Back in 2012, when I tried the Sandy Santa Sugar Scrub for the first time, I wasn't overall impressed. I appreciated the scent - a combination of juicy Brazilian orange oil, sandalwood and rosewood,which gave it an overall smell of fresh mandarins with just a hint of what I can only describe as flat coca cola. However, I found it very difficult to use it effectively in the shower, and ended up wasting a large percentage of it down the drain - I just don't feel that sugar scrubs are particularly practical.
Despite this, when Lush bought the familiar Santa-shaped product back this year, I opted to give it a second chance and bought one to trial. Zoom forward a month, and I discover it's now become a body butter, which makes me rather intrigued to see how it compares with the old formula.
With murumuru butter and shea butter, Sandy Santa is both a body butter and a sugar scrub. Lush have crammed him full of butters to give a wonderful moisturising affect; including sugar and sand to smooth and polish your skin at the same time.
On the positive side, Sandy Santa is definitely more moisturising this time around. Rather than experiencing the harshness of the sugar on my skin, I enjoyed the fact that I had a mixture of soft butters and sugar, which exfoliate as well as scrub. Secondly, this product lasts much longer than the previous rendition - I used this across my whole body a good 8-10 times, which is more cost efficient than the two uses I was able to get out of the 2012 edition. Finally, despite it being the same size and shape, the product was somewhat easier to use in the shower.
However, Sandy Santa hasn't been completely changed for the better. Firstly, this product has lost some of its scent, no doubt due to the addition of lots of oils, which must somehow disperse the scent somewhat. While you can still detect a wonderful sweet, sherbet orange aroma, I found that I couldn't smell it as strongly in the shower as I could the sugar scrub, and there was no noticeable scent left on my skin afterwards. Secondly, this body butter still has the annoying red hat, which leaks colour all over you and the bath during use. I found that this can sometimes stain the bath tub.
Overall, I'm just not overly enamoured by what Sandy Santa has to offer. It's not a bad product at all, but I feel that Lush offer far more effective alternatives that are available all year around. I would much rather use something like Rub Rub Rub to get my scrub and exfoliation going at the same time. Having said this, the stubbornness of the body butter means that you can really exfoliate those areas that most need it, and leave yourself smelling rather wonderful.
Quantitative Ingredients: Sugar, Murumuru Butter, Sodium Bicarbonate, Organic Shea Butter, Illipe Butter, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cream of Tartar, Sand, Lauryl Betaine, Brazilian Orange Oil, Rosewood Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Limonene, Linalool, Methyl Ionone, Perfume, Colour 14700.
Vegan?: Yes.
2016 Price: £5.75 each.
I just started to use mine from last year, and I'm a bit sad, it didn't come back this year. I really like the smell and the formula. Do you happen to know any current product with this scent?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not - which is a shame as I would have liked to have gotten a few more myself! I'm guessing it wasn't a very good seller!
DeleteProbably not. Although I think it's way better than Sugar Scrub, they should at least upgrade that.
ReplyDeleteMine made me sticky... Does anyone have any idea on why this could be? It was kind of gross. I had to use rub rub rub to get it off.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's because it's made mostly of sugar and the oils make this a sticky combination? I know what you mean about being like this, just not bad enough that it sticks to your skin and need to be washed off with something else! :(
Delete