When you really want to “feel” the dead skin roll away, peeling exfoliants like those below are the way to go! I was so excited to get the November 2017 Beauty Heroes box with natural skincare from Ayuna – Less is Beauty. Now I’ve really amassed a great collection of exfoliants!

Peter Thomas Roth FirmX Peeling Gel Exfoliant Review

While I think most Peter Thomas Roth products are a bit-overated, I’ve been using their FirmX exfoliant skin peel for over 3 years. It’s fine on the face, but it’s especially great for lips and other very rough areas like elbows, knees and even feet! This exfoliator is not as harsh as physical face scrubs and my skin is always left feeling soft and not dry – fairly moisturized actually due to hyaluronic acid.

How natural is Peter Thomas Roth FirmX Peel? Well it at least doesn’t have parabens, but there are lots of ingredients I can’t pronounce. This skin care solution uses fruit extracts for exfoliating enzyme action. It does contain PEG-32 (we have to watch out for PEG’s which can enhance penetration of other ingredients in products). The most troublesome ingredient however is tetrasodium EDTA – I’m really trying to pay more attention to this ingredient in my skin care because it’s a preservative made from formaldehyde. Eww. Gross.

Boscia Exfoliating Peel Gel Review

I used to be a huge fan of Boscia’s charcoal line, but they’ve fallen out of favor with me as I have found better products. I received a mini of the Exfoliating Peel Gel from their other line and while I like it, I don’t think it is as effective as PTR FirmX Peeling Gel. Boscia touts this peel as both a physical peel to remove dead skin cells and a deeper more penetrative chemical peel. While both Boscia and Peter Thomas Roth peel gels use pomegranate extracts, the ingredient similarities surprising mostly stop there. The Boscia peel uses many more fruits and plant oils and extracts like clove and lavender.

Boscia exfoliating peel gel does also contain a PEG but with higher molecule size but no EDTA! So it’s probably better for us (and perhaps why it “seems” to be less effective i.e. more gentle)

Both the PTR and Boscia exfoliating peel gels are available at Sephora.

November 2017 Beauty Heroes Review: Ayuna Essence High Protein Cream in Oil Peel and Cream II

I couldn’t wait to try the Ayuna Essence Peel from the November Beauty Heroes box (my favorite beauty subscription box!). When I opened the box I was a bit nervous at first: these products are pretty fragrant. But over time, I’ve quickly fallen in love with the soothing scents made from some exotic, woody and calming essential oils like gurjum balsam, buchu and holy wood. This vegan grommage contains alpha-amino acids for exfoliating and squalane and squalene to treat skin (more on that in later posts 🙂 ). Ayuna is focused on “topical fasting” – an interesting concept that looks to remove overstimulation to promote skin balance and rejuvenation.

I’m so in love with the creamy exfoliating grommage peel from Ayuna in the November 2017 Beauty Heroes box. The Cream II is pretty decadent as well.

After applying a thick layer on my freshly washed face, I like to leave the cream in oil peel on for about 20 minutes and then buff away first with my fingers and hands and then with a warm washcloth. The results are decadent: I get that skin buffing off feeling (although with this nontoxic skin care peel its more of the cream buffing away), my skin looks more radiant and it’s left feeling sooo soft and nourished with the moisturizing oil the treatment leaves behind.

I’m looking forward to incorporating the Ayuna Essence peel into my regular exfoliating routine – it will provide a nice gentle but effective break between my Acure scrub and my Drunk Elephant Babyfacial mask. The only downside: I like this product and brand a lot but this peel is $145 🙁 . I hope it lasts a while…

The other sidekicks in the Beauty Heroes box for this Eco Cert, sustainable, natural, organic, vegan and cruelty free brand were pretty good. The borage bar soap was fine – I don’t know if I would pay $38 for it. But then again I don’t use a lot of bar soap. Then there is Ayuna’s Cream II. Ugh. I really didn’t want to love this, but I do! And its almost $200. I need to try it more without the peel then maybe it won’t feel as amazingly luxe and heavenly as it does 🙂 I can’t tell yet if it provides dreamy softness on its own or just in combination with the Essence peel. I will report back!

If you can’t get your hands on the November Beauty Heroes box, I highly recommend you try buying the Minimum II combo from Ayuna.co . Ayuna is also sold at Neiman Marcus – I would check to see if they sell Ayuna at locations closest to you and get samples!