I must be the last blogger on earth to be talking about the MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator -- it launched a while back along with the Solar Field and Future Earth collections.

The reason I hadn't tried it yet? Well, when they say Volcanic Ash, they're not joking. This stuff is black, gritty and goopy. And my living room, where I first opened the package, has quite a bit of white in it, including an ivory couch and an ivory-and-black rug. And did I mention I'm accident prone? So to avoid ruining my beloved couch and carpet, I quickly sealed the little jar up in a Ziploc bag and forgot about it.

Last weekend I finally broke it out of its plastic prison (in the shower, far from my white couch) to give it a whirl. It is indeed a shining mess of black goo, and it smells like a combination of newspaper ink and overripe berries.

Ah, but in the name of research I gamely slathered it on my face and scrubbed away. Volcanic Ash Exfoliator has the texture of a medium-bodied sugar scrub and blends real volcanic ash with sugar crystals from the island of Vanuatu (yes, the one from Survivor). It felt great on my face -- not too harsh, sugar scrubs are good that way -- and actually had a little foaming action going on, which surprised me. Afterward, my face felt super smooth without a hint of irritation. Love!

My shower, on the other hand, looked like an arsonist's crime scene, with bits of burnt-looking black goo smattered about. It rinsed away pretty quickly, but I'd definitely recommend using this scrub exclusively in the shower to help contain the mess, and only on days when you're washing your hair -- getting those ashy bits out of your hairline on a "skip" day might prove to be a problem.

Volcanic Ash Exfoliator ($19) is currently sold out online, but I bet you could hunt some down at your local MAC store or counter.