I’ve always been attracted to Alba’s products because they have some fun ingredients/themes. Their Hawaiian line was definitely intriguing to me because I love the scent of tropical flowers and fruits. It’s important to exfoliate regularly so I thought I’d try their Pineapple Enzyme Facial Scrub. My skin can be sensitive to scrubs and peels so I prefer to try gentle, enzyme based exfoliants. Now, don’t get me wrong, enzymes can be quite intense on the skin but I figured that this product was on the grocery store shelf so I’d probably be okay in terms of the strength.

Here’s how I use it:
– Once or twice a week, I’ll wash my face and then apply this as a
masque and let it sit for a few minutes. Usually, I’m in the shower when I do this so it’ll be steamy and getting diluted a bit by the shower spray. I point that out because it might be different if you’re trying it somewhere dry.

The upsides:
– This product is gentle enough for sensitive skin. If one used it 2-4x/week as they suggest, it would probably offer some great results to normal skin and 1-2x/week would be great for sensitive.
From the product page:

Features and benefits: This gentle cleaner combines effective fruit enzymes and buffing granules for deep-cleansing without drying. Maintains your skin’s delicate pH while infusing it with healing moisture

– They do have an Environmental Commitment that includes employee volunteer work and tree planting.

The not-so-upsides:
The Effectiveness
– I don’t use it like a scrub, there aren’t enough of the scrubby bits for that. It’s silly to call something a scrub that isn’t really very scrubby. If you were looking for something that’s truly scrubby, this is NOT the product for you.
– While I do feel the tingle, it doesn’t seem to work very well. Perhaps if I used it daily I might notice smoother skin but I don’t always have the time or inclination to wash and then exfoliate every morning.

The Scent
– I don’t know about you but if I see a product that calls itself Pineapple something, I’m expecting it to smell like Pineapple. I mean, it’s not an unpleasant scent to most – it’s sweet and fruity. So, the fact that this product has “fragrance” in the ingredients and it smells like generic “floral” synthetic fragrance is quite bothersome to me, and quite disappointing.

If this product smelled like tropical fruits, even if it was a synthetic fragrance, I would keep it around regularly and tell people about it with high regard. But, given it’s utterly offensive use of “generic” floral scent, I’m giving it a giant NOT MY FAVORITE (which is only giant because I really WANTED it to be a LOVE IT!)