#BeautyFind: Koffee Beauty Espresso Yourself Vanilla Scrub

In February, we started a brand new series on STYLE Canada: #BeautyFind Friday, otherwise known as your new #BFF. Every Friday, STYLE editor Anastasia Barbuzzi will present you with a #BeautyFind to help you enjoy a weekend of self-love and care like no other. She’s all over the green beauty scene and on #BeautyFind Fridays, she’ll be giving you the inside scoop on products and brands that are changing the space, and one’s you’ve just gotta try. Full permission to begin daydreaming about your next *Add to Cart* item.

Did you know that the French word for ‘scrub’ is ‘gommage‘? Gommage often refers to a gentle exfoliation method made popular by Parisian beauty experts and for its ability to affectively remove dead cells without compromising the skin’s fragile barrier.

You’d think that the coarse grounds of coffee beans would do the exact opposite, however, brands like Koffee Beauty have figured out the perfect formula for a full body exfoliant that comes with all the benefits of a classic gommage and more. Rid your idea of a plain ol’ coffee scrub – this one’s for real.

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First impressions: How many coffee scrubs have come to market by companies that have virtually nothing different to offer than the next brand? The answer: too many. Knowing how much founder of Koffee Beauty, Estelle Doiron, obsesses over her ingredient quality is just one factor that sets her scrubs apart – the freshest, organic coffee beans and organic sugar go into each batch. Her packaging is just as promising as her product standards as well, citing the brightening properties housed inside the cheery black and yellow container. Plus, Koffee Beauty is one of the only Canadian-made coffee scrub companies out there that has actual coffee in their ingredient lists. That’s an automatic point! for me.

Talkin’ specifics: Containing fine cane sugar for serious exfoliation and organic oils such as coconut, avocado, and sweet almond for their moisturizing properties, Koffee Beauty’s vanilla-scented scrub revives skin brightness, softness, and suppleness below surface level. The coffee grounds this scrub holds target cellulite, acne, eczema, stretch marks, ingrown hairs, scars (you can thank the vitamin E for that!), and dryness. All scrubs by Koffee Beauty, including the vanilla, are free of phosphate, sulphates, phthalates, parabens, (all things you can find in most unnatural coffee scrubs), and are never tested on animals either.

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The experience: Koffee Beauty nailed it on the head when they described this particular scrub as a “French Vanilla” treat for your body – the smell is incredibly comforting (and should be for all the Tim Horton’s lovers out there) and seriously good enough to eat (or drink). The texture is just right too – during my first use, I found the coffee grounds to be similar in size to the pieces of cane sugar . Not only did the steam of the shower intensify the delicious aroma, it helped glide the product onto my damp skin, reducing the gentle friction of the scrub as the sugar melted and the grounds continued to exfoliate. I was truly uplifted and reenergized stepping out of the shower, and the pinkness of my freshly exfoliated legs proved that the scrub got my blood moving. Ultimately, the vanilla scrub by Koffee Beauty left me feeling the way a hot cuppa Joe does in the morning: soothed, awake, and better.

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The verdict: Overall, using Koffee Beauty’s Vanilla Coffee Scrub is such a fine way to ditch your time-consuming dry brush, I recommend you try it, like, now. As a clean beauty enthusiast and writer of beauty/skincare-related content, I’ve tried my fair share of coffee scrubs that don’t fit the same bill as Koffee Beauty’s. Its scent is so alluring that it keeps me coming back for more. (No, really – I unscrew the lid multiple times a day to catch a whiff, usually after a couple hours of sitting at my computer and needing a wake up call.)

My only suggestion is this: patch test first, especially if you have allergies or sensitivities. Take it easy on your skin and let the ingredients do most of the work for you, but don’t be afraid to apply slight pressure. Rub the scrub onto your skin for under a minute, then let it sit like a mask to reap all the benefits for up to five. (OK, that was three suggestions – sorry!) Now, get to espressin’ yourselves.

Available online at Koffee Beauty, $21.95 (CAD).