I’m rarely seduced by the idea of a body scrub. It’s all a lot of hassle, isn’t it? If you’re relaxing in the bath then why would you want your finale to be a weird, standing-up scrub-applying dance routine? With your body in the cold and your feet still in the deliciously warm water? And you certainly don’t want to scrub before bathing, because then you have to lie with all of the grit at the bottom of the bath. And if you’re in the shower, there’s never enough room to manoeuvre about without crashing an elbow through the glass screen or stubbing a toe on the edge of the tray. No, scrubbing is a palaver I can do without, most of the time.
Unless, unless, unless. Give me a richly oily scrub that sticks to the skin and doesn’t slide off, one that is beautifully scented and that leaves you feeling uplifted and new-bodied. Give me one of those and I will make the effort to do the post-bath dance. I’ll even stand in the shower, hose myself down a first time, turn the shower off and stand there like a berk as I rub in the scrub like some kind of demented, narcissistic self-pleasurer. (I always think that it would be incredibly embarrassing to be caught scrubbing: all of that weird circular massaging and gyrating makes it look like you’re silent-dancing to a sexy Madonna track.)
NEOM’s Great Day Wild Mint & Mandarin Body Scrub (I got to the point in the end!) is one such rich and oily scrub that I will happily silent sexy-dance for. The consistency is just right; very scrubular but with just enough oil to keep it on the skin rather than the shower floor. You can massage it in for ages, should the urge take you, and it leaves skin incredibly soft. But the absolute high note with this product has to be the way that it moisturises your skin at the same time as exfoliating it; even after a very thorough rinse (I was in tester mode) I was properly oiled up, as though I’d had an hour-long massage. So it’s kind of like a spa treatment in one, this: massage it in, rinse off and you’ve had the full body works. My skin was soft, sheeny and smelt lovely – really minty and zingy.
It’s definitely a treat purchase (I know you can make great scrubs at home using brown sugar and oil for next to nothing!) but it’s one that does deliver and if you’re in the mood for a pamper session, it feels suitably luxe. You can find NEOM’s Great Day Body Scrub at Selfridges.com – it’s £34.
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