Olay Exfoliating Face & Body Powder Pitaya & Cranberry Seed Is the Weirdest Beauty Thing To Come Out of the Pandemic

I purchased a lot of things during the pandemic but one of the weirdest one was Olay Exfoliating Face & Body Powder Pitaya & Cranberry Seed. Correction, I didn’t actually purchase this my sister did! My sister and I were doing these care packaged during COVID and each week we’d take a turn where we dropped off stuff to each other and left it on the porch. I’d make cupcakes and pack it with antibac and drop it on her front porch. She’d make her incredible charcuterie board and pack it up with my favorite deodorant! True story 🙂 It was just the little things that made us happy during that stressful time. We’d just treat each other to a little beauty item and some snacks or food that comforted us and kept us sane.

During this time she somehow, someway came across Olay Exfoliating Face & Body Powder Pitaya & Cranberry Seed during a Target essentials run. Now, my sister is not a huge skincare person but she knows I LOVE it not to mention she also knows that I like trying new stuff. So, along with homemade garlic hummus and pita bread she tucked some Olay Exfoliating Face & Body Powder Pitaya & Cranberry Seed into the little box she left for me.

It was sort of weird when I pulled it out of the box because it gave me Tatcha The Rice Polish Foaming Enzyme Powder but it was for my face AND MY BODY. Interesting and slightly weird as I’ve never seen a exfoliating powder you can use on your face as well as your body!

This comes in a 4.32 oz bottle and it’ll set you back about $8 to $10. To my knowledge powder cleansers and and exfoliators aren’t really a thing at the drugstore here in the US. They are very common in Japan but they haven’t really been something that popped up in drugstores here in the US. We do have a lot of higher-end and mid-range brands that do them! Tatcha of course, comes to mind as a brand that has exfoliating powder and of course, Bobbi Brown Buffing Grains is another!

This is actually nothing like those products. It performs a bit differently. For one thing Tatcha’s Rice Polish isn’t terribly grainy and doesn’t really feel like it does much in the way of exfoliating your face. It also doesn’t produce a heavier foam. This does both of those things.

As with any powder exfoliating you need water but unlike most powders you don’t have to add water and work this into a paste. All you need to do is wet your hands, tap some of the powder into your wet hands, rub your hands together, and presto you’ll have a really thick, creamy paste instantly. As soon as you apply it on your skin you’ll feel the tiny cranberry seeds and you’ll also see it lathers up quickly and creates a very rich later.

One thing I highly encourage you not to do is using a Clarisonic and follow up with this. I made that mistake. What happened was I removed my makeup one day with my cleansing oil and I followed up by using my milky cleanser with my Clarisonic. After that, I decided I’d exfoliate using this. Bad idea. It sort of stung and burned my face a little bit. I guess my face wasn’t prepared for that jolt of citric acid so soon after cleaning with my Clarisonic. This does urge me to tell sensitive users to proceed with caution as this may be a bit intense for you especially if you suffer from redness or Rosacea. Another tip, don’t get it near your eyes or in your eyes because again, citrus acid. Also, don’t forget your sunscreen when using products that contain citrus acid.

Now, it does lather up well and the seeds seem to do a basic but effective job exfoliating my skin gently without feeling too harsh or grainy. I tried it on my body as well because hey, curious minds but I wouldn’t say this works great exfoliating my drier knees and elbows! For those areas I need a sugar or salt scrub that has a bit more punch!

I was pretty impressed with the ingredients as I felt positive this would be filled with really bad stuff. But it actually isn’t terrible aside from the addition of baking soda.

Sodium bicarbonate which acts to keep the pH level adjusted but is essentially baking soda and can be bad for your skin, maltodextrin that may add a softening effect to the formula, Citric Acid that acts as an AHA for exfoliating (although I don’t always understanding how an AHA can benefit you if you’re washing it away), and sodium cocoyl isethionate which is a gentle cleansing agent. I think one of the worst things here, as there isn’t a lot of bad would be the fragrance. It does have a very strong apple scent that’s pleasant but a bit too strong for sensitive users.

A few things I liked about this powder….

My face felt smoother, my skin felt cleaner, and I had a certain glow after using it.

Things I didn’t like about this powder…..

I do have to switch up my skincare routine when using it! No Clarisonic the nights I do! Also, I didn’t like the way it rinsed off. It felt like I kept rinsing and rinsing but I wasn’t removing anything. Anyone have soft water? It’s like that. I have soft water in my upstate home and it feels like I’m rinsing soap off my hands but it isn’t coming off! Same with this. It’s a weird feeling. Good news? Once I rinse and dry it didn’t leave a weird film behind.

Bad news about this powder…..

I probably can’t use this in the Winter. I’m pretty oily at the moment. New York humidity, baby! But in the Winter when I’m drier I can see this making my skin tight or even dry! So, I best enjoy it now! I’ll test it in the Winter though just to be sure as I may be wrong.

Olay Exfoliating Face & Body Powder Pitaya & Cranberry Seed is getting a yay from and a go and buy this for yourself and try it out! I like it. It’s a very interesting product.