Emerita sounded dreamy: A skin care line with no fragrance or parabens, made by a company that's woman-owned and operated. So I jumped at the chance to get samples, and tried the Microdermabrasion Face Scrub. The gentle exfoliation felt great, and left my skin happy!

So with a clean scrubbed face I looked more closely at the info about Emerita -- to find that the company makes "functional skin care products for women over 40"!

Oops -- I should really read the info about products more carefully before trying out the samples. That said, there's no reason why younger women can't use Emerita products. Or more accurately, there's no reason why they shouldn't use Emerita's skin care products. It's probably a good thing that I'm not trying the perimenopause / menopause related products Emerita also sells. In any case, Emerita's skin care products basically take out the chemicals and add in organic and botanical ingredients -- a move that perhaps helps maturing skin the most, but something that can really benefit anyone.

So while I'm a while away from 40, I'll enjoy the rest of the Microdermabrasion Face Scrub I have. I love the small granules in the scrub -- the grainy bits are much smaller than the beads in common apricot scrubs -- because they exfoliate and massage my skin without feeling abrasive. The scrub's for every other day use -- too much exfoliation'll turn you red -- with a milder cleanser used on other days.

The scrub in general is quite safe, with all ingredients in the product falling in the "low risk" category according to the Skin Deep cosmetics database -- save 3 ingredients in the "moderate risk" category. These 3 are tocopheryl acetate and phenoxyethanol are ranked a 4, while sorbic acid is rated 3. My guess is that overall, it'd be ranked a 3.

I'm not the only under-40 woman trying Emerita. Kristen King of Lively Women says Emerita's skin care products leave her "feeling clean, refreshed, and moisturized." Shannon Nelson of A Girl's Gotta Spa got smart and had her mom Paula try it. Paula's take: "It really helped with the dry skin areas around my nose; I don't have any peeling or flaking since using it. I really liked this product a lot and would definitely recommend it for women 40+."

Cost: $34.99 for 1.7 oz. If you don't want to plunk down $35 without knowing for sure you'll like the product, you might try ordering a sample for $2. Scrub clean and healthy --

BlogHer Contributing Editor Siel also blogs for the Los Angeles Times at Emerald City, and at greenLAgirl.com.