B101.7 Beauty Report: The 10 Best Exfoliators You Can Use to Reveal Bright and Beautiful Skin [PHOTOS]

If you want smooth and sexy skin this summer, start exfoliating! The right product leaves your skin feeling like polished perfection, but the wrong ones can be ineffective, harmful, or a total waste of money. With so many exfoliators, scrubs, masks, peels, washes and what-have-you out there, where do you even begin?

Lucky for y'all, skin care is kind of my thing. I love makeup, but I am straight-up OBSESSED with skin care. The drawers and cabinets in my bathroom are always overflowing with random washes and lotions and basically every sample Sephora has ever made. If it's out there, chances are I have tried it.

I've listed ten amazing exfoliators in the gallery above. It's a carefully curated collection; I tried to find products that would work in every price range. They're all products I have used before. I tried to showcase different kinds of exfoliation, too-- so allow me to yammer on about the topic a bit more. (You're totally going to learn something, I promise, so keep reading!)

Exfoliators can be divided in to two basic categories: chemical exfoliants and manual exfoliants. You can manually exfoliate your skin with a Clarisonic, loofah, konjac sponge or cleansers/ scrubs. Scrubs usually contain little bits and pieces that help slough off dead skin cells. Manual exfoliation is what gives you that squeaky or scrubbed clean feeling; when used sparingly and accordingly, it's a good thing.

Too much manual exfoliation can damage your skin. If you're hardcore scrubbing every day, you can strip your skin of its protective oils. You could end up with dry skin or even oilier skin, as your face can produce excess oil to account for moisture loss. Harsh scrubs can remove too much skin or tear your pores. Not cool!

When it comes to manual exfoliation, my advice is to stick to once or twice a week. I'm obviously not a doctor, so do what you want. I'm just saying that for my pampered princess skin, manual exfoliation twice a week is just right.

Chemical exfoliation is generally safe for daily use. These products use chemical ingredients that gently remove dead skin and impurities. Don't get hung up on the word chemical--you're not burning off your face with like hydrochloric acid, so you won't lool like the dude in Indiana Jones who looked directly at the Ark of the Covenant. We're talking about alpha hydroxy, lactic, or glycolic acids here--very safe stuff. I use a chemical exfoliant every night.

I think I'll make the next edition of the B101.7 Beauty Report all about my revamped skin care routine. It's taken a lot of trial and error, but it's sooooo worth it. Check out the picture of me below--I'm not wearing ANY makeup!

I mean, the bags under my eyes are a little sad... but I have a toddler, so FREE PASS. I'm proud of my skin! I think it's super radiant and smooth, and I owe all of that to the right products and routine.

Are you a scrub person? Do you swear by a chemical exfoliant? Share your faves in the comments below!