It's a clever little bottle (Ariel Excel Gel)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Ariel Excel Gel
Date:	18/07/09 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gorgeous smell, washes laundry well and leaves clothes soft, suitable for sensitive skin

Disadvantages: ----------

When I asked my son-in-law to pick me up some washing powder I knew it was useless to be too specific and just requested that he buy me anything apart from Surf powder as my skin has recently taken offence with it. He bought home a bottle of new Ariel Excel Gel which was on special offer in my local mini-market at £1.99, I have wanted to try this for a while but the fairly high price tag put me off so I was glad he spotted such a reasonable price tag.

I have the Non-Bio version which is scented with Almond Milk and Honey, I must say it smells absolutely divine when I sniff the bottle with a wonderfully sweet scent that has a subtle undertone of almonds.

The bottle looks rather small but this 667g of gel will last for up to 18 washes as you need to use just 37g per wash. Mine didn't come with a measuring cap, I believe some stores stock a certain amount with and without caps and my son-in-law (I shall resist the urge to say 'who is a typical man') picked up one without. If, like me, you sent a man shopping for you just pop along to www.ariel.co.uk to order your own dosing device - you'll need to choose the ball cap as they don't send the wave shaped Excel dosing device but the ball does exactly the same thing.

You place the ball inside the drum on top of your washing and set the wash to go. Ariel Excel claims it will wash well at a temperature of just 15°C, the lowest my machine will go is 20°C and I can honestly say it gives as good a wash at this low temperature as my usual Daz or Ariel liquid does at 40°.

As it's name would suggest, this is a gel detergent and has the perfect consistency in my opinion. The shape and bulk of the bottle makes the gel very simple to squeeze and as the bottle is designed to stand 'upside down' on it's lid you can get every last bit out. The valve where the gel is dispensed stays clean and clear of residue for the life of the bottle and the bottle itself wipes clean so even though the predominant colour is white you won't be left with a grubby looking bottle after a week or so.

I have now washed everything in Ariel Excel Gel, just this morning I used the very last squirt to wash my pillow cases and tablecloths. Everything has come up beautifully and not once have I turned my washing machine up to it's usual 40°C temperature. The most memorable success was after a Bolognese last weekend; my two year old granddaughter absolutely plastered her lime green bedsuit and even the older two ended up flecked with the notoriously stubborn Bolognese stain. After a 20°C wash using this detergent there wasn't even a hint of staining on their clothes.

As well as leaving my laundry spotlessly clean, Excel Gel leaves it smelling wonderfully fresh. The honey aroma lingers slightly as a sweet fragrance while my clothes are drying, perhaps it's an attempt to steer us away from our totally energy inefficient tumble dryers but the scent lingers far better if you dry your clothes in the open air. This is fine with me as I like to dry my washing outside as much as possible but if you use a dryer you will not benefit quite as much from the beautiful fragrance.

While Ariel Excel Gel does leave my clothes feeling relatively soft, I do like to add a splash of Fairy softener for that little bit of added softness. The detergent does leave clothes softer and cosier than any other I have used without softener though and I certainly don't feel the need to add my Fairy to every single wash as I do with certain other brands.

The Non-Bio aspect of this detergent is true to its word. I am sure you all know about my eczema by now, but my two year old granddaughter is also showing signs of developing it so we are having to be careful with the detergents we use. Her mum uses her trusted Persil Non-Bio whereas whenever I have washed her clothing I have used this Ariel Excel Gel with absolutely no adverse effects at all - in fact since we both switched from Daz in particular we have found her skin is starting to improve so presumably it's something in that particular detergent.

I honestly cannot recommend this detergent highly enough. It has lasted me for 19 washes (I know because I have marked each load on the side of the bottle for the purpose of this review!) which actually makes it very economical as for me this equates to just over three weeks worth of detergent. As I mentioned, I bought mine on an excellent special offer but even at it's usual price of £4.38 I think it is money well spent - even if at first I thought that was a rather excessive price.

Summary: Not only does this bottle take up less room in my cupboard but it lasts for ages.