SURF'S UP!! (Surf with Essential Oils)

Member Name: Wee_Jackie_163

Product:	Surf with Essential Oils
Date:	14/05/09 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: NICE SCENT, DISCOUNTED PRICE

Disadvantages: NOT THE MOST EFFICIENT WASHING POWDER

When it comes to washing powder or detergents for my washing machine, the brand that I have been buying of late is usually a supermarket-own brand as they generally offer better value and I find that the end result is about the same. That said, I will from time to time buy tablets or liquid, and am not loyal to any one brand in particular - I am very much influenced by the price of the product when it comes to making my purchase.

I recently opted to buy "Surf with essential oils" biological powder, as it was on offer in my local grocers, and was priced at only £1.50, which was cheaper than any supermarket-own brand I would normally buy.

The other thing that attracted me to this particular powder was the fact that the box stated that it had a "lavender & oriental blossom" scent. I love lavender and enjoy using various products containing it, so it made me rather curious to see if the scent would be distinguishable from the soap powder. I also love using essential oils and am interested in aromatherapy, so the fact that the box said "Surf with Essential Oils" was particularly appealing to me.

The box has very attractive packaging, and the main colour of the box is a pretty lilac colour, although this in itself would not be enough to encourage me to buy a product like this. On the front of the box there is clear wording to indicate exactly what is in the box and you'd be hard pushed to misunderstand that this box did in fact contain biological washing powder, and was scented with lavender and oriental blossom. The box is rather feminine, in that there are several petals and flowers on the front, in various colours of pink, blue and white. This, coupled with the lilac-coloured box would indicate to me that this product is very much aimed at the 'female side' of us 'washing-powder purchasers'!

The box also states that it contains enough powder to allow you to do approximately ten loads of washes. I find that this is on a par with most boxes of washing powder that are this size (which is 950g). In fact, I can confirm that I have an identical sized box of a well-known alternative brand in my kitchen cupboard at the present time, and it too clearly states that it contains enough powder to do ten washes.

The box has a kind of 'flip-up' type of opening, that allows you to rip a section of the corner of the box, under which is a space for the powder to be dispensed into your machine (a glorified hole in the box, really). I found that this was relatively easy to do and the powder flowed fairly well into the washing machine when I was pouring it out. I do not have a measuring cup for this purpose, and none was provided with the box of powder, although this is normal practice I find, for a box of powder that is this size (usually this size is the smallest available).

There is a little paragraph of blurb on the rear of the box which states "Aromatherapy for your clothes. Surf lavender & oriental blossom contains natural essential oils. It infuses your clothes with relaxing fragrances & leaves them brilliantly clean." There is also a fluffy little sentence at the bottom which says "With exotic Jasmine oil - bringing a little bit of calm to your clothes". (This makes me wonder why my clothes need calmed? What has happened to make them so stressed out)? Tut. A marketing ploy, if ever there was one eh? >:-o

I was, I have to admit, particularly impressed with the gorgeous scent that was noticeable on my clothes when I was hanging them out to dry. I was equally happy to note that the smell didn't linger after the clothes were dried and ironed, or when I was wearing the clothes that had been washed using the Surf powder, because I am not too keen on detergents that DO leave their scent. If I want to have a scent on me, then I will spray perfume or something!

As for the claims to infuse my clothes with 'relaxing fragrances', well, I can only say that I have been absolutely stressed out of my head recently with a few different things that have been going on, and no, my soap powder's scent didn't do anything to calm me or relax me at all. That is ok though, because I was rather cynical about these claims, so wasn't expecting them to live up to them. (Just as well, or I'd have been disappointed)!

With reference to the claims on the box of the soap powder about it leaving my clothes "brilliantly clean", I can tell you that this was not the case. I am however, reasonably impressed with the abilities of this particular powder, and would say that it is on a par with a supermarket-own branded powder. No better, though.

I think it is very much the case that with this type of product "you get what you pay for". I am happy to admit that if I paid a bit more and bought "Persil", I would probably be a little happier with the results. As things stand at the moment, I have a huge wedding budget to achieve in the next year or so, and am happy to sacrifice a quid off of the cost of my washing powder, and achieve 'reasonable' rather than 'astounding' results in order that I can tighten the purse strings a little.

I'd probably only buy this powder again, if it was on offer at the same low price as it was when I purchased it. Let's face it, at £1.50 it is an absolute bargain! It did what I expected it to do, no more and no less. I did like the scent, but not so much that I would choose this product over other brands.

I probably would recommend it to you, but again, only if it was on offer. Otherwise, I think you could get the same results from a supermarket-own branded soap powder.

Three stars from me! :-D

Summary: You get what you pay for...