Exfoliating is an essential part of a skin care and body care routine that helps to remove dead skin cells and impurities, revealing smoother and healthier skin. Let's discuss the importance of exfoliating and the different types of exfoliators available.

A year ago when A Girl's Gotta Spa! began the quest of producing the best bath and body products, this exfoliating salt scrub was the one I was looking forward to most. It's no secret that body scrubs are by far my most favorite skin care item due to the way it transforms your skin. Transformation is important when it comes to self-care. When you take the time for yourself, even to simply scrub away dull, dry skin, you make yourself a priority and that's important for your emotional well-being. If you don't make the time to care for yourself, who else is going to? Can we talk about how amazing this 10 oz. exfoliating body scrub is? As my fellow beauty blogger Christine from 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic told me, "I'm going to eat the scrub. OMG." Now, please don't consume this product, but I don't blame you if that's the first thing that comes to mind. It is 100% natural, though, as well as vegan and Leaping Bunny certified cruelty free. The natural ingredients listed on the label are super easy to understand. Don't you hate when you look at a label and scratch your head at an ingredient? I aimed to make it as simple as possible. That's why if you see Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis, I let you know that's Sweet Almond Oil in paranthesis. Some of the incredible ingredients include: Dead Sea Salt, Avocado Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Beet Root, Green Tea and pure essential oils. So not only is the Energizing Citrus fragrance out of this world like ripe citrus fruit at the peak of freshness, the other natural ingredients are skin smoothing and hydrating.  

Exfoliating Body Scrub http://t.co/WHgSO4eZtG — A Girl's Gotta Spa! (@agirlsgottaspa) November 6, 2014

You want to look and feel your best and sometimes that can be difficult with everything you may have going on. Believe me, it happens to all of us (sometimes more often than we'd like to admit.) Give yourself just 5 minutes. It's too easy to neglect ourselves and become worn out, stressed out and run down. Rid your skin of environmental stress while treating yourself to some me time! You deserve to be pampered. To stay in the loop regarding A Girl's Gotta Spa! bath and body line, please subscribe to our mailing list (you get 15% off your first order if you do!) Also check out our ever growing list of retailers that believe in our mission. Interested in becoming a retail partner? Please see our Wholesale page.

Carolyn Doe, spa director at The Umstead Hotel and Spa (Cary, N.C.) has whipped up a DIY Coconut Coffee Foot Scrub recipe to soothe weary feet at home. The rich blend of antioxidant-filled coffee and moisture-locking coconut oil, combined with the refreshing scent of vanilla extract, is a perfect combination of natural ingredients to remove and repair rough skin. Coconut Coffee Foot Scrub Recipe

• 1 cup     Virgin Coconut Oil
• ½ cup    Favorite Ground Coffee
• 1-2 tsp  Vanilla Extract

  Method: Blend ingredients together. Prepare a tub of warm soapy water and soak feet for 10 minutes. While soaking, apply 1 teaspoon of the scrub to feet in a circular motion to exfoliate the dead skin away. Rinse feet in warm water and pat dry.  (Mixture can also be used as a body scrub in the shower, but take care as it can make for a slippery surface.) Store leftovers for later use in an air-tight container at room temperature. Not only is this scrub invigorating, your feet will feel incredibly soft and pampered. Subscribe to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! Watch our reviews on YouTube, see our pins on Pinterest and check us out on Instagram and G+. Got a Kindle? We’re on Kindle too! Shannon on G+

My sister is, and always has been, my beauty mentor.  Whenever I've had  a beauty ailment (which is a weekly occurrence,) I've always been able to count on her to steer me in the right direction.  Whether it be over plucked brows, breakouts or a lackluster complexion, she always seems to have a remedy in hand.  Her latest beauty advice for me was a body scrub using coffee grounds. This DIY body scrub was honestly one of the easiest and most enjoyable beauty adventures I've been on in a long time.  I got to enjoy a delicious cup cup of coffee then indulge in an amazingly effective...and cheap at home spa treatment.  I just took the leftover grounds into the shower with me and rubbed it all over my body.  The coffee grounds make a really gentle scrub, but also does a great job of exfoliating.  Caffeine is also known to be a fantastic anti-cellulite treatment. The strong smell of coffee in the shower also gave me an energy boost.  I do have to caution that the coffee grounds do tend to get very messy in the shower so it's a good idea to create more of a paste by combining it with olive oil...or shower oil.  My skin was soft and incredibly smooth and the best thing of all is that it did not cost me a thing! Subscribe to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! for more beauty reviews! Got a Kindle? We’re on Kindle too!

Although going to the spa can never be an overrated experience, there is something to be said of being able to bring the spa to the comfort and privacy of your own home with you and a few of your closest girlfriends...or sometimes just solo.  The only problem with bringing the spa to your home is the quality of the spa products.  More often than not, spa products that I am able to get my hands on are never spa quality and being that neither me nor my girlfriends are professional estheticians, we need our products to do the job that we can not.  Which is why I love products from True Blue Spa by Bath & Body Works.  The brands products are spa quality without the spa prices, they really allow you to experience the true spa experience at home. My two favorite True Blue Spa products are the 60-Second Manicure Hand Scrub and the Smoothing Foot Scrub.  The Hand Scrub is a sugar based exfoliating treatment that also contains moisturizing Shea Butter.  I love starting  my at home spa manicures with the scrub because it immediately softens my hands and cuticles and allows any moisturizing products that follows, whether it's a hand lotion, masque or cuticle oil, to do a more effective job.  The scrub also has a great citrusy scent...like a blend of sugar and grapefruit.  Much like the hand scrub, the Smoothing Foot Scrub also smooths and softens, allowing moisturizing products to be better absorbed by the feet.  The foot scrub also has a great refreshing minty scent, due to the Peppermint Oil that is a part of the ingredients and that also stimulates tired feet. I may never completely give up going to a spa in favor of spa-ing at home, but for those days when the spa budget is a bit too tight or if I just want to have a girl's night in with my at home spa products and a bottle of wine, it's great to know that I have two amazing products on hand that very closely captures the spa experience and results without the steep spa price tags or having to change out of my jammies.