I am very loyal to the Flash Febreeze all purpose cleaner to get my floors clean - as well as cleaning all the other places in my home... However I am open to trying new products when the price is right and I have heard good things about the brand!

On my most recent trip to Tesco I saw a display of CIF floor cleaner and wood floor cleaners - which were on offer at 2 1L bottles for £2 - so I decided to buy one of each to test. I was cleaning my kitchen floor at the weekend and decided to test my new CIF floor cleaner (which is wild orchid scented) as my Flash was running low and I was curious if this was just as good as the Flash products.

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About the bottle

As previously mentioned the bottle size I have is 1L and is made out of soft plastic - when I say soft unlike other cleaner bottles you can squeeze this easily with your hand - its quite flimsy to be honest when I compare to other brands... I do worry if I accidently drop the bottle it could damage easily and cause spillages. So far though this has not happened. One thing I like about the bottle is that it has a handle on the right side so you can easily pick up and carry around.

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About the product

The scent flavour as previously mentioned is noted on the front label as CIF Floor Cleaner in Wild Orchid. The label is mostly pink which goes nice with the liquid inside and shows the image of household tiles in the background. The label also notes:

* Causes no residue
* Easy to dilute
* No rinsing
* Fresh fragrance

* Cleans and leaves a brilliant shine

The back label notes this product is a floor and all purpose cleaner and gives images of bathroom floors, kitchen floors, kitchen units and a table to show the product can actually be used anywhere. I find it a bit pointless how they are advertising it as a floor cleaner if it is suitable for cleaning all these other places as well?

It also states it is ideal for linoeum, vinyl and ceramic tiles. I used the product diluted in a spray bottle on my kitchen tiles.

it then gives instructions on how to use - how much is needed when diluting and how much to use when its used neat on a sponge.

It also gives active ingrediants and normal safety information.

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About the liquid

The liquid is transparant and a luminous pink in colour. It is also very thin, almost like water.

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About the scent

It smells like summery flowers to me so they have hit the nail on the head when advertising the scent. However I did not smell the product until after purchase... I have to be honest its not something I would choose normally and I think I'm being too picky due to my bond with Flash products!

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My verdict

As previously mentioned when I tried this out I poured some of the liquid into a spray bottle and topped up with warm water - I then went on to spray on the tiles as in the past with Flash I have found this gives the best effect rather than getting on your knees and scrubbing.

One thing I am dissapointed with is the fact I did end up having to get on my knees and scrub anyway! With flash you simply spray on a mark two or three times and the mark literally dissapears in front of you and you wipe away with a mop. This did not happen with this CIF product...

Another thing I hated was the scent - it is very overpowering when all over the floor - with Flash you get the same effect but you like smelling their products - the CIF liquid reminds me of a cleaner an old lady would use on the floor... Too flowery for my liking...

However dispite the elbow grease you have to put in the and the awful scent I am pleased to say that my floor actually did come up very clean - very shiny and you do notice the difference.

The awful smell does dissapear as well - but when I compare to Flash products, you can smell their cleaner on the floor for days afterwards and theirs is not overpowering.

Due to the faults I can't give it full marks and I think I will likely be swaying more towards Flash in future!