After four months of studying abroad in Paris, you would think that I’d have come home with every French-girl beauty product known to mankind. You would be right. However, while Bioderma, Homeoplasmine, and Nuxe all have spots on my (now very limited) bathroom shelf, there's a single product I discovered in France, the Arcona Cranberry Gommage Exfoliator, which happens to be from Los Angeles, that definitely deserves a shout out of its own.

Of course, that whole 'my only beauty products are cleansing milk and cigarettes' thing that French women have going on sounds pretty sexy, but, alas, that routine just didn't work for me. And apparently I wasn't the only one because when I asked one of my good friends (hey Alex!) studying with me—who has maybe the most glowing skin known to mankind—for her secret, it was Arcona's cranberry scrub with a deceivingly French-sounding name' “gommage.” Tricky! While the idea of rubbing cranberries on my face for exfoliating purposes seemed a bit suspect, after a little online research and seeing some astounding results on my friends, my pores began to experience some serious FOMO (“fear of missing out.” Mom!). I needed to get in on this.

I've not only become a believer in the stuff itself, but also in those online beauty review sites—they weren't lying. After only a week and a half of using it, I began wearing less and less makeup to cover my somewhat uneven skin tone. The product smells crazy incredible, and it's smoothed my skin and even helped unclog my pores. All I need is a nice light scrub in the morning andmy face is good to go. I even defy the lazy college student mold and use it on my neck and chest. The instructions say to apply only two to four times a week, but I've been teetering on the higher end of those regulations to the point that I am currently squeezing the life out of the generously-sized tube to get the last little bits. Seriously, this stuff is addicting.

—Kim Johnson

Photos by Elizabeth Brockway.