Facial & body scrubs. Talk about a product category that is oversaturated. Every major (and minor) cosmetics brand has its version of a scrub, all of them promising to give you clearer skin, cleaner pores and a brighter complexion. Hmmm. What to choose, what to choose? It is completely overwhelming.

In high school and through college (I think), I used the scrub that came in the biggest container for the cheapest price. Good ol’ St. Ives Apricot Scrub. Those jagged apricot seed pieces probably did a number on my skin–microscopicly–but I did have very clear skin during those years.

Fast-forward to adulthood. Real jobs. Real money. Oh, I was faithful to no one…scrub, that is. I kicked St. Ives to the curve and flirted with all the other boys and some girls. Burt’s Bees, Neutrogena, Clinique, Mary Kay, Queen Helene, Kiehl’s, I had them all. I’m sure there were others, but I don’t recall their names. So many, but not one of them was memorable. I was always searching for THE ONE and not having any luck.

One day as I was flipping through TV channels, I came across Peter Thomas Roth on QVC discussing his Botanical Buffing Beads. “Oh, they were soooo wonderful. Oh, everyone that used the product was hooked. Oh, it was also one of the QVC host’s favorites. Oh, oh, oh…,” and to see for yourself all you had to do was pay $36 for 8 oz. of the stuff.

Yeah. Right.

Of course, QVC was offering some type of deal where you got more bang for your buck then you would buying it off of your local retailer’s shelf, but without having any firsthand knowledge of the product, I passed. I moved on to HGTV.

A couple of weeks later while out of town, I was checking out the products in my brother’s bathroom. (Being a product junkie sort of runs in the family–even among the guys–so visiting different relatives is sort of like a trip to Sephora.) While checking out some of my brother’s new acquisitions, I was actually stunned when my eyes fell upon a bottle filled with blue stuff. Yes, the Peter Thomas Roth Botanical Buffing Beads–all $36 worth–were sitting there just waiting to be tried. Luckily, I made this discovery in the morning and therefore had a makeup-free face. I decided to use the scrub as my facial cleanser that morning and splashed my face with some lukewarm water and proceeded to scrub my face.

My first impression was that the scrub was extremely gentle and not abrasive as some others I’d tried. The product’s scent was also pleasantly mild. Yet as I scrubbed, I remained pretty skeptical. Yeah, it did contain some good ingredients (aloe vera gel, jojoba oil), but still, $36?!

Then I rinsed. And I got it. I understood.

My face felt clean. Yet didn’t have that too clean “squeaky” feel. There was no residue; no film left on my skin. And my face felt…like a baby’s behind. Sooooooft. So soft.

It was love at first try.

I ended up talking to my brother about the Beads. He agreed that they were pretty great. Apparently, an aesthetist friend of his (with beautiful skin) turned him on to the Botanical Buffing Beads. According to her, it’s one of the best scrubs out on the market today.

Let me know if you see my beloved BB Beads on QVC because having to pay retail is no fun. No fun at all.
(Update: Buy NOW for only $26.50 at Amazon.com.)

Special note: Recently, Peter Thomas Roth has developed a couple of other formulations of buffing beads: Blemish Buffing Beads and Anti-Aging Buffing Beads. The ingredients vary depending on the formula. I plan to try them all.

www.peterthomasroth.com