little white truths

I've been meaning to start reviewing the pieces in this Rituals gift set for ages now, it's just that I've been lost in the various year-end posts I've been writing (like favourites etc) and so my reviews of this kit have fallen to the wayside.

And even though I still have more round-up posts to write - like my year-end Project Pan update - I wanted to sneak this little post in today because I've almost finished the tub and I prefer reviewing products while I've still got them so I can smell and touch them one last time before finalising my post.

Anyhoo. Rituals' Hammam Hot Scrub. Let's have a look.

Rituals claims/product details:

• A nourishing body scrub with warming ginger and refreshing eucalyptus
• Leaves your skin with a wonderful tingly feeling
• Body scrub offering an intensive purifying, nourishing and exfoliating effect
• The exfoliation leaves skin exceptionally soft and refreshed, and creates a warm and delicious feeling that immediately reduces tiredness
• Contains natural purifying sea salt, warming ginger and refreshing eucalyptus
• RRP $39 AUD for 450g

Verdict

While I don't dislike this product, I don't love it either and I've used other Rituals products that grab me more than this does. And although it's been open for a while, it's taken me some time to confirm how I feel about it, which tells me that my experience with it hasn't been consistent. If I love something, I love it each time I use it and there's no swinging about.

It's a thick, granular product that feels quite oily to the touch. It's one of those scrubs that essentially feels like oil mixed with salt, and indeed that's how it feels when rubbed across the skin. 

And therein lies the problem for me: the grains are quite harsh and scratchy (I guess that's because they're cubes with sharp edges), but the addition of the oil somehow makes it feel like you're not getting a decent exfoliation - even though you probably are. Either that or you're just scratching away at your skin, which is honestly how I feel sometimes when I use this. Some scrubs are just too harsh and I think this is one of those, but the oil is misleading because your skin doesn't feel raw afterwards, just a touch greasy.

Other than that, this does feel like a luxe product and I can see why some people love it. Everything from the look of it to the packaging to the scent screams fancy, so if you like a rough, oily scrub then this might be for you. I would also call this a unisex product because the scent is quite masculine: I smell eucalyptus more than ginger and it's refreshing so it does wake you up and it would be a good product for use in the morning.

But unfortunately I can't recommend it. I just used it one last time on my hands to confirm what I've written, and they feel like they've been scratched a little where I've rubbed the grains across my skin. They also feel oilier than I would like (I personally don't like scrubs that are too oily) so I can safely say that this isn't the product for me. This appears to put me in the minority though because the reviews I've read on this are generally glowing, so it could just be that it doesn't work for me.

Ok.