Not a Tropical Surprise....... (The Body Shop Coconut Bath and Shower Cream)

Member Name: yummy87

Product:	The Body Shop Coconut Bath and Shower Cream
Date:	27/10/04 (647 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hmm none!

Disadvantages: It doesn't smell good!

For as long as I can remember I have loved the flavour and the smell of coconut. I have tried many coconut shampoos, soaps, body lotions and bath goods over the years and I’m always on the lookout for something to new to whet my appetite.

A few weeks ago I was in The Body Shop who produce quite a few coconut oriented goods. I had picked up a tub of coconut body butter after it being recommended to me and was just about to leave the shop when I spotted some bottles of Coconut Bath and Shower Cream, so decided to pop one into my basket to add to my collection of goodies on the bathroom shelves.

The Body Shop has now been trading for an amazing twenty years, and their products seem to be more popular each year, probably due to their wonderful ethical value, which don’t need explaining here…….

The Coconut Bath and Shower Cream can only be purchased in one size; a
250 ml bottle for the quite expensive price of £5, but as the blurb on the bottle promises that this is going to leave my skin not only beautifully soft, but thoroughly cleansed, I handed the money over, expecting to take this home, bathe with it, and be thoroughly pampered.

The bath and shower cream is packaged in the normal minimalistic plastic bottle, that is synonymous with The Body Shop, and to all intents and purposes looks like a small bottle of thick creamy milk, which resembles a body lotion more than something to put in the bath. Opening the bottle, I am pleasantly surprised by the rich, sweet smell of coconut, so things are looking good so far.

As The Body Shop do not really explain whether this is to be used as a bubble bath or to be put directly on the skin, only that it lathers up well in the bath and shower, I decided to try both ways to see which was the best.

The first disappointment comes when putting the cream into the water for the first time. The thick white cream is dispensed from a plastic flip top lid, and because of the thickness and gloopiness of it, the bottle does need to be given a good old squeeze to start off my tropical experience. As soon as the cream hits the water my spirits sink a little lower. Instead of the mass of bubbles I am expecting, there are only a few, but then I amused to Lush bubble bars, and nothing is that good……..However, the smell is pretty nondescript too and only a very faint hint of coconut can be detected from the fluffy bubbles in the bath.

It was then that I realized my first mistake. There was indeed some more writing on the bottle that said the cream was to be used as a soapy cleanser. Whoops! Feeling suitably stupid, I decide to hop in the bath and try it directly on the skin instead. The bath bubbles are soft but soon disappear around me, although my skin did feel lovely and smooth almost as soon as I lowered my body into the water. The water beneath the water has gone a pleasant milky white colour, and I can almost imagine that I am stepping into a bath of coconut milk, but minus the smell!

Using the cream as a cleanser is a much better experience. Its thickness means that you don’t need to use a lot and as I rub it into my skin, it lathers up into a creamy white froth and the coconut smell is much stronger. The cream is really thick and leaves a glorious tropical smell as it lathers on my skin. The aroma is fabulous, and as coconut is one of my favourite scents I fall in love immediately. My skin feels really moisturized and baby soft almost as soon as the cream is lathered and has a lovely smell of coconut. Sound good so far?

This is where the disappointment sets in. After getting out of the bath and towel drying, the coconut aroma has nearly disappeared already. I must admit that I was expecting a much stronger smell and though that it would be evident of my skin for some hours after bathing but alas this wasn’t to be. My skin does feel very clean though, and it has a lovely baby softness to it as well as feeling deliciously silky but I just want more smell, surely that’s not too much to ask?

Considering that I can buy an enormous 500g bottle of Lush shower gel for £7.50, which not only smells heavenly but lasts for ages both in terms of aroma on the skin and the length of time a bottle lasts, I do feel the bath and shower cream was very overpriced. I would have preferred a much stronger and longer lasting coconut aroma too, and was left feeling quite unimpressed by the whole experience. It’s just as well that I had bought a large tub of Coconut body butter at the same time, so I used some of that afterwards just to remind myself that I had actually had a coconut experience, otherwise I would have forgotten it completely within half an hour.

A big thumbs down for this Body Shop – get back to the drawing board and add a lot more coconut!

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