Dove Cream Oil Shower Cherry Blossom and Almond Oil

...really use a lot of Dove products, mainly because I’m afraid I find them a bit boring compared to my Lush products, and I prefer a bath over a shower and see Dove as more of a shower gel and body lotion brand. However, the other day I received a sample pack from Dove containing a generous 50ml sample bottle of one of their new shower gels, Cream Oil Body Wash in Cherry Blossom in the post, along with a mini bat puff and money off voucher in ...
...you must have heard of Dove before, they're a pretty well known brand! My bloke absolutely loves their soaps and they're all he ever uses to wash with! If you fancy taking a peak at their website you can find it at http://www.dove.co.uk/uk_en/ . They have gone a bit overboard with Macromedia Flash player so you may want to pause the little movie things so it doesn't slow your computer down too much. Anyway, Dove is owned by Unilever, which you may ... more

Now I don't tend to really use a lot of Dove products, mainly because I’m afraid I find them a bit boring compared to my Lush products, and I prefer a bath over a shower and see Dove as more of a shower gel and body lotion brand. However, the other day I received a sample pack from Dove containing a generous 50ml sample bottle of one of their new shower gels, Cream Oil Body Wash in Cherry Blossom in the post, along with a mini bat puff and money off voucher in a leaflet. Well, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and it did smell nice when I took the lid off for a sniff, so I thought I’d give it a try.

~~~ THE COMPANY ~~~

I'm sure you must have heard of Dove before, they're a pretty well known brand! My bloke absolutely loves their soaps and they're all he ever uses to wash with! If you fancy taking a peak at their website you can find it at http://www.dove.co.uk/uk_en/ . They have gone a bit overboard with Macromedia Flash player so you may want to pause the little movie things so it doesn't slow your computer down too much. Anyway, Dove is owned by Unilever, which you may or may not have heard of. The company was founded in the 1930’s and was made up of various other companies which merged together to form Unilever, and which had themselves been founded before the start of the 20th Century. They are now a huge, multinational company who have over 400 different brands and they continue to produce new products. The beauty & personal care brands they produce include Sunsilk, Vaseline, Lux, Ponds and Signal, and they also produce various household product brands, food brands and healthy living brands. If you want to find out more about Unilever, visit their website at http://www.unilever.com .

~~~ Where/how to buy? ~~~

As I mentioned above, I tried Dove Cream Oil Body Wash as I was sent a free sample, so I haven’t actually been out anywhere to buy it. I’ m not sure if it’s on the shelves yet as it seems to be a very new product. I’m guessing it either is or will be soon. I’m also guessing that it will be sold in similar places that sell other Dove branded products, such as Boots, Superdrug & other pharmacies, Tescos, Asdas, Sainsburys, Morrisons & other supermarkets. All I can suggest is that you keep a loo out for it if you go to any of these places. No doubt it will probably become available to buy online too, if it isn’t already. Try the usual search engines and price comparison websites such as Google & Kelkoo. You may as well give e-bay a try too, you never know. Some naughty people sell their free samples on there from time to time s there may be someone selling their free sample of this. Or you cold check the Dove website out to see if you can sign up to receive a free sample. I think I signed up with them awhile ago and now they seem to randomly send me samples, which is fine by me!

~~~ Animal testing policy? ~~~

Unilever’s policy on animal testing can be found at:
http://www.unilever.com/ourvalues/environmentandsociety/env_social_report/consumers/animal_testing.asp .
They say that they are committed both to the elimination of animal testing and to consumer health & safely. They ensure that animal testing is only carried out when there are no alternatives available and are investing in developing and applying alternative methods which they hope will replace animal testing in safety assessments for consumer products. They describe this as being a dual approach which is helping them to keep animal testing to a minimum and advancing them towards elimination of animal testing. They also claim that their use of animals and animal testing is kept transparent. Although its obvious that they are not an entirely cruelty free company, it’s also obvious that they are making some effort to become cruelty free, and unlike many companies at least they do clearly state their animal testing policies.

~~~ THE PRODUCT ITSELF ~~~

~~~ The packaging ~~~

My bottle is only a little 50ml bottle, the full sized ones are 250mls. Judging by the pictures of the full sized bottles in the leaflet I got with my sample pack, I’d say my little bottle is almost the same but just smaller, so I’ll describe it to you. It’s the usual Dove bottle shape and it’s a pale pinky colour. It had the usual blue Dove lettering and the gold dove symbol on it, and the words ‘cream oil body wash’ above a kind of pink swirl and drop picture and the scent of the product below the picture. The front of the bottle is quite plain & simple really. On the back the sample bottle only had the ingredients on it, the size of the product and a rather large barcode, though why a free sample needs a barcode is anyone’s guess! I would expect the full sized product to also contain some blurb about the product and probably also a brief instructions on how to use. The lid on my bottle is one that you kind of pull off, but the pictures of the full sized product in the leaflet show they have flip up lids.

~~~ The products claims/blurb ~~~

There is no blurb on the back of my bottle, as I said earlier, because it’s only a sample size and thus too small to contain any blurb. However, there is a fair bit on the leaflet I got with my sample pack. The leaflet first says that Dove Cream Oil body Wash ‘contains 10 time more skin-loving natural oil than regular shower gels, giving you a rich, moisturising shower experience.’ First off I thought, ohh, if it’s oily then I won’t like it, even if it does moisturise my skin. The leaflet later claims that it gives you a ‘luxury shower experience’ and says if you use it ever day it will ‘leave you skin beautifully fragranced, totally moisturised and velvety soft.’ I then thought, ohh, if I have to use it every day to see any difference then it’s not for me as I don’t really like just sticking to one shower product! However, as usual I decided to reserve judgement until I actually used the product.

~~~ The look & feel ~~~

The liquid itself is an off white colour, tinted with a pale pinky purple colour. It’s got a silky texture and creamy consistency. It’s different from the texture of a shower gel, in fact it looks more like the texture of a moisturiser. Although it’s called cream-oil body wash, it’s not at all oily or greasy. It’s very creamy and soft, a lovely texture to feel on your skin, so if you used it directly on your skin in the shower it would feel soft and smooth. When used on a shower puff it creates a lovely, soft, fluffy foam, that feels really soft on your body as you’re washing. It felt very nice on my skin, quite luxurious and not at all harsh. Once I got out of the shower my skin definitely felt very soft, smooth and more moisturised that when I went in the shower. I was very pleased with this as I’ve found that a lot of shower gels I use to dry my skin out, and very few leave it feeling moisturised. In fact I didn’t really need to use body lotion afterwards, and normally I apply body lotion straight after each shower as I do suffer from dry skin. I would definitely agree that it left my skin feeling moisturised and velvety soft, even just after the first use. I was very pleasantly surprised!

~~~ The smell ~~~

The scent of this particular Dove Cream Oil Body Wash is called Cherry Blossom & Almond Oil. The little leaflet I got with my free sample pack describes it as being a ‘sensual blend of flowers and softness,’ which is a bit vague really! It is sort of flowery, but not in an old fashioned way. It’s more of a delicate flowery smell, something more sophisticated and just a little bit fruity. I suppose it smells of what you’d expect a flower to smell of it were a cherry smelling flower! Anyway, it’s very fresh smelling and totally gorgeous. Personally really like it. It’s definitely a feminine scent, not really suitable for men. The scent isn’t too strong or overpowering, but it isn’t so subtle that you barely smell it either, it’s a happy medium. I did find it left my skin rather nicely scented afterwards, and I didn’t really want to apply any body lotion or perfume because it smelt very delicate and sensual, and I wanted to keep smelling like that!

~~~ The performance & effect ~~~

The performance and effect of this Dove Cream Oil Body Wash was really good. It lathered well in the shower without having to use too much of the product, and the lather was creamy and soft. The scent in the shower wasn’t too overpowering, and the scent lasted well on my skin afterwards, though I don’ think you’d be able to smell it if you used perfumed body lotion of strong perfume. It left my skin feeling very soft and silky and nicely moisturised instead of dry, which was what I was expecting! Overall I was quite impressed!

~~~ The directions for use ~~~

There were no directions for use on the bottle as it was too small to have any, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out how to use this product! You simply squeeze some out onto your body puff them lather it all over your body and rinse it off. I suppose you cold probably use a sponge, flannel or just your hand if you don’t like using body puffs, though you might end up using more of the product or maybe not getting as much lather. I’ve only tried it with the body puff so I don’t know, to be honest!

~~~ The ingredients ~~~

If you haven’t guessed by now, two of the ingredients in this product are cherry blossom and almond oil. There are quite a few other ingredients too, including glycerine, sodium laureth sulfate, lanolin alcohol (so not suitable for vegans), and lots of others with long names that I’m not going to attempt to type. Since the sample sized bottle had the ingredients listed on the back then I’m pretty sure the full sized version will too, so check it out for the full list of ingredients before you buy.

~~~ The price & value for money ~~~

Well, I’m afraid I don’t know how much the Dove Cream Oil Body Wash bottles costs. I can only assume it will be a comparable price to other Dove shower gels. I’d say if it’s under £5 then it’s good value for money as the full sized bottle is 250mls, and I do think the product is good quality. It it’s much over £5, then it might be a tad overpriced, but maybe still worth buying it as an occasional treat. Since I have a 50p off voucher I might buy one of the other two scents that are available, assuming that it’s a reasonable price. I would consider buying a full sized bottle in the cherry blossom & almond oil scent if it turns out to be a good price too, as I really do like the smell and the feel of my skin after using it.

~~~ SUMMARY ~~~

I was very pleasantly surprised when I tried this product out, I thought it would be dull and boring like other Dove products I’ve used and just wouldn’t be ‘special’ enough to make me want to use it again. How wrong was I? I found my Dove Cream oil Body Wash to be a very luxurious feeling shower product that smelt lovely and left my skin feeling equally lovely. Far from being dull and boring I actually had a really nice shower with this, and I think it’s especially ice to use if before bedtime as it calmed me down and relaxed me. I felt very pampered after sing it. I’d say it’s best suited to women and the smell is definitely feminine. I’d recommend anyone to try some, even just a sample bottle!

~~~ OTHER PRODUCTS IN THE RANGE ~~~

He other two scents that are available in the Dove cream-Oil Body Wash Range are Pure Silk & macadamia Nut Oil, described as luxurious, gentle tones, soft as silk, and Rosewood & Cocoa Butter described as delicately fragranced, rich with nutrients. Sadly Dove only sent me one bottle, so I don’t know what the other two smell like. They do sound very nice though!
Dove also do lots of other products as well, such as shower creams, soaps, hair care, deodorants etc. Check out the Dove webstie at http://www.dove.co.uk/uk_en to see their full range of products on offer.

~~~ CONTACT DETAILS ~~~

Website for Dove: http://www.dove.co.uk/uk_en
Webaite for Unilever: http://www.unilever.com

 

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