Well, I’m learning a lot about charcoal at the moment slotting into the ‘things I didn’t know I needed to know’ file in my head. For example, you get charcoal from heating wood in an environment where there is no oxygen. It’s pure carbon, and can take days to product while the volatile compounds (water, for example) burns off. Yes, I had to Wiki this. And I needed to know this because charcoal in beauty (and cooking) is a thing now and it turns out there are different types of charcoal depending up on what wood you carbonize. In the Erborian Black Scrub, the charcoal comes from Binchotan which will appear in my Ladybird Book of Charcoal now that I know so much, as a superior charcoal made from evergreen oak. It’s used widely in Asian countries for purifying – even for air, never mind skin – and for the complexion is known as an oil hoover.
This gloriously tarry looking substance appears heavy and sticky but in fact, it’s a very light gel that looks more of a grey when on the skin.Weirdly, it’s got soft bits in it and there’s no explaination for those in my info but it’s a similar thing to Ginvera’s Marvel Gel. You leave it on for three minutes and rinse away. I don’t usually have oily skin but it was hot enough today that, let’s say I was a bit over-glowy, so I tried out the Erborian Black Scrub. I can’t deny that it did seem to refresh and take away any oiliness, leaving my skin feeling detoxed and smooth. The most noticable thing was that my skin still felt well moisturised, just not oily. I didn’t feel it drew out any impurities particularly although my skin did look brighter.
I don’t find the Erborian Black Scrub mind blowing, but it’s decent enough, and used in combination with Erborian Black Soap and the Bamboo Charcoal Konjac I can see it in the context of a gentle routine for oily skin types. It’s advised that you only use once a week, but obviously you can be your own judge on that one.
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Erborian Black Scrub is £26. It hasn’t quite launched yet but will be up on the Erborian UK site (HERE) soon.
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3 comments
Love your post … It’s the first time i see this product from Erborian and yes Charcoal is now all over the social networks. I never thought that charcoal is that good so am learning everyday something new about it and discovering new products also.
I just start a beauty blog also 🙂 if you want to say hi
http://thebeautychik.com
Kisses
Charcoal is meant to be a blocked pores killer! But, after what you’ve said for £26 I think I might leave this alone!
Lottie
http://www.flareaforte.com
I bought the Bioré charcoal cleanser only last week and put it on before I got into the shower. Big mistake! I didn’t realise it contained menthol! Cue a very pink face! Will have to rinse it off quickly next time, but I liked it other than the menthol. And it’s a lot cheaper, I got it from Boots while I was browsing in there.