Caudalie Crushed Cabernet Scrub

Firstly, let me start out by saying that I absolutely adore French brand Caudalie. I think they are forward-thinking with their products and have fantastic ethics (have a little read here). You can tell that a great deal of care and consideration is taken in the product formulation and presentation.

I am always buying the odd facial item (or few) and on occasion a nice little sample is thrown in. The Crushed Cabernet Scrub was one of these items. Upon arrival I was so excited to try this. The gorgeous jar-style container is both practical and aesthetically pleasing and the 60g size is rather generous for a complementary sample!

The product itself is um, interesting. I have used it three times (you can see in the picture above that you get a lot of use out of this sample!) and come to the conclusion that the texture is PERFECTION; more of a paste than a gloopy liquid(so really easy to use without wasting half of it as it plops to the shower floor once you've scooped it out!). But the scent is just, wow... not my taste. The name 'cabernet scrub' really does give a pretty good hint that it smells of wine. Occasionally, if I open it outside of the shower and just have a little sniff (like I'm doing now) I think, 'eh, It's not too bad..only slightly likely bad wine...' but once you get in the shower - holy jeez! Once the scrub mixes with water there is an overwhelming scent of mould/dust/bad wine. I'm sure there are some great skincare benefits to this, and my skin always feels lovely and smooth and moisturised, but the scent just ruins the whole experience for me I'm afraid! I'm really not picky when it comes to scents usually; even if a product smells a bit meh I will carry on using it for its benefits, but this is just too much.

Did I get a dodgy one? Has anyone else tried this? You may love the scent. With 99% natural ingredients and supposedly thigh-slimming effects, this definitely sounds like perfection, so maybe perseverence is key...Have a read about the product on the Caudalie website and come to your own conclusion.