sugar scrub. I've got other Desserted Island products, namely the body mousse, shower froth, hand cream, so I can compare the perfumes in them.

The purpose of these products is to rub dead skin cells off, so that your skin can feel healthier and smoothier. It helps quite a bit to free your ingrown hairs and/or to make their way smoother when they grow out (after epilation or waxing). The oil content would alone make you feel smooth so it's a bit of a trick. Anyway, it seems to work well. I mainly use it on the pubic area about two times a week.

It is used in the shower, after using the shower gel. It'll override its scent. You can use it on your whole body, but even 21 ounces will deplete kind of fast. As I like to use a lot of it per session... maybe that's why. You can shake the container to mix up the oil and hydrate the outstanding sugar crystals but this doesn't always work. I don't like that sometimes I end up trying to scrub myself with dry sugar. The oil sets down and it's not that easy to scoop a portion with enough oil (without spilling sugar everywhere). My experience with the hand buffer version of the Milk Made line is that in the end a nice amount of oil will remain without sugar. Therefore, it makes sense to use it in balance and scoop together with the oil.

It's made of rather large brown sugar crystals. The purpose is that they are hard and they come in numbers, so while rubbing against your skin they'll effectively scrub the topmost dead layer off. It feels funny but cool. You should never use so much pressure that it hurts. Other than the crystals, the container is filled with oil but you have to do some sandboxing and creating a valley or a hole in the sugar to see the oil and be creative how to mix it with the crystals. Be prepared to get rid of any spill because some might fall on your bathroom floor. Since it has oil, it can make things slippery, but it's not that much of a problem due to the relatively small amount to use. I like to keep the container away from water so I don't sprinkle it during a shower. To do this I put the open container at the edge of the bathroom sink that is close to the shower.

I've used it many times and the best similarity I could come up with is that the scent reminds me of Christmas cookies with a bonus caramel topping. Is there such thing? Anyway, the caramel scent (cooked, burnt liquefied sugar) is awfully strong and hits me right away. The cookie smell would be ok by itself if not for the fact that I don't want to smell like Christmas all year round)... but there is a side-smell, which I really don't like. It's the smell of iron, as in food supplements and weird looking old cutlery. I have no idea what gave it that smell but it ruins everything. It's strong.

Now that I have tried almost all Desserted Islands scented products, it's safe to say they don't have too much in common. This scrub doesn't smell much like the wonderful hand cream or the body mousse... I figured that I usually get used to smells and sometimes I learn to like them. Also, they feel different every now and then. This time I didn't feel that it was familiar, it was new. There is some similarity, but due to the fact that they added same perfume to an entirely different material (cream vs. sugar crystals and oil), I guess the one shouldn't expect them to smell the same. It's way stronger than the shower froth (that doesn't even leave its scent on you). Traces of perfume can linger on you for a few hours. You'll feel it on your hands.

With the Milk Made white sugar version, I didn't like its scent at first either. Nevertheless, over time I realized that I loved it and I was using it too often. It was so much fun to scrub and I love its aftersmell. The attraction towards that scent came in a few weeks. It still haven't developed towards the Desserted Island's shower froth and this scrub, even though I had them for weeks. These failed to hit the mark, even though Desserted Island is originally my favorite scent of Cake (but only in the hand cream and the body mousse). Maybe some products smell better with Milk Made scent and others are better with the Desserted Island one.

I tried to taste it off my finger and it was sweet (obviously) but also had a chemical taste to it, which is horrible, so even if you like the smell, don't try to ingest it.

I apply an amount that is similar in volume to two AA batteries. That's only for the pubic area. I like to scrub as long as the sugar melts (1-2 minutes). They'll lose their hard crystal state fast but the small, smooth, melted grains will take some time to dissolve completely. I like the oil without the crystals in the end - that's a funny feeling. It's not mandatory for them to melt, nor will it make things any better. Probably about 30 seconds is enough.

It'll leave your skin oily and water-repellant. This quality will soon fade as you use towels. After that, it's just simply very soft and feels good to touch. It saves you from a lot of annoyance that comes with ingrown hairs. It might not be able to free/help every one of them, but does a good job preventing them, so you might get less than you normally would.

EF puts it in a plastic bag. The container is BIG. Judging by the picture you'd think that it's a small jar like a hand cream. Nah, it's big and heavy! The sticker design is very nice. It's pink with light brown. The text is in English and French. It's made in Canada.

Upon screwing off the top, you'll find a dual layer safety seal. I hope that you'll find it secured tightly. It's exactly like the seal on the Nutella hazelnut spread. It's hard to remove and even if you succeed, a residue will stay on the rim of the container. Only to lose the adhesive and fall into the sugar later. That's nasty. It came off in bits and pieces and now weeks into the use I still have some halfway into the sugar. It's like a piece of hair stuck there.

The cap closes tightly. There is one problem: if you are careless or just not skilled enough, a few crystals will somehow end up at the edge of the rim. When you try to put the cap back on, the crystals will get stuck under it. This not only makes it hard or near impossible to close, but then next time when you wish to open it with wet hands you'll simply fail. I suggest getting rid of the crystals there and using a towel on your hands to get a good grip for opening. Also, just open the container before you get into the shower.