Best exfoliating body scrubs for smooth and soft skin
Whether you are about to head to an exotic far flung destination or looking to console your staycation blues with a flawless faux tan, preparation is key.
To achieve a flawless complexion with an even texture, you need to invest in a scrub. No matter what you were led to believe in TLC’s 1999 hit, this is a skincare essential. You most likely already own some sort of exfoliating product for your face – and your body deserves the same care and attention to leave it feeling silky soft and ready for the next step in your beauty routine.
Remove the dead skin cells, oils and impurities that can clog pores with formulas containing abrasive particles like coffee granules, shells, salts or sugars. There are options for every need – from gentle to deep exfoliants – and at all price points.
Apply on damp skin and buff in circular motions to encourage cell turnover. This process can also help increase circulation, remove ingrown hair, cellulite and can work wonders as a stress reliever. The super satisfying scrubs will ensure you feel pampered as a spa-like treat to leave your body feeling smooth, hydrated and polished. It also encourages your body to absorb more of your lotions and potions and will help you hold your tan for longer. Use up to three times a week to avoid irritating your skin.
We’ve gathered the best body scrubs for all skin types so you can banish dry, rough patches.
See our pick.
Sol de Janeiro Bum Bum Body Scrub
Best body scrub for: Getting soft and smooth pre-holiday
Fans of the brand’s Holy Grail Bum Bum cream will not be able to get enough of this scrub. It has the same holiday-in-a-bottle buttery coconut aroma and is designed to be used ahead of your moisturiser. The polish should be buffed all over your body straight after the shower while your skin is still damp to remove dead cells and leave your skin feeling silky soft. It contains Amazonian guarana seeds that acts as a natural exfoliator, while the nourishing properties of coconut, açai and cupuaçu butters give your skin a boost of hydration and moisture.
Fresh Brown Sugar Body Polish
Best body scrub for: Gentle exfoliating
With Fresh’s Brown Sugar Body Polish, you will incorporate a luxury spa-like formula into your skincare ritual with immediate glowy effects. The brown sugar crystals act as a non-irritating exfoliant that leaves you with a smooth and healthy complexion. It is combined with citrus oils known for its brightening effects and natural humectants to pack in moisture. Massage into wet skin all over your body but particularly areas of dryness and rough patches.
Herbivore Coco Rose Body Polish
Best body scrub for: Hydration and exfoliation with a floral fragrance
Enrich your body with this deeply hydrating body polish from Herbivore that not only removes dead skin cells but packs a moisturising punch. The formula is made up of virgin coconut oil and Moroccan rose, which gives it a fresh aroma that is just the right amount of sweet and floral to send your senses into overdrive. There is also pink clay within the formula to detoxify your skin and shea butter for nourishment. All in all, this product will leave your skin looking bright and smooth. What more can you ask for?
Geranium Leaf Body Scrub
Best body scrub for: Unisex scrubbers
Aesop has become a cult label and not solely on account of the brand’s aesthetically pleasing minimalist design – although can we just take a moment of appreciation. The products live up to the hype, especially the body scrub. There are two variants; Geranium Leaf and Redemption – the latter of which combines pumice, bamboo stem and pine needle oil. Housed in a bold, green tube, the former opts for botanical oils over pine needle oils to give it a fresh, citrusy scent over the aromatic alpine. It has a clear but grainy gel texture that buffs into your skin to increase cell turnover and prep it for the next moisturisation stage. Use only once or twice a week on wet skin and then rinse.
SAND&SKY Australian Pink Clay Smoothing Body Sand
Best body scrub for: Detoxification and illumination
With Australian Pink Clay at the heart of this scrub, it will offer instant detoxifying and brightening effects – and not just because of the biodegradable glitter contained within the formulation. The multi-purpose product delivers real results in just 10 minutes. It attracts and eliminates toxins to give a deeper cleanse with the combination of macadamia seeds and shells as well as coconut. It also gets to work tightening your pores and reducing the appearance of stretch marks and cellulite. Take a small scoop of the sand and rub it all over your body while you’re in the shower and then rinse.
Frank Body Original Coffee Scrub
Best body scrub for: All-natural scrubbing
If you’re not drawn in by the amusing captions on the front of the Frank Body products, then you will be after you have sampled the contents. The all-natural and vegan formula takes coffee grinds and its long list of skincare benefits and transforms it into a scrub for you to exfoliate your skin. It will promote blood flow, collagen production, unclog your pores and help to reduce the appearance of scars and stretch marks.
Bali Buffing Sugar
Best body scrub for: Unique Balinese ingredients
There is a reason why this product boasts a long waiting list. Not only is it scented with a deliciously addictive dragonfruit and lychee aroma, but it is also a lovely non-drying formula where the sugar scrub works triple time to exfoliate your skin. Using powerhouse Balinese ingredients like the coconut flower, volcanic pumice and virgin coconut oil, it will leave your body looking soft, smooth and radiant without feeling sticky. Use the brand’s silicone mitt to buff the sugar into your skin and rinse with warm water.
Body Scrub Great Day
Best body scrub for: An invigorating way to start the day
If you’re not a morning person, we understand. It’s tough to get motivated after a difficult and interrupted sleep but Neom is here to help with its invigorating scrub that will get you ready than ever to take on the day. It is crafted from sugar, safflower, jojoba, sunflower oil, vitamin E and the brand’s essential oil blend to act as a mood elevator, while working wonders on your skin. The entirely natural formulation should be massaged all over your body on either damp or dry skin and gently rinsed, allowing the excess oils to absorb in. You will be left feeling optimistic and positively glowing.
NUXE Rêve de Miel Body Scrub
Best body scrub for: A sweet like honey feeling
The healing powers and medicinal benefits of honey are well documented and Nuxe is giving you the opportunity to incorporate the powerhouse ingredient into your skincare routine through a luxurious scrub. Massage the product on damp skin to reap the nourishing rewards and give lacklustre skin a new lease of life. The formula combines honey with sugar crystals, sunflower, argan and borage oils to lift away dead skin cells and leave skin soft and supple.
Detoxifying Salt Scrub
Best body scrub for: A spa-like feel in your own home
Bring the pampering practises of the spa home with you in the form of this body scrub from ESPA. It combines natural sea salts with grapefruit, cypress and eucalyptus to buff away dry and dull skin, while treating you to a mood-boosting effect. The added bonus of sweet almond oil nourishes the skin and adds to the lovely fragrance. Your body will be left feeling the perfect level of oiliness, hydrated and super soft.
DECLÉOR 1000 Grain Body Exfoliator
Best body scrub for: Luxurious scrubbing
Grapefruit essential oil takes a starring role in this pampering product, combined with pearl sugar, argan shell and fruit acids to pack the skin with all the moisture that it needs while encouraging cell turnover. With this awe-inducing product, the gel texture transforms into an oil when applied on to the skin and switches up once again to a milky liquid when it comes into contact with water. It has a pleasant and uplifting summery scent.
Verdict:
To give you that holiday feel without even leaving your bathroom, Sol de Janeiro’s Bum Bum Body Scrub is here. It has a delicious scent but also acts as a great exfoliant to remove dead skin without being overly coarse. Follow the scrub with the brand’s Bum Bum Cream to really treat the skin to the level of care and nourishment that it deserves.