I've always been a fan of Kleenex Balsam tissues, and last winter I discovered the Kleenex Balsam Fresh tissues which included menthol. However, when struck down with a cold over the last several days I needed some decent tissues - I wanted them in handypacks to carry in my bag, and the Boots branch I was in only had the Boots own brand Ultra Balm, or Lotus Olbas. As the Lotus Olbas were on buy one get one free in the individual handy packs, I picked up four of them.

The Lotus Olbas pack is a garish green and orange, resembles a carrot and the includes the phrase "vapour release". From this I was expecting some thing similar to Kleenex Balsam (Fresh or normal). The packs states that Lotus have worked together with Olbas, who make Olbas Oil (which I know nothing about) to "capture oil in tiny capsules and spray them onto the tissue". It says I should crush the tissues to release the oil vapours. Not knowing much about Olbas Oil, I was really only expecting a tissue which didn't irritate my nose.

You can imagine my surprise when I opened a pack and was assaulted by a scent reminiscent of Vicks. This was a surprise, and a fairly pleasant one - my experience of Kleenex Balsam Fresh had been during a bout of sinusitis and I had struggled to smell the menthol, but even taking that into account the Lotus Olbas seemed much more strongly fragranced.

In terms of the actual tissue, I have found Lotus Olbas to be more than adequate. The tissues are soft, a reasonable size without being gigantic, and show absolutely no signs of falling apart when you blow your nose on one. The worst of my cold is now past, and I only have a small amount of dry skin on my nose - I find that with standard (non-balsam/balm ones) I get a very dry and irritated nose, so this is a plus point for the Lotus Olbas tissues.

As for the Olbas side of things, I had expected this to be a bit of a nice smelling gimmick, but I really think it does help. After using a Lotus Olbas tissue to blow my nose, my nose feels cools and refreshed inside and out, a menthol sort of feeling - like you get from eating strong mints. I find that although the cool feeling fades, my nose feels clearer for long after using a Lotus Olbas tissue. I really am quite impressed by this.

My cold is now fading, but it is only September - there are bound to be more over the course of the months to come. I may have sworn by Kleenex Balsom in winters past, but it seems like I may have been converted to Lotus Olbas.