If you read a few women's fashion/beauty magazines per month, you're probably familiar with the kind of feature in which a high-end item is paired with a more attainable, bargain-price item — "Splurge/Steal," "Lust/Must," and so on. Sometimes I consider using this device to recommend pairs of body products, except I don't usually come across direct comparisons. These two body scrubs, however, do fall into a similar category. Both have citrus-floral scents and both are packaged in tubes (my strong preference for scrubs), but they're sold in different markets at very different price levels.
Kings & Queens is a more widely-distributed spin-off line for Korres, the Greek skincare and makeup company. The Kings & Queens body products claim to be enhanced "with royal herbs," and like the rest of the line, the Sultan of Granada Lemon Flower Body Scrub is "enriched with royal mix [sic] of pomegranate, blue lotus and malachite natural extracts." These extracts happen to fall towards the end of the ingredients list, after the water and sodium laureth sulfate and plastic exfoliant beads, but that's not really unusual for a product in this price range. Because the exfoliating particles are suspended in what amounts to a lightweight shower gel (with a slightly slithery feeling), this formula is a mildly scrubby treatment for the skin and could be used daily. It happens to smell quite nice for a drugstore product: the scent is a balance of citrus and fresh-floral notes, bergamot and white petals. It's bright and uncomplicated; it reminds me of fragrances like Jo Malone French Lime Blossom Cologne.
Naturopathica, on the other hand, is a niche brand of natural skincare that is most likely to be spotted in upscale, "green"-beauty spas. Its Lemongrass Mimosa Body Scrub is a concentrated paste of shea butter, walnut shell powder, and bamboo extract, with a bouquet of herbal and floral extracts added for their fragrance and skincare benefits. Despite its genteel artisanally-crafted-in-the-Hamptons persona, this scrub does a serious job of sloughing off dead skin. Its fragrance is a botanical delight: zingy lemongrass is the strongest note, but it's softened and deepened by jasmine, ylang-ylang, and vetiver. If this scent could be bottled as an actual fragrance, perhaps an Eau de Toilette, I'd wear it with pleasure on spring and summer days. Unfortunately, the price tag on Lemongrass Mimosa Body Scrub might delay my purchase of a replacement tube; then again, since I only need to use it twice a week, and a little goes a long way, I won't have to repurchase it for a while.
Kings & Queens Sultan of Granada Lemon Flower Body Scrub sells for $11 (for 6.76 oz) at Amazon and Drugstore.com. Naturopathica Lemongrass Mimosa Body Scrub is available in two sizes, for $18 (2 oz) and $28 (5 oz) at the Naturopathica website.
Note: center image is Lemons by comingstobrazil at flickr; some rights reserved.
These both make me want to go hunting for a new body scrub… but them I’m confronted with my bathroom, choc-full of cool body products 75% full.
I don’t suppose that you have any suggestions for creatively using up shower products (that don’t involve me and my loofah)?
Thanks for the review!
Hi, Dee! Well, let’s see… Shower gels are easy to repurpose as hand washes at the kitchen and bathroom sinks, or as detergent for hand-washing delicate clothing. You could use body scrub to give yourself a nice intense foot scrub before a pedicure. Hair conditioner works as shave cream in a pinch; the same goes for scented bath oil. What else have you got in there?
Thanks Jessica!
Hand wash! That will use up a bunch of what I’ve got— and add a little zazz to my 15x daily routine
(going to peek in my bathroom cabinet…)
Well, aside from the wide variety of cleansers, I’ve got an impressive collection of moisturizers. Face, body, foot, all languishing behind newer purchases. Any rec’s for those??
I use Palmolive Honey hair conditioner (which I buy cheaply in Poundland) as a clothes conditioner (whenever I handwash smthg) – for some reason it smells of mimosa and I love it (I don’t use it on my hair b/c it makes it flat).
That *does* sound nice!
I absolutely love Naturopathica, it’s great to see one of their products featured here! The cost is indeed quite prohibitive, but it’s true with all of their products that a little goes a long way. I’m currently obsessed with their Oat Face Polish and Sweet Lupine Cleansing Cream. I think it’s great that they offer smaller sizes of most of their products, it makes it much less expensive to try things out. My list is already long of things of theirs I am dying to try, I guess I’ll need to add this one too! They do scrubs right.
Sweetonpink, I’ve been a Naturopathica fan for a while, and I’m so glad that they recently added smaller sizes of some products to their catalogue! I use their Neroli Clarifying Serum and their Vitamin C Revitalizing Complex nightly on my face, and I’ve sampled and liked a few other products too.
Goodness! so I visit the Naturopathica site ….holy cow! That place is dangerous….I want one of just about everything! That’s WRONG THINKING though……the scrub sounds nice and the Vit. C Revitalizing Complex….oh boy…needed to step away for a bit—too many things were finding their way into a basket!
Jessica: you’re a dangerous woman!
Daisy, It really is a good brand… high prices (although not as high as many luxury brands!), but they fit the high quality. I think you’re sent a few free samples with each order, and you’re able to choose from a menu of samples…so, that’s one way to start slowly and test a few things at once!
I love the “cheap thrills” posts on this site! Especially after I have spent way too much $ on perfume!
Joan, I’m glad you enjoy them!
Thanks for the info, I am a scrub addict myself and try not to buy unless I am wandering through a TJMaxx or Marshalls.
Then I play a little game where I pretend I am going to store the scrub away as a gift (insert holiday/birthday/bridal shower) but really they are all for me!
Hey! I play that game too—-I buy FBs of fragrance saying “I will split this up!” and then I keep most of it for myself!
Ah, yes, I’ve done that too.
That’s how I unload my “excessive” purchases. And justify them. I like giving presents, so when I throw parties, I don’t need to buy presents. I just bag up my extra purchases- soaps, samples, hand towels, jewelry, etc. They are unused, and I keep gift bags handy. No one needs to know that I also do it to keep the herd in bathroom culled.
I did something similar with my mom and sister 3 months ago . . . I pulled out ALL my perfume that I don’t wear and don’t love and set up the bottles and minis and told them to take whatever they wanted.
Now the only perfume my sister wears is what I’ve bought her over the years (poor, young and in college) and my mom usually wears scented body creams.
It was really fun, they both came away with a big haul and my mom called and told me that she thinks I’ve unleashed a monster in my sister.
And I don’t feel as guilty about my new purchases!
Hear, hear.
I’ve done this with friends, coworkers, cousins…
Re: Sultan of Granada, They had me a “malachite extract’ – since it’s a type of stone, not sure what an extract of it would be, but I am sure it makes an excellent exfoliant, LOL! I will keep an eye out for this line. The fragrance of the product sounds just yummy.
Hi, Flora! I don’t know where the malachite fits in, but the fragrance really is nice. There are also shower gels and body butters, so if you find a scent you like, you can layer it.
I just bought the Kings and Queens Aztec King Vanilla Pear Showergel about a month ago and LOVE it! Glad to see this line on here because after I bought the shower gel, I had to do research on the other products because the idea of it was just so fascinating. I am super happy with it, and the scent is phenomenal
This line is relatively easy to find, which is a nice thing! I haven’t tried any other scents, but the Nefertiti Honey and the Casper Myrrh sound good to me, too.
The Casper Myrrh is nice, I have a tube of body butter in this fragrance and will probably replace it when I run out. It’s quite strong and with significant sillage, though, so I have to think about what I wear with it.
Thanks, Pimpinett! Good to know.
This is also one of my faves! I am fond of this line, pricing is great and the Jasmine offering is fresh and lovely. Do also try the tobacco bar soap….