Frutique - Papaya Enzyme Exfoliating Gel – “Beauty by Nature”

I bought this stuff at Sally Beauty Supply, and the lady who rang my sale told me that she uses it and loves it! Regrettably, exfoliation has never been a consistent part of my skin care regimen, but I had made the decision to be better about taking care of my skin cuz, let’s face it, my skin definitely needs the help! I saw the Frutique product line while I was browsing, and I’m always up for trying the “natural” skincare alternatives when I can. This product uses Papaya extracts to naturally exfoliate the skin and is gentle even on sensitive skin types. I’ve heard that the scrubs are not good/preferred for exfoliation because they cause tiny micro-scratches on the surface of the skin which can be damaging. I used to use a skin refinishing lotion (similar concept to the Papaya gel, just combined in a lotion) and I really loved the gentle exfoliation, so I was very excited to try Frutique’s gel. However, the first time I tried the exfoliation gel I freaked, and thought “What have I done to my skin!?” Let me tell you the story …

The directions on the bottle say you should use the gel on a clean, dry face and rub in gentle, circular motions for 30-60 seconds until the skin sloughs off, then you can rinse your face. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? I washed and dried my face, pumped a few pumps of gel onto my fingers and began gently massaging it onto my cheeks, chin and jaw line. The skin began sloughing off almost instantly and I thought, “Hey, this stuff works great!” Then I tried rinsing it off… and that’s when panic set in! The sloughed off skin was stuck and would not wash away!! I tried scrubbing, using more gel, hot water, cold water … I tried everything! The skin that had sloughed off looked like pills of cotton, and was stuck all along my jaw line like a beard! (Sounds pretty funny when I think back on it, I admit! haha) But man, I sure was panicked and regretted using the gel and thought my face was ruined forever! In order to remove the skin I had to scrub my face real hard with a towel. I thought for sure my skin would be red and irritated for the rest of the weekend! (By the way, it’s a good thing I tried this stuff on the weekend and not while getting ready for work!) But, I must admit, once I had “exfoliated” the skin off by scrubbing with a towel, my face was incredibly smooth and, surprisingly, didn’t remain red and irritated. *phew*

That was how it all went down the first time I used the gel. Needless to say, I hated it and was about to return it and get my $13 back. But, I decided to be brave and try it once more, just to say I gave it my best effort because I really wanted to like it, despite the first go around. After trying it a second time, I had a much more “normal” experience with it and actually ended up loving it! I use it once a week now and it keeps my skin very smooth and even! I find that when my face is super smooth, my makeup goes on much more evenly and easily.

If you end up trying this exfoliation gel, just be cautioned that your first time might be similar to mine … or maybe what happened to me is normal?? Who knows? But the bottom line is, I’m glad I gave it another try because now I use it regularly, and even just bought Frutique’s “Citrus Essence Brightening Crème”. Verdict: So far so good. It’s supposed to help naturally brighten and even out skin tone with the natural licorice and citrus extracts. It goes on light and not oily, but feels moisturizing enough.

So that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. Hopefully I didn’t scare you off with my horror story about my first use, because I think if you try it you’ll really like it just like I (eventually) did!

You can check out their website to see the other products they have. I can't wait to try some of their other stuff!