Dove Supreme Luscious Velvet Beauty Cream Wash > Reviews (2)

I use a variety of different hand wash products in my home, with one bottle being used in the kitchen and another being used in the bathroom. I therefore go through quite a lot of different hand wash products and it is something that is a regular addition to my grocery shopping.

It was whilst I was recently shopping in a local branch of "Savers" the discounted drugstore that I picked out some bottles of assorted hand wash products to try out. One of the products was from the well-known "Dove" brand of skin care products, namely the "Luscious Velvet Beauty Cream Wash."

I paid only £1 for the bottle of Dove hand wash, which is a fairly average 250ml in size. I thought that this price offered reasonable value for money, particularly as I consider Dove to be quite a well-known and trusted brand.

The packaging is fairly uninspiring, I have to admit. I believe that the product's image has underwent a bit of a transformation, and the packaging does tend to differ depending what website I am looking at, but in the case of my own plastic bottle, this is a sort of off-white colour, with a red-coloured plastic pump dispenser at the top. There is a square-shaped red image in the centre of the bottle, with some of the font and product details appearing in bold red print. I am unsure if my bottle is the slightly outdated version or is the 're-branded' equivalent, but either way the product is the same.

The packaging is fairly basic looking to my mind, although this is not something that would necessarily deter me from buying a product. What I DID like about the packaging is the fact that the pump dispenser is made of an extremely robust plastic, which has withstood plenty of use and the occasional incident of dropping. I have found that some cheaply-branded hand wash products can be packaged in extremely flimsy bottles which don't seem to withstand much in the way of wear and tear... an annoying fault.

The liquid hand wash is quite thick in its consistency, and it resembles a white-coloured cream, looking similar to a basic moisturiser product or perhaps a body lotion. This was a pleasant change from the gel-like hand wash products that are more regularly present in my household, and I wondered - and hoped - if the Dove product would feel more luxurious, thanks to its creamy consistency.

The smell of the product is evident when the hand wash is first dispensed onto my hands. As I allow the creamy liquid to achieve its gentle lather, the smell develops slightly and I find the fragrant lather reminds me of body cream or a bar of soap. There is certainly nothing 'different' to be found in the product's fragrance and I was rather disappointed at how generic it felt when I was using it. It struck me as being quite a feminine fragrance too, so perhaps not as versatile as other hand wash products that I would normally buy. I didn't think that the product's fragrance lasted particularly long on my hands after I had finished using it, but this wasn't a massive let down for me as the fragrance had felt so 'average' and so it wasn't a great loss to find it was extremely understated on my skin after use.

As for feeling like a luxury product, well, it didn't. I was extremely surprised to note that the cream-like consistency of the Dove hand wash felt so 'flat' and quite boring whilst it was being used, particularly as the claim on the back of the bottle reads "A luscious blend of rich cream and luxurious fragrance." There was no rich, luxurious lather to speak of, nor was there anything that really stood out as this being a luxury product or even anything different from the 'norm'. I have actually been more impressed with some of the more 'budget' hand wash products that I have used before, and I couldn't help but feel disappointed as a result.

The claim on the reverse of the packaging that states "Just Like Velvet" may well be referring to the moisturising qualities of the product, although I wouldn't necessarily agree whole-heartedly with that either. It is true to say that my hands didn't feel overly 'dry' after I had used the product, nor was the unpleasant 'tightness' evident that can occur with some budget products such as washing up liquid and bars of soap. It is also true to say however, that my hands didn't feel completely moisturised after I had washed them with the Dove Cream Wash, and I still had to undertake my nightly ritual of applying an intensive hand cream, regardless of what hand wash products had been used by me during the day.

On the plus side, the Dove Luscious Velvet Cream Wash contains a very mild formula, so it has caused nothing in the way of irritation or aggravation to my sensitive skin. Indeed it is the case that the product is "So mild you can even use it on your face" although this claim has not been put to the test by yours truly as I much prefer to use a cleansing 'gel' like product on my face.

Overall, I felt disappointed by the Dove Cream Wash and it is not a product that I would buy again. If somebody had blindfolded me and asked me to try and identify the product I would have sworn it was a supermarket-own branded product, costing about 60 pence for a large bottle! The claims on the packaging that promised a luxurious, luscious "velvet-like" product are exaggerated in my opinion, and I actually found the product was very basic...... TOO basic, given said claims.

There is a whole range of Dove hand wash products, and you can purchase these in larger branches of Tesco, as well as some drugstores. As @ May 2012, the price for the Dove Luscious Velvet Cream Wash in Tesco is £1.47, although this is a recent discount, with the usual price being £2.20, which is overly-expensive in my opinion.