If you were covering beauty in the early 2000s or simply following skin-care trends of any kind, it's likely you came across Fresh’s Brown Sugar Body Polish. The award-winning product first launched in 1999 and quickly became a coveted favorite with a cult-like following and legions of devoted (if elite) fans. Throughout the next decade, its iconic mocha-brown tub could be found splashed across hundreds of women's magazine spreads, forever changing the body scrub game.
Before Brown Sugar Body Polish, exfoliating body products mainly utilized salt to slough dead skin, which can be drying, rough and harsh. But Fresh founders (husband and wife team Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg) discovered that sugar, when infused with a combination of oils, both removed dead cells and hydrated and nourished the skin below. As a bonus, this combination of ingredients kept the product, well, fresh for longer: “Since brown sugar is a natural antiseptic with no bacteria growth, it could be a natural preservative,” Glazman told Women's Wear Daily in 2012. “It’s also a natural humectant, and that made sense when incorporating it into skin care.”
I was lucky enough to try Fresh's iconic body polish while working as a beauty and wellness writer in 2002 and I immediately loved the way it made my skin look and feel. What I did not love, however, was the price, which was far outside my budget. After my initial sample ran out, I could never justify buying the beloved scrub again. And, while I tested multiple imitation products over the years, each had serious downsides — irritating ingredients, a cloying scent, a too-sticky texture — and none managed to capture the same exfoliating magic. That is until now.
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I'm proud to report that after all these many years of searching, I have at last found a brown sugar body scrub that not only replicates, but improves upon the Fresh original — and for less than $10!
Brooklyn Botany
Like Fresh's Body Polish, Brooklyn Botany's scrub is moisturizing, exfoliating and made of completely natural (simple!) ingredients. It's also safe for all skin types and paraben-, sulfate- and cruelty-free.
Everything I love about Brooklyn Botany Brown Sugar Body Scrub
The scent: The first time I opened the jar and inhaled the scent of Brooklyn Botany's Brown Sugar Body Scrub, I frankly had to keep myself from eating it. It smells like the most delicious sugary-vanilla dessert of all time, while also somehow managing to not seem like a product designed for a child. This scrub is sweet in a good, expensive way; a luxury-spa sugar scent, not scratch 'n' sniff Lucky Charms.
The texture: The next thing that impressed me about Brooklyn Botany's Body Scrub was the texture — sandy enough to get the dermis-molting job done, but pillowy-soft enough to feel amazing on your skin. This product is infused with sweet almond, jojoba seed and sunflower oils, but is somehow also not greasy — a major boon. I've tried oil-based body polishes that left my shower floor slick it, a hazard I was happy to avoid here.
The ingredients: Where the proof is really in the pudding. The two scrubs share a similar all-natural ingredient lineup (including brown sugar and sweet almond oil), but Brooklyn Botany's version ups the ante by adding both skin-protecting vitamin E and anti-inflammatory arnica, making it, for me, a superior product, especially at this price.
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The results: As for the product's actual effect on your skin — after a week of use, my arms and legs not only felt smoother and softer, but absolutely, radiantly glowed in a way I hadn't noticed in years.
The price: If I have one complaint about BB's body scrub, it would be the size — it comes in a small-ish tub, with 7 ounces less product than the Fresh original. However, with a price comparison of $10 versus $69, you can literally buy six backups and still come out ahead.
Brooklyn Botany
It's the middle of February, your skin is as dry as a cat's tongue. This inexpensive, high-quality, all-natural body scrub is exactly what you need right now.
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