St. Ives Oatmeal Face Scrub and Mask Review

I trialled this product over the course of a week and only used it a few times. I'm usually a fan of St. Ives products and had high hopes for this product.

In my opinion, the packaging looks pretty enough. It's easy to store as it stands on its own. The lid is easy to open and close, and the product comes out of the tube easily. The scent was nice and subtle.

However, I found the consistency was fairly rough and extremely sticky. It instantly dried out my fingers, a personal pet peeve of mine. The consistency made it difficult to apply to my face evenly, which was quite annoying. It was also difficult to "massage into face" as the stickiness hindered this.

Once the product was on my face it dried and hardened up, but felt fine. I kept the product on for the recommended 5-7 minutes and it was easy to forget I was wearing it.

Rinsing the product was probably the most difficult task. It just wouldn't budge! Suffice to say, removal requires a lot of time and water.

My skin type is dry, and the product is advertised as "smoothes away dryness". However, I found that after using the product, my skin felt drier for days afterwards. I had to apply my own moisturising cream at least twice a day. Overall, my skin didn't feel better in any way and honestly just felt terrible.

Tl;dr: Cons: Difficult to apply Difficult to remove Poor results

Pros: I guess it smells ok?

Unfortunately, I will not continue to use this product and cannot recommend this product to others.

My skin hated this. Super drying after the first use. Maybe ok for teens, but not if you are wanting hydration and not for older skin.

This product can be used as a mild scrub and/or a mask. I mainly used it as a scrub, and it stayed in my shower and I never had the patience/time for it to sit as a mask. It is a creamy white lotion with tiny brown granules which are walnut shell powder. I really didn't like the scent- it was like oat, cocoa, honey or something but the combo did not work for me. It left my skin soft and smooth but had a tendency to dry my skin out a bit too much so needed a lot of moisturiser afterwards.

Didn't find this very gentle on my skin and it left my skin feeling a bit stingy and red. It did feel clean and hydrated but I was quite unhappy about the increased redness

I bought this ages ago but only recently started using it. I've always thought of St Ives as having a good name so I was happy to try it. It comes in a big tube with a screw top. The product is thick and is easy to access with no mess.

Once on the skin, the scrub smells lovely with a strong scent of honey. It is thick but without sharp edges and isn't abrasive on my skin.

I've been using it for removing make up and waking my skin which is unusually dull at the moment. I like the result. My skin feels clean and awake, with no residue. It works particularly well under the shower.

I can't recall what it cost but somewhere around $6 rings a bell. I only use a small amount each time and it will last for ages, so its economical. A good buy.

It does leave your face feeling fresh I like the result. My skin feels clean and awake, with no residue. It works particularly well under the shower. I can't recall what it cost but somewhere around $7

From reading the information on the back of the product bottle I was excited to give this a go for a variety of reasons. I have sensitive, dry and textured skin and love anything with oatmeal in it.

First I tried it as a mask and being honest I did not enjoy using it as a mask ( While out of the shower) as the product was quite thin and also slippery so I found the whole process messy. I have other masks that claim to do the same thing that are much better at sticking to my skin for a longer time period.

Tried as a mask while in the shower eliminated the messy worry but that was replaces by using so much water. I did enjoy the process of scrubbing the mask off.

As a scrub I enjoyed this product a lot more. I find getting a scrub that the gentle enough on my skin but still does it job difficult. II can't count the number of times I have bought a scrub claiming to be for sensitive skin and then ending up with a raised angry rash on my face.

Has a good texture and I love that the exfoliating bits are oatmeal and not plastic. It also has a present smell and a good price point.

I will continue to use the Oatmeal face scrub until it is all gone.

Love the scent this scrub/mask has! St Ives is definitely another fav brand of mine. Also so handy that it’s used as a face scrub AND a face mask! Definitely not too harsh on the skin which I love, brightens the skin a bit. Don’t need too much to cover your face and of course your face is left so so smooth!

At first I was apprehensive about using this product as I have read so many times that "apricot scrub is way too harsh for your face and it can cause microtears!" This refers to the walnut shell in the product that acts as an exfoliant. It has sharp and jagged edges that can scratch your skin, potentially allowing bacteria to enter and cause infections.

The product I am reviewing does contain walnut shell powder, however, I tested it on the back of my hand before putting it on my face, and it seemed gentle enough.

The first time I used it as a mask and followed the instructions. It has a creamy texture and is easy to spread on the skin. It has a pleasant "oaty" fragrance but it smells very artificial and a bit like body lotion to me. The scrub particles are fine and there are enough of them to give a feeling of thorough exfoliation. The mask dried out slightly during the wait time but it did not harden or crack like clay masks do. Because it did dry out though, I had to apply water before massaging like the instructions dictate. Washing it off was fairly easy, the product turns into a creamy lotion texture. My skin felt soft and smooth afterwards.

The second time I used it was in the shower, as a scrub. It was easy to massage into my skin and rinsed off easily too. This scrub is quite gentle and I don't think you could easily overdo it like you can with many harsher scrubs (e.g. the apricot one from St. Ives). My skin felt refreshed and soft afterwards.

I have since used the product a few times both as a mask and as a scrub, however, I don't notice much of a difference, if at all, between the two methods. Both give me smoother, cleaner-feeling skin and overall the product is pleasant to use.

Wasn't sure how I'd feel about this product but after trying on the back of my hand to see how I'd go with it I was pleasantly surprised. 1. No skin reactions and 2. It did make my hand feel soft and smooth.

So firstly I tried as a cleanser, after wetting face as per instructions I found I needed only a small amount of product to cover and massage over my face. Nice and creamy with a gentle grainy texture. It spread over my face easily and didn't feel rough at all, lathered up nicely and rinsed of easily with warm water leaving my face feeling refreshed and feeling smooth afterwards.

Same method when using as a mask, I wet my face then I massaged product (slightly more than when I used as a scrub) over my face and left for 5 minutes. Dried out a bit so had to wet my fingers when it came time to massage and rinse off, still left my face feeling cleansed and smooth afterwards.

Loved the tube as a great size for my hand and the product came out easily. The fragrance was pleasant with an oaty scent, and just a grainy texture which felt good on the skin and wasn't to harsh. Is great value as only need a small amount each time.