I bought this stain remover from Home Bargains a couple of weeks ago, after an incident involving a cream carpet and a poorly cat. Without grossing anyone out, lets just say I had a rather dark stain which was reasonably widespread, and no amount of scrubbing with the contents of my cleaning cupboard would get rid of it.

Cue a trip to Home Bargains, where I was confronted with a fairly poor choice on the stain remover front, unless I was willing to rip up my carpet and put it in the washing machine. Most of the stain removers were aimed at clothing, and were to be sprayed prior to washing the garment. I was looking for some kind of carpet cleaner, but the closest I found was this Dr Beckmann stain slayer spray, which claimed to be suitable for clothing, carpets, and upholstery.

The product comes in a 100ml spray, so it isn't the biggest of products but is reasonably priced. I paid around £2 for this in Home Bargains, but I would expect to find it in most supermarkets and discount stores such as Wilkinsons or B&M.

The directions on the can are fairly straightforward, but also a bit vague to be honest. It simply says to spray the affected area, leave for a few moments, then scrub with damp cloth to remove the stain. This did leave me questioning how long I should leave it for, how much of the product I should use, how far away the can should be from the stain when I sprayed it, and whether it should produce a lather when scrubbed or if the stain would lift straight off. I bit the bullet and went for it, spraying the area evenly and for as long as I thought was necessary to make it damp enough to lift the stain off.

The first thing that hit me was the smell. It smells very distinctly of oranges. Not just a subtle, background smell, but more of a "Who's been eating oranges?" kind of smell. I do like citrus based smells, and although this was pleasant it was quite overwhelming. However, the good thing about it was that even if it wasn't entirely successful in removing the entire stain, it did make the carpet smell a lot better. Asking the question "Who's been eating oranges?" is much preferable to "Has someone been sick in here?".

As for the stain, well after much scrubbing to the point where the fibres of the carpet were running the risk of being damaged, the stain did get a shade or two lighter, although it didn't disappear entirely. The spray doesn't produce any kind of soapy lather which made me question its effectiveness, but I could definitely tell it was having some kind of effect judging by the colour of the cloth I was using to scrub with. It started off white and ended up....cat sick coloured.

After attempting to remove this stain a few times on consecutive days (my arms can only take so much scrubbing at one time!), it is now much less noticeable, although still there. I have since used this stain remover on isolated stains, for example, on a bit of ground-in mud, or where a bronzing pearl had been dropped and squashed into the carpet, and it's actually very effective on smaller, isolated areas. On widespread areas it will make the stain look better, but won't get rid of it completely. I would question its ability to deal with biro, red wine, and many of the things it claims to remove, although I haven't tried this for myself so can't really pass comment.

Overall, I would recommend this spray for improving the look of stains, but wouldn't pin all your hopes on it. We had already decided to remove the cream carpet (too impractical), and replace with wooden flooring sometime soon, so until that day arrives we have a strategically placed rug to hide the evidence of my cat's indiscretion.

(Review may also appear on Ciao under the username Gingerkitty)