I have always loved a good exfoliant. And I’ll be honest, while I do really enjoy the chemical exfoliants, there is a part of me that will always gravitate towards the physical exfoliants.  There are two issues with them is that you really have to be mindful of if you are going to use the physical exfoliates.

The first issue involves ingredients.  Some of the physical exfoliates include things that are a little too harsh for the skin, such as walnut shells.  The shells can actually cause micro tears in the skin and actually be more detrimental than beneficial to the skin.  While I am willing to debate whether or not a product actually does what it claims to do, I tend to draw the line at detrimental.  I’d much rather debate good or pointless instead of good or bad with my skin care.  I like to take the term detrimental out all together.

The second thing to be mindful of when looking at exfoliates is knowing when you are overdoing it.  Overdoing a facial scrub is very easy to do, even with the chemical versions.  There are many exfoliants or facial scrubs that claim to be gentle enough to use every day.  At most I will use a facial scrub three times a week.  There are some products I would only use once a week and there are some that I will at best use once a month. I tend to save those for when I need a deep down scrub.

So with all this, why do I like facial scrubs and exfoliates?

I find that even if I use an exfoliant once a week, it tends to help slough off some of the dead skin and brighten my face.  I also find that this process really does help with the rough and bumpy clogged pores.  What I tend to do is I take my facial scrub into the shower with me.  I shower, wash my hair, wash my self and then once the hot water has opened up my pores I do a face scrub while still in the shower. Then when I get out of the shower and dry off I add serums and moisturizers to my newly scrubbed skin. 

And for those wondering, no these pictures were not taken in my shower.  I love each and every one of you, but I am not taking you into the shower with me.  I took the pictures at my bathroom sink.

But all facial scrubs are not the same. With some this process works better than others. So what are the Avant Skincare Gentle Rose Beautifying Face Exfoliant claims?

Refine and brighten your skin with Avant Skincare Gentle Rose Beautifying Face Exfoliant, a facial exfoliator that promotes a smoother, renewed-looking complexion.

Part of the brand’s Age Nutri-Revive range, the exfoliator has been specially formulated to nourish skin from within and combat a number of imperfections, from enlarged pores to uneven tone, fine lines and dullness, the formula. Combining nature with science for maximum efficacy, the formula helps to slough away dead skin cells and reveal a healthy-looking, radiant canvas. Its dose of hydrating Rose, with soothing and antioxidant properties, helps to reduce the appearance of redness, wrinkles and irritation, whilst Vitamin B5 delivers softening and healing benefits; moisture is retained and wrinkles appear smoother.

Skin is left feeling clarified and radiant with improved softness and texture. Regular exfoliation will maximize absorption of subsequent skincare products.

Free from carbomer and parabens.

Ingredients

Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Cellulose Acetate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Peg-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Acrylates Copolymer, Glycol Distearate, Rosa Hybrid Flower Extract, Urea, Papain, Serine, Alanine, Proline, Glycolic Acid, Calcium Pantothenate, Magnesium Lactate, Potassium Lactate, Magnesium Chloride, Sodium Citrate, Maltodextrin, Sodium Coceth Sulfate, Sodium Lauroamphoacetate, Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate, Cocamide Mea, Peg/Ppg-14/4 Dimethicone, Myristyl Alcohol, Xanthan Gum, Triethanolamine, Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride, Citronellol, Linalool, Parfum (Fragrance), Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin.

Avant Skincare

Okay, that is a host of claims. But I don’t see the dreaded walnut shells, or anything else super harsh on the list. In fact nothing jumps out at me from the ingredints list as needing a warning, at least as far as my skin concerns go.  Every skin is different so if you have allergies or sensitivities, definitely take a look for yourself. 

So we open the tube. A momentary word about packaging.  While my product is in a squeeze tube the full size sold is actually sold in a glass jar.  My Avant Skincare Gentle Rose Beautifying Face Exfoliant came to me in a subscription box. I think it might have been either an IPSY or a Glossy Box.  In contains slightly less than the full size which clocks in at 60 mL rather than the 50 mL of the tube.

Oddly enough, there were a couple of months where I ended up with Avant products, one from Glossy Box, one from IPSY and one from Boxycharm. So I have three and can’t remember which was which. All three are sold on the Look Fantastic Site though, so any reordering would be done in one place.  I have this exfoliant scrub, a moisturizer and a night cream.  I tested out the cream, but found it was the kind of cream I really like in the winter time, so I put the moisturizer and day cream to the side until colder weather sets in for their trials. I rotated this facial scrub in once I finished with the Nuxe exfoliant.

Which is a long way to say that since tubes are lighter to ship, they are sent in tubes in subscription boxes instead of the glass jar you would purchase them in.   I think this would definitely work better in a glass jar than a tube.  Not only is it thick, but I generally found that because I have to squeeze a little harder to gt the product out of the tube, I tend to dispense more than I intended because I don’t stop squeezing fast enough.  Hence the too much product on my hand in the photo.  I really only needed to use about half of that for a good scrub to my face.  I think the glass jar makes it a little less wasteful than the tube. But since it is really only sold in the glass jars, it isn’t really an issue.  Just notes from my trial.

Once dispensed the product has a very strong floral aroma.  Those who do not like rose, need to turn away now.  It is very rosy.  It is a fresh, French Skincare sort of rose which I don’t mind.  It is a little too strong a scent for my preferences but it isn’t cloying. It is definitely a fresh scent and it doesn’t linger.  If you are adverse to rose though, I can tell you, this product is not for you.

Which would be a shame. 

This is an extremely fine grained exfoliate in the scrub.  It feels a bit like caster sugar, fine grained but not yet ground down to the point where it is icing sugar. (I know that will mean more to those of you who bake, but I couldn’t really find a better description. If you took a pinch of table sugar between your thumb and index finger and rubbed them together, the grains would be slightly more harsh and scrubby than the Avant Skincare Gentle Rose Beautifying Face Exfoliant if that helps any).

It is extremely gentle on the skin and to be honest, this is the first time I have ever tested out an exfoliant and said, ‘Okay, I could see how someone could use this on a daily basis.’ Most of the facial scrubs, even ones I really like, I couldn’t see anyone using on a daily basis despite what is written on the label. This I could almost see someone justifying a daily use. 

I still stuck with my two to three times a week use, as that is more typical for me.  I will say that at no time did I think I was going to go overboard with using this product.  At no time was it too harsh on my skin. While most of the time I did use this as part of my shower, I did use it a few times at the bathroom sink. 

There were days when I felt super gunky from walking outside and (especially as it is ragweed season here) and this was a great way to do more than just rinse off the sweat and pollen particles.  It helped me feel less gunky. I did notice that the scent of the scrub was stronger when I used it at my bathroom sink than when I used it in the shower.  Maybe it is the steam, maybe it is the competing body wash and shampoo scents, but it was not as strong.  Still noticeable, but not as strong.

So did it meet its claims?

Let’s see…

Refine and brighten the skin? Yes.  I would say that this product achieved this.

Promote a smoother, renewed-looking complexion? Again yes, I would go along with this.  It was very good at helping me unclog clogged pores and smoothing out my complexion.

Specially formulated to nourish skin from within and combat a number of imperfections, from enlarged pores to uneven tone, fine lines and dullness? While I would lean towards my serums and moisturizers for combating fine lines, I’m not going to say this didn’t help.  I can’t prove it did anything as there were other products in play, but it certainly didn’t hurt.  As one of the reasons pores look enlarged is that they are full of gunk and making them look smaller often involves clearing the gunk out, I would say that yes this did help with enlarged pores and certainly with the dullness by sweeping away dead skin skin cells.

Helps to reduce the appearance of redness, wrinkles and irritation? Redness isn’t generally something I struggle with so I really can’t speak to that, but I will say I had absolutely no irritation with this product.  It worked well with my skin and exfoliated without being too harsh.

 Skin is left feeling clarified and radiant with improved softness and texture? My skin was always left feeling clean and soft rather than harshly scrubbed and there was no residue left behind.

Regular exfoliation will maximize absorption of subsequent skincare products? This was one of my favorite claims and to be honest, I have no way of actually testing it.  I really like the thought of it helping other products absorb better, but I think that by using the steam of the shower to open the pores and then an exfoliant to clear them out it left room for the rest of my skin care to move in.  There is no real way I have been able to figure out how to officially test that out though, it is just something that sort of makes sense.

But now the final question, would I buy this product and use it again?

There is no question that I would use this again.  The rose scent is a bit much, but the benefits do outweigh the scent.  Especially when used in the shower.  It is a bit on the pricey side.  A full sized jar costs $114.  Currently Look Fantastic has it on sale for 15% off with the code CELEBRATE, which is very nice.  If I were looking to splurge on a product, this would be one I would choose.  Because you only need a little and don’t use it every day, it would last quite a while.  It would definitely be a splurge item and I would keep an eye out for sales, but in the end, it is one of those pricey items that is actually worth their price tag.

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