Bursting With Pleasure? (Cussons Imperial Leather Foamburst Gel)

Member Name: BestMum

Product:	Cussons Imperial Leather Foamburst Gel
Date:	16/05/02 (218 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The Wonderful Moisture Delight Aroma

Disadvantages: Everything Else

Foamburst Gel now comes in a handwash and is the latest product to adorn our supermarket shelves, tempting us to Come, Release the Lather. The craze began with Foamburst Shower Gel, with its seductive 'naked lady taking a shower with a pair of rubber duckies' advertising campaign, and some bright spark at Cussons thought that it would be a cracking piece of marketing genius to package said gel into small dinky bottles for us to snap up, knowing we were so hooked on the totally wildly indulgent foam madness of the shower gel that we would rush to buy its sexy sidekick in a flash.

I have come to realise that washing the hands should be an experience not to be missed. It is true that if the product is luxurious, creamy and full of lather and has a list of vitamins as long as our arms, its going to make us want to wash our hands more often, which is always a good idea once you have visited the 'smallest room', or before you prepare a meal, etc, etc!

True story: Whilst wandering around my local shop recently with baby in tow, looking for the all-important, life-changing handwash, my usual 69p skin-scourer wasnt in its normal place. Suddenly, our eyes met across the fully stacked shelves; there it was. My dream had come true. And with it was a Special Offer sign, which was just enough to send my temperature soaring and had me positively drooling. I grabbed my tissue and proceeded to wipe my chin and take a closer look. Foamburst Handwash. Well, I felt my Christmases had all come at once. I popped it into my basket with a smug look on my face and with a little skip and a jump, continued with my grocery shopping.

I arrived at the checkout, knowing that I had found something so filled with foaming delight that it would keep me satisfied for days on end. I popped the basket on the counter and began packing my shopping; making sure my newfound friend had a bag all to itself. I stood waiting for the total, whilst delicat
ely munching on a stick of Wrigleys. All of a sudden my knees started to weaken, my head fell back and the force of my laugh sent my chewing gum on a journey to the centre of the counter as I was given the total. How could one Mars Bar, a can of deoderant and my Handwash King come to £11.50? Surely this was a mistake? I found my soggy tissue and quickly rescued my sticky mess and took a look at my receipt. Sure enough there it was in bold black type, Foamburst Handwash Special Offer: £1.99, normal price £2.69 for 250ml. I walked out of the shop in a daze, wondering how I was going to explain my lavish purchase to my husband, whilst wondering whether it was ethical to feed my little daughter jam butties for the rest of the week.

I walked as fast as my little legs could carry my baby and myself all the way home, with great anticipation of the naughtiness that lay ahead. I put her straight into her cot - well she was looking very sleepy to me!! I locked myself in the bathroom and very carefully took out my bottle of naughtiness. I waited patiently as I ran the tap to get the best ambient temperature possible and just at the right time, pressed gently on the bottle top to Release the Lather.

And then.........nothing. Try again. Schlump, a pathetic trickle of suds awaited my eager palm and I began to panic that maybe I wasnt using it correctly. I shook the bottle and tried again. Nope, it was the same trickle as before. I tried a couple of pumps and rubbed my hands vigorously underneath the water, and nothing. No foam, no lather, no creamy exuberance. What was I going to do? The wonderful Moisture Delight soft floral aroma was present, just no foam. I sobbed and sobbed, how could something so promising turn out to be so earth-shatteringly boring? I went to make myself a nice calming cup of tea whilst I read the label carefully. Heres what it stated:

For a more enjoyable way to cleanse and care for your hands, just one pump
of Imp
erial Leather Foamburst cleansing wash releases masses of instant silky lather to leave your skin feeling beautifully soft and smooth. Enriched with moisturisers.

Well, maybe for someone yet to experience the sensation of the shower gel this MAY pass for something along the lines of the above statement. But when youve tasted caviar, you dont want to back to eating beans on toast now do you? Im sorry but it just doesnt cut it for me. Its like theyve collected up our old cans of shower gel and extracted the dregs to recycle and form this handwash. There is a helpline number on the bottle for questions or comments, which is 0800-581001 (freephone) and maybe one day when Ive got nothing else better to do I may call them and ask them to explain themselves but for now this little bottle of promise resides at the back of my kitchen cupboard, saved for days when my usual skin-scourer has run out and there is no soap left on the earth.

Come on Imperial Leather Foamburst Handwash, you could be sooo much more...

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