Santa Cruz, California's Urb Apothecary's Matcha Scrub

**Edit: Whoops!  I realized that I forgot to add the link to the company that made the scrub.  Here it is: https://www.etsy.com/shop/UrbApothecary

So in honor of our beauty blog's name, the slug stands for Banana Slug our alma mater's mascot.  I decided to try to find some Santa Cruz made products to review.  Thus began my search etsy for Santa Cruz created product.  Ami touched a little bit on the fact that we met at UC Santa Cruz in her last post titled "Why Are You Blogging?", and I'll expand a bit on that.  UC Santa Cruz's residential system is based on a college system.  Every single undergraduate is affiliated with a college, and it is not based on one's major.  We both belong to Crown College, which is the science, technology, and math based college, but again it's just that the residential themes touch on those areas, but you do NOT have to major in them.  God knows we didn't as Ami majored in Literature, and I majored in History with a minor in Education.  We both lived at Descartes Hall, and actually my room was directly above hers.  I'm still apologizing for that for two reason, 1. I tended to pace a lot and because the residence halls (Don't call them dorms, that's an old fashioned term.  I call them residence halls because they're not just a place to sleep, but a place to build friendships, and community.  Dorms is a pretty sterile term.  I shudder when I hear it.) were older, the floors and walls were rather thin.  So every creak could be heard.  2. I have a habit of playing one song over and over again if I really like it.  I can't explain it, I just do it.  So, because I was going through a terrible break up, my first, I played Fiona Apple's Fast As You Can repeatedly.  

You can see why I'm still apologizing for that.  Sorry, Ami.  

But we both have great memories of Santa Cruz, and I miss it.  I thought it would be fun to see what kind of handcrafted beauty products are coming out of Santa Cruz, and it's not a lot.  There's very little make up, the only product that I could find was a tinted lip balm, and cheek tint.  To be fair, I did only check etsy, because it that's a pretty good resource and you can search by location, so if there are others, let me know and I'll take a look. 

I did find a lot of lotions, lip balms, and scrubs.  I decided on URB Apothecary's Matcha Scrub because I love the smell of Matcha, which is green tea, and my hands are pretty dry so a product that moisturizes is a plus.  I did contact them and asked if they were cruelty free, and they replied that they were.  I should have asked if their ingredients were cruelty free as well, but didn't think of that until later.  I ordered my item on March 15, and it arrived today March 21, so the item shipped pretty quickly.  For someone who likes immediate gratification, this was most appreciated. 

The box with their logo.

Aw, I got a thank you.  That's actually pretty nice that they included that note.  

It's a little difficult to read the label, but it says:
 

"Matcha green tea's high anti-oxidant content rejuvenated old skin cells & neutralizes UV damage.  Coconut oil, raw coconut & sugar together with matcha green tea creates a healing, rejuvenating, & exfoiliating scrub.  Massage scrub onto damp face & body in light circular motions.  Rinse with warm water, pat dry, & moisturize further if needed. 
Contains coconut oil, unrefined sugar, matcha green tea, raw coconut, & good vibes."

You can't get any more wonderfully hippie than that.  

 

Upon opening it the first scent right out of the gate was coconut.  It's very strong, and because of that, I initially didn't smell any matcha, which I was bummed about seeing as I like matcha (if you like matcha, try it in a chocolate bar.  Vosges Gourmet Chocolate used to make this wonderful milk chocolate bar with matcha, that they unfortunately discontinued, but they do it have it in dark chocolate form.)  Despite this, it still smells quite good.  I was initially going to review this after using it once, but that doesn't fair, as you have to use an item more than once before reviewing it.  The first time I used this, I only used the drier top layer, and it was OK.  The smell was again, very good, and my hands did soften up a bit.  The second time I used this, I had to really go beyond the first layer to get to the oilier part, in order to reach the moisturizing properties.  Upon the second time, I smelled a hint of the matcha.  YES!  Great!  It is though, just a hint, but it's there.  My hands were softer due to getting to more of the oil.  It says you can use it on your face, but I think it's too rough for that.  This would be better to use on the feet, and arms.