It's been overcast or raining here all week, so between that and my cranky sinuses, I'd rather crawl back in bed and sleep. Since that's not a realistic option, I shall have to rely on coffee to get me through. I'm not talking about only drinking it, although I do and am.
Applying coffee topically has some surprising benefits as well! Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, meaning it constricts blood vessels, which can reduce redness. This constricting effect also serves to tighten and firm the surface of the skin, and the caffeine in coffee works to dehydrate fatty cells so that water will disappear from the
surface of your skin. Thus the inclusion of coffee in some cellulite treatment products, as it helps your skin to look smoother overall and reduces the appearance of cellulite.
It gets even better! Caffeine also acts as a sunscreen, and
one study
suggests that caffeine applied to the skin could have an inhibitory
effect on sunlight-induced skin cancer. Caffeine is also full of
anti-oxidants and acts as a self-tanner, so all of the above explains
why you will see it in both sunscreens and self tanning lotions. Who
knew? There are plenty of
recipes on the web for facial, hair, and body treatments using coffee grounds, so perhaps I should be saving my used Keurig K-cups.
So, given my general weather induced sleepiness and coffee's wonderful qualities, let's review LaLicious Coffee Bean Sugar Soufflé. LaLicious carries a line of body products that are billed as being all natural and paraben free. The sugar scrubs feature a special whipped technique that helps to lock in moisture without leaving a
greasy after feel, and the Pure Cane Sugar serves to exfoliate without irritation.
Bottom line, I find this to be good light exfoliating scrub that leaves your skin soft and moisturized without a greasy sheen. I don't worry about this transferring oil onto my clothes, nor do I smell like a cup of coffee for the rest of the day, although it does have a pleasant coffee scent. You will have coffee grinds in your tub, however. Also, although this is billed as all natural, it is not made with organic ingredients. So, if that is important to you, it's worth noting. However, the ingredient list leaves little to complain about - notice the lack of any chemical sounding names! If you are curious as to why it is so hard to find truly USDA organic beauty products in stores,
this makes for some interesting reading.
The sugar scrub retails at $34 for 16 oz., is available in 10 different scents, and can be purchased online at
LaLicious. Other scent favorites of mine are Peppermint, Sugar Kiss (smells just like Pink Sugar perfume to me), and Brown Sugar & Vanilla, which smells like freshly baked cookies. First time orders receive 15% off.
Ingredients:
Cane Sugar, Coconut Oil, 100% Arabica Coffee Grounds, Sweet Almond Oil, Vitamin E Oil, Soybean Oil, Honey
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