Lately, I've been into shower gels. Don't ask me why. It could be that I desperately need to scrub and rub the stress away or it could be that I just have way too much time on my hands, but ever since I bought a sugar scrub a few months ago the bar soap has been left for the boys and little trial-sized shower gel bottles have accumulated for the girls. So far, I've tried some great ones and some downright strange ones. The Bath & Body Works Temptations 3 in 1 in the Spiced Apple Rapture scent was by far the worst, globbing out in a blood-red stinking fake apple mess. The Bath & Body Works Breathe Happiness High Lather Moisture Wash (Soap Free) wasn't as bad as the 3 in 1, but it was a still a disappointment overall.

Happiness Is So Complicated!

I picked up the 1.7 ounce trial size version of this product during a recent 4 for $10 sale on trial sizes at Bath & Body Works. It is also available in the full-sized 6.7 ounce bottle for $12.50. My trial size will yield me about 15 showers, which isn't bad for the money as purchased on sale. Still, regular price for the trial size is a whopping $6 - or half the price of the full version for 1/6th the amount of product (or thereabouts). I would never pay $6 for this small bottle and wouldn't recommend that you do either. If you're confident that you want to try it out, you may as well buy the full size.

While selecting my products, I kept picking this up and putting it down again. The picking up came from my positive experience with the Happiness Blissful Citrus Watermint scent in the lotion form. The putting it down again stemmed from my conflicted feelings about a soap free body wash. I know other women who swear that they can't use soap because it dries out their skin, but to me, soap is an integral part of the whole washing experience. I like soap. I didn't need a product that was soap free. After standing there like an idiot for a full 10 minutes selecting my four trial-sized products, I finally had to just grab it and go. Who knows? I thought. Maybe it'll be more moisturizing without the soap.

On Soap

I put off using this for a while, because the whole soap free thing bugged me. I wondered whether or not I would really get clean, and then I wondered what soap actually is. I looked it up and saw that soap is a surfectant that usually contains sodium and glycerol. Well, I don't know if the fact that this wash contains Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, Sodium Glycolate or Glycerin would qualify as indicators that this product is, in fact, not free of soap, but it looks soap-ish to me. You can check out the ingredients below and decide for yourself. I just know that the product claims not to strip your skin.

The whole thing became very complicated in my head, and I knew that I had to just get over it and use the stuff.

More Blahful Than Blissful

The trial-sized bottle looks just like the full-sized one in an upside down, bright blue squeezable plastic tube. The small bottle doesn't have a flip-top lid with a small hole for application though, which makes it very annoying to use in the shower because you have to twist off the cap, squeeze the product out and then twist the cap back on again. It isn't rocket science, but it's more complicated to use than anything called "Happiness" should be.

I squeezed about three creamy white zig-zags across my pouf and began to scrub in the shower. The first thing I noticed about it was that the scent wasn't nearly as pleasant in the moisture wash form as it was in the lotion form. This is a somewhat pungent, invigorating fragrance that stands out because of its unique kind of fresh sweetness. Think of an expansive sugary linen that softens over time. Unfortunately, the complexity of those linen, ocean breeze-ish top notes and citrus secondary notes gets lost and the overall smell is somewhat acidic in the shower. Thankfully, it isn't overpowering and hardly turns your shower into an intensely hydrating spa treatment as they say.

The wash also doesn't work up into a "high lather" whether I'm using it in the shower or the bath. The consistency is light and creamy, and the bubbles are densely packed but no matter how much I scrub I only get a very thin layer of lather. That layer also begins to dissipate immediately in the water. The good news is that I get enough out of one long squeeze to cover my entire body in these little baby bubbles. The bad news is that I sometimes use too much in my efforts to get a nice "high lather," making it difficult to wash it off completely and sometimes irritating my sensitive skin.

The Denouement

After drying off, my skin doesn't smell fragrant or feel clean or moisturized, even though it contains nourishing vitamin E, pro-vitamin B5, white tea and shea butter; is designed to work with the warmth and humidity of the shower to maximize the moisture delivered to your skin; and, leaves skin feeling soft and smooth long after you leave the shower. So far, I haven't felt any of these benefits. I simply follow up with a good lotion and tell myself that I'll switch up gels for the next shower.

Ingredients

Soapful or soap free? You make the call: Water (Aqua),Sodium Trideceth Sulfate,Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil,Sodium Lauroamphoacetate,PEG-50 Shea Butter,Cocamide MEA,Fragrance (Parfum),Panthenol (ProVitamin B5),Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Acetate),Ammonium Chloride,Dihexyldecyl IPDI,Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Extract,PEG/PPG-22/24 Dimethicone,Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride,Camellia Sinensis (White Tea) Leaf Extract,Propylene Glycol,Citric Acid,DMDM Hydantoin,Tetrasodium EDTA,Sodium Glycolate,Glycerin,Mica (CI 77019),Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891).

Overall

After using this product for a few weeks, I know that I will never purchase it again. It isn't the worst bath product I've tried lately, but I can't think of too many nice things to say about it either. I enjoy the Happiness scent, but if I were purchasing it as a gift I'd probably go with the lotion or the home fragrance oil instead.

Two out of five stars.









Recommended: No