When you go to a Moroccan or Turkish spa for a hammam treatment, you leave with brand new skin that's baby-soft for days -- sometimes weeks. The Rituals Hammam Hot Scrub, $29, is about as close as you're going to get to that experience in your own shower. The detoxifying salt scrub contains ginger and eucalyptus, and feels warm and tingly when you use it. It's also a serious sinus clearer -- perfect for cold and flu season.
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Day-at-the-Beach Scrub
When you use H2O Plus Sea Amber Skin Smoother, $25, you feel like you're getting a spa treatment at a seaside resort in the south of France. It contains European sea salt to exfoliate, sweet almond oil to moisturize, and three different types of algae to protect and improve skin. It also has sea amber and kelp, which soothe irritation and give you an even bigger boost of hydration.
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Gem of a Scrub
An amazing scrub doesn't have to come in a tub. Cle de Peau Beauté Body Exfoliator, $85, is the epitome of luxury, and it happens to be packaged in an easy-to-use tube. The list of exfoliators reads like a wardrobe wish list: diamond-, silk- and mother of pearl powder. And it contains honey to purify and horse chestnut oil to improve micro-circulation.
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Designer Scrub
Ever since fashion designer Alexander Wang took the helm at Balenciaga, wonderful things have been happening. And the Balenciaga Paris Body Scrub, $95, is at the top of that list. It's beautifully fragranced with notes of pepper, violet and cedar wood, and the glass jar is as beautiful as a Balenciaga jacket.
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Ancient Scrub
Dyptique makes the most beautiful candles, and the body collection is no less spectacular. The Dyptique Smoothing Body Polish, $70, is meant to create the "spa-like feel of Carthage." From the antique-inspired label to the nourishing pomegranate oil and fragrant jasmine oil, it really feels like a vacation to an ancient city.
Once you've tried a truly indulgent, beautifully packaged body scrub, it's hard to imagine showering without one. I remember my first: the now-classic Fresh Brown Sugar Body Polish. The brown sugar exfoliates away dry, dead cells. The evening primrose and sweet almond oils leave skin silky for days. And the ginseng root gets your circulation going. Plus, the hefty tub looks chic sitting on the cluttered ledge of my bathtub. I know I could mix together some sugar and olive oil for a DIY scrub, but the Fresh scrub is so much more.
Now, there's a new generation of high-end body scrubs popping up at department stores, following in the footsteps of the cult favorite from Fresh. Not only do these scrubs make your skin feel amazing, they also have therapeutic benefits and glamorous packaging that make them worth every penny.
