February 11, 2014
I never heard the UPS man today so it was a nice surprise to see a little white box on the porch waiting for me. Not long ago I
signed up for the next item to be reviewed from Bath and Body Works and here it was.
Their new formula Hand Soaps.
Disclaimer
Again as I always like to mention regarding the BBW Insiders Program. All items sent to me to be reviewed free of charge from Bath and Body Works. That in no way influences my decision making on these products and I will always give an accurate and truthful accounting of my experience, as I would hope anyone would do for me. Results
will vary from person to person as it would be expected.
All that being said, let me share what I found.
History
First, I am a huge Bath and Body Works Hand Soap user. I thought about posting the picture of my "collection" but I changed my mind. Suffice it to say I use all of the lines, Deep Cleansing, Moisturizing and Gentle Foaming and have, ahem...a lot.
My favorite has always been the deep cleansing. There is something about richness of a pump of that compared to the more watered down version of gentle foaming. I usually only buy foamy for a specific scent that isn't offered in Deep Cleansing. And any anti-bacterial soap may pose some dryness when you use them a lot so I do opt for the moisturizing when it was available. I keep them on my kitchen sink, bathroom sink and basement sink. They are my go to hand soaps. I could use cheaper store brands but I do like the scents BBW offers. And with sales and survey coupons they are affordable.
Now I gave that background of my soap collection and use because I wanted it to be clear I am familiar with this brand and I can tell if there is any change.
Packaging Label
My box arrived and inside I found this adorable packaging. A lot of time and care is put into all BBW products right down to the marketing and I do appreciate a good bottle label. :)
Inside I found bubble wrapped three bottles of the new hand soaps in the Fresh Picked line (coming out next Monday ) in three INCREDIBLE scents. Lemon Mint Leaf, Garden Strawberries and Sweet Tangerines.
And let me say all are definitely worth a purchase.
I love the labels on this Fresh Picked Line. I love the way the look on my white kitchen sink and I would definitely include them in gift baskets for friends and family.
Fragrance of Product
Now to the scents. Wow again. I don't think the intensity of fragrance has changed in this new formulation, it smells to me as rich as it had before.
*The lemon mint definitely balanced out the perfect amount of both citrus and mint and neither takes over the other. I thought with my huge collection I don't need any more and I was wrong. I like that this scent smells clean and not CLEANER like.
*The strawberry scent is sweet and smelled pleasant as I washed and I found myself smelling it faintly when I was through.
And that Tangerine scent is perfect for my kitchen hand washing and I noticed it completely removed the scents from cooking with onions. The depth of this fragrance reminded me of that burst of citrus close to the rind and I loved it.
Detail
So I tried them while cooking and I bought them upstairs to try throughout the rest of the day in the bath room. My holiday deep cleansing bottle had just finished and I brought up a moisturizing to take its place prior to receiving my package.
Seeing these sitting out on the sink I must say I like the shape of the pump. It combined with a new bottle design seems to pump easier. What I mean by that is it's
a more flat top and when I press down on it, I didn't knock the bottle over like I have done before with the smaller head on the older bottles. It fit within the recess of the palm of my hand.
One pump brought out plenty of product to clean my hands.
Deep Cleansing
Gentle Foaming
Performance
I notice a big difference in the foamy soap first. It doesn't feel so watered down and is actually creamy feeling as I rubbed it on both hands before adding water. I felt my hands were clean as I washed and they didn't seem to have a film or residue when I dried them.
The deep cleansing also felt different to me, a bit smoother. It too rinsed clean away and my hands felt clean.
The big test was afterwards. Not dried out!. No need for hand lotions immediately because my hands felt soft. With cold winter weather, and cold and flu season, I am a hands washer and soap ...all soaps dry them out. This was the first time I noticed they felt great.
With this new formula comes new bottle designs and of course our previous sleeves will not fit these...until they make sleeves that will. Until then we do have the option for the half sleeves that we have been seeing since last fall. But with bottles this pretty...why cover them up?
I highly recommend these new hand soaps. I will use them myself and give them as gifts and I look forward to experiencing the new scents coming!