Beauty Product of the Week: Go With The Grain

What is it? Go With The Grain from mark (an off-shoot of Avon) contains "vitamin-rich adzuki beans and rice bran - two traditional Japanese exfoliators - blended with corn cob provide mild exfoliation." Available online for $9.00.

What did you think? I lived in England when I was a freshman in high school and again while in college. While there, regular trips to the Body Shop were a must. Along with strawberry bubble bath and satsuma lipgloss, one of my favorite Body Shop products was Japanese face washing grains. They exfoliated my skin and felt great...I adored this product, but its no longer available.

However, Go With The Grain from mark is pretty damn close to my once-loved, now gone Body Shop product. In some ways, it's even better. The mark product is better packaged and much easier to use. You just pour out some of the grains into your palm and then add your favorite face washing product. You mix the two together and viola! Your normal face wash gets an instant upgrade. Your face is cleansed and gently exfoliated at the same time.

The package is designed to fit on top of mark's face wash, but since I use Purity Made Simple, the jar just sits on my vanity. The weird "donut-hole" design just makes the bottle easy to hold, especially if my hands are wet.

Final verdict? Go With The Grain does what it says it will: it turns your face wash into a gentle but effective exfoliator when you're wanting to slough away some of your dead skin cells. It's easy to use, it smells good and clean, and the price is right. I recommend it.