She may have been refering to a naturally occuring liquid known around here as good old fashioned water which can be found locally for nothing, from an open faucet, or purchased at stores in bottles for a high price. Just spray or roll it on and down comes the popcorn. Make sure she has the floor covered or she will have a mess and ruin her carpet, etc. I suppose someone has bottled something else up commercially to spray on but water will work. Just a light spray so it doesn't soak into the drywall. Then it must dry throughly before trying to paint which could take days.
Sounds like the reader reads more than your newspaper.