Sunday 6 July 2008

MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator


I've been lemming MAC's new Volcanic Ash Exfoliator ever since I came across various glowing reviews on Makeupalley as well as my buddy, The Muse's big rave for it. Furthermore, the Volcanic Ash Exfoliator was reported to have sold out very quickly at most MAC stores in the US. The Neo Sci-Fi/Future Earth/Solar Field trifecta from MAC was launched in Singapore a couple of weeks ago but the slots for the Volcanic Ash Exfoliator were conspicuously empty. At first I thought it must have sold out quickly or that MAC brought in only a very limited number of units. But I chanced across the Volcanic Ash Exfoliator this evening at the MAC counter in Tangs department store and was so elated that I immediately snapped up two tubs of it.

At S$44 per tub (quite a bit more than the US$19 retail price in the US...grr), it was not that cheap but given the raves that I had read online, I thought, what the heck. Hey, it's limited edition after all, right? :-) Plus I can B2M the tubs once I've used them up.

On the MAC website, it is described as "a highly effective, dual-purpose, foaming and exfoliating scrub blending natural Volcanic Ash with fine sugar crystals from the islands of Vanuatu. Adds moisture: leaves skin feeling soft and comfortably clean. Mineral-rich. Good for absorbing skin’s natural oils." Well, I don't know what special properties volcanic ash or sugar from Vanuatu are supposed to possessed but they sure do sound exotic enough for me to be intrigued!

As several reviewers have commented, the actual product looks like thick jet black sludge. But once slathered on, it turns into a light greyish muddy paste that turns more and more liquid as you scrub, so it looks like you're taking a mud bath! The sugar crystals slowly melt away as you scrub and the whole grey mess rinses off very easily without any oily residue, unlike Origins' Salt Scrub. I've only tried it once but I was definitely impressed with the results. I used it on my face and arms and it left my skin feeling super soft without any dry patches. It does sting a bit if you get it into your eyes. I'm loving this so much that I can foresee that I will probably use up one tub in a couple of months. Perhaps I need another couple of back-ups?

Just one word of caution, the tub is slippery when wet so do be careful when handling it in the bath! I almost upended the whole tub when I was trying to screw the lid back on. The scrub has a distinctive ashy smell but it's not unpleasant to me, plus I find that the scent does not linger on my skin after I've washed it off.

It is pricey for a body scrub but this is a worthwhile splurge if you've got the spare dough. It definitely won't be around for long so do get it before it's gone for good!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

any parabens in the ingredients?
any chance of listing out the ingredients?
or a pic of the list?
thanks !

Haru said...

Happy to oblige! The listed ingredients are: sucrose, sodium lauroyl lactylate, disodium coco-glucoside sulfosuccinate, lauramidopropyl betaine, volcanic ash, methyl gluceth-20, PEG-7 glyceryl cocate, ethylhexylglycerin, caprylyl glycol, hexylene glycol, sodium cocoyl glutamate, fragrance, phenoxyethanol, iron oxides (CI77491, CI77492, CI77499(.

So it looks like there are no parabens.