Review: Gain With Febreze Freshness Hawaiian Aloha

Thanks to One2One Network, I had the opportunity to try out a new laundry product - Gain With Febreze Freshness. I was able to choose from one of the new scents they had, and took the Hawaiian Aloha. What can I say? I'm dreaming of a tropical vacation here in dreary Washington state. ;) To be honest, I don't think I ever purchased any of Gain's products before, although I remember receiving a sample once.

Do you like your laundry to have a unique scent? Does the smell of lavender on your sheets help relax you before bed? The scent of Sunflower & Sunshine make you feel like you're out in the country instead of stuck in the middle of the busy city? Or how about Hawaiian Aloha make you feel like you're on a tropical vacation instead of stuck doing load number five of laundry that day? (Yes, this is me. You have no idea! lol)

I do tend to associate certain scents with different life experiences. We walked into a store the other day, and I could have sworn I had just walked into this rank (lol) hotel room I stayed in once when I was 19. It was like the clock rewound for a split second. (I'm scratching my head as to how I can remember the smell of the room, yet barely remember anything else from that trip. LOL!) Whenever I smell certain cleaning products, I associate it with trips we used to take to a beach house by the ocean when I was a child. How about you? Is there a certain scent you associate with a time in your life?


Now, to get back to the new Gain.... on top of being available in the Hawaiian Aloha scent I tried out, it's also available Original, Lavender, Island Fresh, Floral Fusion, Apple Mango Tango, Ocean Escape, Dazzle And Shine With Bleach Alternative, Butterfly Kiss With A Touch Of Softness, Icy Fresh Fizz With Oxi Booster, and Sunflower & Sunshine with Febreze Freshness. As you can see, there's a pretty wide variety of not-so-ordinary scents to match just about anyone's taste.

I like the idea of Febreze added to the laundry detergent, because we live in an area where mold and musty smells happen fairly quick. I don't know whether it's our water, my older dryer, or what have you - but it's rare I can pull a load out of the dryer and still smell any fragrance whatsoever. (That's probably one of the reasons why I line dry whenever I can) This new Gain with Febreeze Freshness says you'll have fantastic freshness even after two weeks - which means that maybe, just maybe, two days later I might still smell something? lol

Note: due to post time constraints, I won't be able to mention if it lasted two weeks or not yet. I'll update this post down the road.

My guinea pig item of choice is always a load of towels, so I added the recommended amount according to the bottle (something I don't normally do, as some of my readers know), let the washer fill up, and added the towels. I did notice the scent filling my house while the load was running. Fast forward about a half an hour, and my load was ready to dry. I could still smell the scent! As it was a sunny day, I was line drying my towels. When I pulled them in later that afternoon, I could still smell the scent.

That being said, the scent before I put it in the washer and after didn't really smell like what I would have called Hawaiian Aloha myself. It smelled... flowery with fruity, and if you like a lot of scent, you'll probably like it. Warning to anyone with fragrance sensitivities/breathing issues like asthma: when I opened the bottle after it arrived to sniff the scent, I ended up having a coughing fit and asthma attack. Be careful if you try this product that you don't have an attack!

The Gain bottle was made from 25% or more post consumer recycled plastic, which was a good start. Personally, I'd like to see it become 100% in the future. The laundry detergent also contains no phosphate.

While the Gain performed well for a regular laundry detergent (ie: not a green choice), and I felt my clothes were clean, I'm not so sure I'd purchase it for my household. I admit I tend to lean towards greener choices these days, but I do keep bottles of other laundry products around for use when we have what I call "toxic laundry" (if DH has brought home clothing that has come in contact with bodily fluids at work, someone has been sick on a blanket, etc). Again, your tastes and desires in a laundry product may differ from mine, so if you normally use a product like Gain, do give it a try!

You can purchase new Gain at your favorite local grocery or big box store.

As a member of the One2One Network, I received a sample bottle of the product mentioned above in order to try it out in my own home. All opinions are my own, and your experiences with the product may vary from mine.