January 26, 2017

St Ives Exfoliate & Nourish Coconut Oil Scrub Review

Affiliate / Purchased
I purchased this item and I receive a small commission if you shop using the links in this post.

St Ives Exfoliate & Nourish Coconut Oil Scrub ($6.99) is a new coconut oil scrub created with coconut shell powder to exfoliate your face and reveal a brighter, smoother complexion.

I picked up St Ives Coconut Oil Scrub as well as St Ives Exfoliate & Nourish Apricot Oil Scrub at a Super Walmart in the Catskills at the end of November. I was somewhat shocked to find it on the shelves as I had never heard about it and later when I was Googling info I couldn’t find a word about these anywhere.

These are quite an interesting and unique product as they combine the formulation of a cleansing oil with tiny grains that act to exfoliate skin. It’s an interesting combination that effectively exfoliates skin.

Let’s take a look at my review.

St Ives Exfoliate & Nourish Coconut Oil Scrub is available in a single size squeeze bottle that’s 4.23 oz. Their regular Apricot Scrub is 6 oz in size and considerably cheaper at around $3.99 to $4.99 if you’re one to compare prices.

I have drier skin so, I tend to exfoliate once a week or even once every two weeks. There is such a thing as TOO much exfoliation when it comes to drier skin in my opinion. If you do it too often your skin will be drier than when you originally started. So, I stick to doing it once or so a week if that. I’m mentioning this because my experience with St Ives Exfoliate & Nourish Coconut Oil Scrub was a great one but I do think I have to limit my use since it is a harsher scrub and does leave my skin feel a bit tight after use.

I actually don’t know a lot about coconut shell powder in all honesty but a quick search reveals that it’s actually available in a pure form that can be used as a facial scrub. As far as I know this is the first coconut shell powder scrub I’ve ever used. Although dotted with tiny brown specks that isn’t the actual scrub part of the formula. The powder seems clear, almost sugar-like in appearance. The grains are very fine and tiny. These grains are suspended in a gel-like cleansing oil that’s made up of grape seed oil and coconut oil (which is actually very low on the list of ingredients). There is a good deal of fragrance here which I found very pleasant. It’s a fresh fragrance that’s every so slightly fruity that has a very faint coconut note. If you’re sensitive do beware as the scent is quite strong.

This is quite a unique product and it got me thinking about creating my own version of it somehow by combining maybe sugar and my favorite cleansing oil? This takes the idea of cleansing oil and reinvents it a scrub. Mind you, it is NOT a cleanser in my opinion. Sure, it might whisk away any oil, dirt, or leftover makeup on your face but you don’t want to use it to cleanse your skin. Why? Because you don’t want to get this near your eyes or in your eyes due to the smaller coconut shell powder grains. Also, you don’t want to scrub your face daily to get it clean. This is solely an exfoliating product in my opinion so, be sure to work with it on already cleansed skin.

To use it, cleanse your face first. Remove all your makeup prior with whatever technique or products you use to do so. Dry your face well after and shake the bottle of Coconut Oil Scrub briskly. Squeeze a dollop of the gel into your dry hands and massage onto your dry face. At first this has a gel-like consistency but as you massage it turns into more of an oil. It’s a harsher scrub so use gentle motions when massaging. I massage for a minute or so. Now you can add a little water to emulsify the oil (it’ll go milky) and you cam continue to massage gently. After that you rinse. It’ll rinse clean away and it won’t leave a greasy or oily residue. As I mentioned above it left me feeling a little tight but nothing a little moisturizer didn’t help. I think it did a very good job smoothing and softening my face but did not hydrate it so, plenty of moisture was needed after to restore what was lost. I thought my nightly serums and moisturizers absorbs a hell of a lot easier after using this and my skin looked visibly smoother and brighter.

I probably wouldn’t recommend it for sensitive users nor ones prone to redness thought. My own skin is drier and not sensitive and it worked great. I can see myself adding this to skincare line up. I liked it a lot. I WISH it didn’t leave me feeling tight but I can restore moisture easily with other hydrating products I use.

Thumbs up!

St Ives Exfoliate & Nourish Coconut Oil Scrub is available now at target.com and walmart.com.

Affiliate / Purchased
I purchased this item and I receive a small commission if you shop using the links in this post.

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Carol

    This is interesting indeed. I love oils. Funny how it doesn’t really hydrate though. I might try it just because it is different and I love a good scrub. Thanks for the great review.

  • Heidi

    Your mention of a DIY intrigues me. I may try something like that on my own. I have sweet almond oil, glycerin, aloe, coconut oil and other ingredients floating around. Mixing some or all with sugar might make a cool scrub.

    • Isabella Muse

      I was thinking even more simple, using one of my cleansing oils that I already have mixed with sugar 😀

  • Kimmwc03

    I saw these at Walmart the other day but was scared to try it after all the things I’ve heard about the other St. Ives scrub.

    • Isabella Muse

      I’ve used the original scrub in the past, never had an issue, so decided to try this out. I didn’t have any reaction thankfully but you have to be careful if your skin is sensitive 😀

    • Hayley

      Me too! I read that they were in a lawsuit over the apricot scrub because people were saying that it caused micro tears in their skin, and I read online that any scrubs containing nut shell particles can tear your skin. I don’t know what to believe anymore!

  • Sarah

    I got this about 2 weeks ago at wal-mart as well. I just saw it and was like where did you come from? Anyways, I enjoyed it as well. I have an oily t-zone, but this was really nice. My skin felt clean and moisturized. It’s also a large bottle, IMO, for 6$. I think it’s a great find. I’m actually really excited about some of the drugstore cosmetics that are coming out for spring. That usually doesn’t happen! They are upping their game for sure. 🙂

    • Isabella Muse

      Likewise! at the time I googled and couldn’t find a thing about it! 😀 I agree, lots of new and exciting stuff!

  • Jay

    I like squeezy tube body scrubs, so I’d buy this for my body and face. Very interesting product, I’d never heard of it! Thanks for the review, as usual 😉

  • amy

    Another similar product to try is Everyday Coconut Daily Rejuvenation Face Scrub. It uses sea salt as an exfoliate (which, if it accidentally gets in the eye, it will at least quickly dissolve), and it doesn’t contain a palm derivative. I use it before cleansing, especially if I’m wearing heavy makeup and/or sunscreen.

  • Nikole

    Hi Muse. The fine grains are most likely not the coconut shell but are the silica grains. (The same stuff used in toothpaste to polish teeth.) not sure how I feel about that myself, but I know it’s in many products. Would be interesting to scrub your feet or elbows with this product and see what happens.

    • Isabella Muse

      thanks Nikole, I’m always a little meh on ingredients. Might be a little weak for elbows and knees but always worth a try 😀

  • Susan

    I make my own facial scrub using baking soda and mixing it with my shu uemura cleaning oil. Works great and the texture of the baking soda is so fine it doesn’t irritate my skin. But I might like to try this if I can locate it. Thank you for the review.

    • Michelle Luna

      I was about to say, b.soda is vastly preferable as an ingredient for DIY face scrub over sugar, sugar granules are actually really really large/sharp/harsh and don’t dissolve in oil, it can be painful! I’ve got a homemade sugar scrub wash for my hands that, really, it’s just a feminized version of that orange scrub that mechanics use, lol! (That ish is hardcore, I use it after gardening or working with motor oil, paint, and the like). And I find it too rough to use along the backs of my hands and fingers, so I can only imagine if I used it on my face I would probably cry.

  • J

    Ooh! I saw this at Walmart a few weeks ago but didn’t get it. I’ll be trying this out one day after I use up some of the stuff I currently have. Who knows when that will be though, I have a little obsession with makeup and skin care. Thanks for the review!

  • Michelle Luna

    Great review Musey, I’m all about any products, edible or not, that are coconut. I have really greasy and flaky skin but it’s also sensitive and I have rosacea, so it sounds like this ought to be a no-go for me, BUT… my skin is hardier in the summer (do you know what I mean? Like, my rosacea is on it’s downswing for the year and my skin can handle being washed daily, as opposed to in the winter where even after using just a wet washcloth to wipe off my grease I have to apply oil [flax, jojoba, whatever] to calm the flakes and relieve the tightness, and I’m super red and still flaky all day) so I think this would be a nice scrub in the not-winter season. When I see it in my area I’m going to grab a bottle. Plus I’m all about pretty smelling products too and this one sounds fab!