The Body Scrub That Transformed My Skin—and My Mood (2024)

Perhaps you’ve seen Josie Maran’s joyful presence on your TV screen—the former model and beauty-brand founder is a beloved QVC regular. Beneath that easygoing personality, however, is an uber-successful entrepreneur: Over the past 16 years, she turned what was once a very novel idea—a luxury brand made with natural, nontoxic ingredients—into a clean-beauty empire that sells a body butter every 14 seconds and makes the number one body scrub in the U.S.

Here’s where the story swerves: Maran has decided to overhaul her brand. The hero ingredient, argan oil, remains front and center (thank goodness, because that stuff is hydrating gold), but she has rethought pretty much everything else. Why, I ask her, would she mess with something people clearly love? “I started to think, Why am I doing this? What is this all for? It made me want to get back to my original mission: help change the world,” she says. How can a beauty brand do that? And, ahem, will the body scrub be just as good? As Maran often says, let’s talk about it:

The new packaging is chic and refillable

One of Maran’s primary goals in rethinking her brand was to reduce the company’s pollution footprint. “Caring about sustainability was ingrained in me; my mom is from a family of 13 kids, so she’s the queen of upcycling,” she says. “Seriously, once she sewed an unpaired cashmere sock into the crotch of my Levi’s so that they’d feel more comfy.” Reusing and refilling was the answer, she decided. “So I created packaging that gets rid of as much plastic as possible.” The little still used, for lids and refill pouches, is made of recycled plastic and can be recycled locally or via Terracycle. A refill pouch will replenish your glass vessel twice (with some extra), and only costs $20 more than a new jar, saving you 25 percent.

The fragrances are totally natural

“I asked a top perfumer in France to help me create scents made from all plant-based ingredients that smell just as sophisticated as anything else,” Maran says. “It took years to perfect three scents and one unscented option, called Always Nude—my mom can’t be near fragrance, so I’ve always offered unscented, and it’s our number one seller by far.”

The three scented varieties include:

Vanilla Vibezzz

This is reminiscent of the homemade ice cream Maran made with her mom as a kid. It’s nostalgic and lovely and not at all cloying. Maran compares it to a shot of dopamine. Shop here

Topless Tangerine

A citrusy, carefree, romp-on-the-beach joy, this jump-starts my day; when I waved it under people’s noses at Oprah Daily, they brightened up and fell for it instantly. Shop here

Bohemian Fig

Warm and cozy, but also dressed-to-the-nines sexy, this smells like nuzzling up to your loved one. The more I sit with it, the more I gravitate to it. It’s perfect before a date night or during a late-night bath. Shop here

The argan-oil-spiked scrub is a multitasker’s dream

When I massage a quarter-size amount in circular motions along damp limbs, the sugar—a natural humectant that’s not nearly as scratchy as salt—sloughs off dead, dull skin cells and then dissolves, leaving behind argan oil, coconut oil, and shea butter. The formula isn’t drippy or greasy, but it’s oily enough that it can double as a shaving oil. It also hydrates and locks in moisture so well that I don’t need to apply body oil or lotion.

Maran attributes a lot of this to the argan oil that’s whipped into the formula. Ethically sourced from the Atlas mountains in Morocco, the organic oil is high in essential fatty acids (which help strengthen and repair the skin barrier) but also super lightweight, so you aren’t left with pore-clogging residue. It makes me can’t-stop-touching smooth and noticeably beam-y. If not world-changing, it’s certainly skin-changing.