I had read a good review for this quite a while ago and bought a pack to try a few months back. With my poor memory, it went in a cupboard with other health and beauty supplies and spares, so I only started using it recently. I'm starting to wish I had opened it sooner!

Dove is a very popular brand that I trust to make effective products that are gentle on skin; with years of experience and an ever-increasing range, I was looking forward to giving this a try. This particular soap stands out from the crowd because it's not simply for cleaning and cleansing, it's also for 'Soft peeling, gentle exfoliating'. It's designed as a product that's kind enough to skin to be used on a daily basis, though I wouldn't necessarily say this is a replacement for 'normal' soap.

These come in a primarily white wrapper with blue detail and the Dove logo is clearly visible. It's sold as a twin pack, of the ones I have come across at least, so you get two bars. Each bar is white and a regular soap size, rounded for a good solid feel in your hand to make it easier to hold and use, and chunky enough that it should last a while. You can see the blue-ish specs in the bar, which are the exfoliants.

The product claims to aid in stimulating 'the skin's natural surface renewal process to reveal healthier, smoother skin'. How does it do this? By the 'ultra fine exfoliants' that remove the dead skin cells and dull skin. Next, the moisturising qualities, including Vitamin E, 'replenish' skin to leave it smooth and soft. There are many face scrubs and body scrubs out there that claim to remove dead skin cells and leave skin smooth, but in my opinion this is different in that it's more gentle and also has moisturising properties.

Due to its gentle formulation, it does suggest this can be used on both face and body on a daily basis. I tend to just use it 'as and when', which could be every other day and it's mostly for my face as I keep it by the sink rather than in the shower as soaps always tend to get very messy and fall apart in there!

After using this I must admit that I notice an instant difference in how my face feels. It's like I've had a good exfoliation and cleanse because it feels clean and like the dull exterior has been melted away to leave smoother skin. I can have somewhat sensitive skin at times and although this doesn't irritate me at all, it does dry my skin a bit (as do most if not all soaps/cleansers) so I pop on a bit of moisturiser afterwards. My face looks that bit cleaner, less oily or tired almost, because it appears clean and fresh. The biggest bonus is probably the smoothness of my skin afterwards, so it does make me think that the soap works to both cleanse and nourish.

Overall I would definitely recommend giving this a go if you want something kind to skin but that is still effective in exfoliating to reveal cleansed and soft skin.

Recommended by dermatologists
Selling for around £1.35 (Boots) for a twin pack.
[Also reviewed by me, gothic_moon, on Ciao]