Following my enjoyment of bath and shower time with Dead Sea Spa Magik’s salt brushing formula earlier in the year, I thought I’d treat myself to a whole long line up of additional body care accessories from different companies and whilst out shopping with a good friend who works in the beauty trade, plumped for a few large jars of DSSM’s body salt scrub, a wonderful, magical potion of coconut and lemon oil embedded in Israeli Dead Sea salt. My friend was so impressed with the sea salt scrub that she also bought the shower gel alongside me. Before going out for New Year’s Eve, I made plans with friends, had a quick lunch get together and prepared myself for the evening, having already ironed a shirt and planned the places we would all visit. I was already looking forward to trying out Dead Sea Spa Magic “Refreshing Shower Gel,” and hoped it would get me in the party mood.
The Product, The Price & The Promise
As with most shower gels I tend to use a net puff to get the most out of the potions, but since this was the first time I tried this product, I decided to do a half and half process. After all, it’s Dead Sea Spa Magik – the company that produces the same amount of oil filled sea salt in a scrub jar and only charge half of what Sea Spa shopping mall stalls sell their products at – and Dead Sea Spa Magik’s product doesn’t dry out unlike the latter when left on a shelf for a year. As a company, they've only been going since 1981, producing a range of bath and beauty products that have mineral extracts, Dead Sea salt as their base line additive and seasonally some of their products pop up in John Lewis as well as Boots. So, whenever a product jumps out to me on a shelf, I know it won't be there for long!So, there was quite an expectation here, not just judged by the quality of the previous product but by the hand cream I’ve also grown to like. This shower gel is quite expensive though, being a paraben free product in a standard 350ml bottle and cost me £6-75, whilst average prices range from £5 to £8-95 dependent on sellers.
This product looked quite good at the time because of it’s professional look on a tall, glossy plastic bottle from the "Yin & Yang" like company label showing off a grey matt block next to a photo of a sun drenched sea water. The bottle is awash with claims, ingredients and directions, suggesting that you can either run the gel under a running tap for a soothing bath or used in the shower either with a sponge or your hand, so it's a pity that whilst it sports a flip up top, it doesn't have a hanging hook or otherwise for general shower purpose.
It isn’t cheap at any cost, but it does come with a few claims like an “allergy free fragrance,” “made with Harmonised water…” and “Skin friendly.” The best part however was the promise that Dead Sea Spa Magik claim that they “blend mud, salt and mineral extracts…to deeply hydrate, repair and soothe your body and mind.” All wrapped around a formula, by it’s very product title that should at least promise soft skin and at best, be invigorating by its additional “refreshing” promise.
Consistency & Scent
Well the look of the gel took me by complete surprise. This product has been crafted with mud remember! At first I thought I had a dodgy bottle because I was expecting a brown mask, or something like mud that we all know very well - and phoned my beautician friend immediately who had already used the product. OK, so some mud treatments are brown, but they are usually a dark grey or a dark beige, matched by the label colour that Dead Sea Spa Magik have honoured us with in their labelling. No, it wasn’t a dodgy batch, it was just that if this product is made with mud and salt, it’s the funniest looking blue silvery gel mud I’ve ever seen and it’s not exactly thick either, but in a gloopy, milky kind of a way that also doubles in look as toothpaste. Does Israel have blue mud by origin?? I think not!
Then the scent – oh my god – full of flowers and nothing menthol or anything that stands out which creates the illusion of refreshment, let alone any other additive that would keep me alert. What had I done? Surely the look and the scent of this product should be promoted better than a mild scent of crushed flowers! It took me a while to work out where I had smelt this scent before – it wasn’t from a Yankee Candle and it was far from refreshing, but rather sleep inducing...
Performance / Results
In use, Dead Sea Spa Magik Refreshing Shower Gel has further disappointments in store and nothing to pull out of the magik hat! It claims to be a foaming bath gel, but does it foam up in running water? No, it turns it into a mild pale blue sea. In the shower it doesn’t lather up very well either, creating a fine foam when applied with a sponge or a puff, and runs away the moment the shower water runs over with the final result that my skin doesn’t feel soft, doesn't look glossy, doesn't feel "rejuvenated," after this product is washed off and feels very much like the same kind of sand paper result I get from using non-moisturiser traditional soap. Refreshed? Would you feel refreshed if your skin smelt faintly of Parma Violets? I positively wanted to lie down!
The upside of this shower gel is that it is evidently salty – this comes across when steaming in hot water under the shower or bath and suddenly the taste of salt is apparent on my lips. At least in this respect you get the Spa treatment that Dead Sea Spa Magik's Salt Brushing bears comparisons with. So perhaps whilst there is salt in this product, the performance leads me to believe otherwise but what an advantage that the scent doesn’t hang around once you towel down. It’s a bit like our family favourite, Sanex – very kind to skin but once you towel down there’s not much of a fragrance left over to accompany your cleanliness, or to prove that you've showered!
Other Info
The UK website is similarly a joke. You’ll be given a form to fill in when visiting the site, but no hope in hell in seeing any of the products that the company have. Instead they require you to fill out your name, email address, telephone number and then give you the opportunity to write a comment.
Doesn’t create a good impression, does it?
Visit the .com site and you’ll be told that this product got a “highly commended” approval award from a magazine called “Natural Health,” who upon checking out, turns out not to be a magazine you and I can pick up off shelves off at newsagents but rather, a private based competition site for companies to be sponsored, promoted and advertised from.
Final Thoughts
Thankfully no one noticed the scent of Parma violets at New's Year's Eve, because everyone else was reeking of the latest perfumes and aftershaves. I didn't feel very alert however as the night began, but soon got into the swing of things helped by alcohol down my throat as opposed to a luxury shower gel that promised a spa experience but very little else.
Most of which, surrounded by the hype of an award issued in 2011 that doesn't bear much importance or from an organisation you've maybe never heard of, the Parma Violets scent, skin like sand paper and a price that could so easily be applied to a Clinique for Men product doesn’t add much sparkle, let alone magic. Yes, it is an accompaniment to the Dead Sea Spa Magik range, but it’s not a product I’ll ever buy again and as an alternative to the long process of salt brushing to the body, this product just isn't a quicker compromise to get the same effect - or a revitalised feeling. Thanks for reading. ©Nar2 2012
A whole long list of ingredients and claims can be found here:
http://www.revital.co.uk/Dead_Sea_Magik_Refresh_Bath_and_Shower_Gel
UPDATE 24th January 2012
I sent a complaint email to findershealth.com and here's the reply I got:
"...I am sorry to hear that you were disappointed with our Dead Sea Spa Magik Refreshing Bath Shower Gel. Not all of our products are mud-based and this particular product does not have mud in it but it does, of course, contain 21 minerals from the Dead Sea which have a moisturising and hydrating effect on the skin. There are also organic plant extracts in this product..."
So if the official statement is, that this product doesn't contain mud, why does the label on the bottle state so?
Dead Sea Spa Magik - Rather Dead And Tragic! 
