Fantastic Fenjal (Other Bath & Shower)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Other Bath & Shower
Date:	30/10/02 (646 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely smell, texture and presentation

Disadvantages: Too expensive for a student to use every day

Last Christmas, as at most gift giving occasions, I got the usual assortment of smellies to go with my chocolate and books and odd pair of socks. At the time though, I already had a lot of shower gels stockpiled in my room, and so these newly received ones were left behind in Lancashire when I went back to uni, only to be discovered 8 months later when I was packing to come here. Although I knew Germany, as with most somewhat-civilized nations, sells things like this, and actually has quite a good selection, that didn’t stop me bringing as much as I could with me. Who knows, the house could have been blown away in the storms, or burgled by thieves with a shower gel fetish while I was gone. Or any visitors to our house could have spotted the various bottles and jars in my room (now also known as the guest room) and helped themselves. All in all, bringing a lot of them with me seemed like a good idea.

One of my presents last December was a Fenjal gift set. It included a body spray, shower gel and silky soft hand towel (now being used as a bath mat – don’t ask). They don’t have the same set on sale this year, but Boots are offering a similar one, in a presentation gift bag for about 10 pounds. The shower gel by itself - the product I'm going to review here - will set you back about a fiver for 150ml. Other products in the range include a very expensive crème bath, and talcum powder.

The shower gel comes in a small thin cardboard box, with all the product details on the outside. Inside, the bottle is a jade green colour and about the height of a small ruler, 15 cm. It’s shaped like a squashed cuboid – a shape I’m sure has a technical name, but I can’t for the life of me remember it – trig classes ceased a long time ago in the world of Zoë. There’s a gray (definitely gray rather than silver) lid which is alarmingly wide, making you thing the stuff has a pouring-opening like on bubble bath
s. Luckily this isn’t the case, and underneath the lid, the bottle is topped with plastic and has only a small hole, meaning you don’t inadvertently dispense too much at once. If this sounds a bit odd, or hard to understand, have a look at http://www.wellbeing.com/shop/product_details.jsp? productid=1001606 where there’s a picture that clearly shows what I’m on about.

The liquid is an odd yellowish colour, but is silky soft and smells amazing - it’s got a sort of floral / woody / fresh scent that you might associate with original source products. If you’re using a puff you only need a small amount. Although it doesn’t lather all that much, it cleans well and leaves you smelling nice all day. Really. Do that when you get undressed later, you get the odd whiff from places it hasn’t had the chance to escape like, say, your legs. It doesn’t claim to leave you skin softer like Dove does, but in my experience of using it, it hasn’t left my skin any less moisturized than normal.

Fenjal is a Swiss company and loved especially by the Germans if the location and number of website hits is anything to go by. I couldn’t find a website for Fenjal alone (or at least one with any details on – www.fenjal.ch is still under construction), but Boots describe this product as being “a unique plant–based formula (which) gently cleanses and nourishes your skin as you shower”. They also say it uses “soap–free gentle cleansers and natural plant oils”, which would explain the lovely smell, and the reason it doesn’t dry your skin out.

To me it’s the type of product suitable for adults of any age, as I can well imagine retired types enjoying it as much as my little 20 year old body does. If I were the type to give shower and bath products as presents – which normally I’m not – I’d also happily chose their gift sets. They’
re not all that expensive for what you get, and are attractively packaged, plus they look like they cost more ;-) This is a product that I wouldn’t necessarily have bought – the price would probably have put me off – but was happy to receive as a gift. Now that I’ve tried it, I’d certainly buy it myself if I felt like a treat (so much better on the waistline than chocolate – this stuff may smell great, but it’s not designed for drinking). It’s also one of those things going on the list of things to buy when I’ve graduated, got a good job (hope, hope, hope) and don’t have to keep looking at Tesco Value products any more.

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