I never actually bought this, I sort of acquired it! Some time ago, in Sainsbury's, my mum had decided she was fed up with the soap getting soggy in the shower soap holder and, since the Imperial Leather handwash was on offer, we somehow managed to end up with a buy-one-get-one-free on both types of product! (The other shower gel in question was the far more eye-catching bright icy blue Icelandic Spa one, but that was used up before I had chance to sample it.) So, for variety, we also went for the cream-ivory coloured Japanese Spa shower gel . . . and then my dad decided he couldn't get used to body wash instead of soap - he's not the kind of dad you'd buy toiletries for at the best of times! - and my mum isn't really a high-maintenance person in the bathroom either. Therefore, they finished the blue shower gel and the offer was open to me to use the cream one before it started to gather dust. (Imperial Leather is one of those brands that a lot of retailers seem to stock, however and checking the Boots and Tesco websites, I noticed it is currently on sale for £1.49 and £1.46 respectively. Given the amount of shower gel I get through, I don't think it's a bad price!)

The hole in the lid is of a reasonable size (about the same size as a hole puncher would make in a bit of paper) which I find makes it easy to dispense and the bottle is squeezable, although not what I would call truly soft plastic so I find it's realistic to expect to get a generous squirt on my sponge. The actual bottle has a curve in the sides and to give an idea of the size, it holds 250ml, which I noticed was quite a good size to get my hand around. It features a very similar design to the Japanese Spa handwash - "Limited Edition" is picked out in silver to catch the light and there is a stencil-like pink flower shape decorated by muted green leaf shapes, a couple of purple flower shapes that remind me of children's ink stampers and a Japanese-looking alphabet character above it. Slightly to the left, "Japanese Spa" is printed in story-book style sans serif print just below the familiar red ribbon Imperial Leather Logo. If I was to borrow a phrase from my graphic design degree lectures, I would say they had got the text hierarchy just right - you notice the brand name first, then the variety, the floral logo/ decoration they have chosen for this product and finally the selling points - the facts that it is a moisturising shower cream with green tea, rice milk and jasmine. (I have to wonder what exactly rice milk is - it never struck me as the kind of grain that you could extract liquid from!)

Would I buy it again? An awkward question to answer because I am a manufacturer's worst nightmare - I often buy whatever takes my eye at the time, although I am known to try different options from the same range (hence I could certainly say I would buy both The Sanctuary Creamy Body Wash and The Sanctuary Spa Essentials Body Wash again - that is one of my favourite ranges). To give another example, I know I have tried at least four different shower gels and a minimum of one soap when bathing just over the course of this year so far. So I am not a loyal shopper at all! But returning to the point, if looking at it in terms of the key things that attract me to bathing products - scent, effect on my skin, whether it irritates me, how bubbly it is (I know sodium laureth sulphate is supposed to be one of beauty's controversial ingredients, but I can't get past my love of bubbles!) - then, yes, I probably would consider it again. I definitely wouldn't have the opposite reaction and make a deliberate decision not to buy it if I came across it.