Beneful Medley Dog Food Sachets

This free sample was provided by Home Tester Club

Being a Pet owner I'm always on the look out for new products and things to try to give my furry friends something different. Although I don't normally feed sachets to my dogs I was happy to try it out anyway.  The new range has 6 different flavour - My pets tried out the Beef, carrot barley spinach and also the Lamb, tomato and spinach flavour.

Initially I was very disappointed with the size of the pack (Seriously the single serve sachets I buy for my cat are bigger and have more content to them). My dogs also seemed disappoint - and for large dogs like my German Koolie, the sachet was no more than half a mouth-full for him and he was looking around for more. The Dogs obviously liked the flavour and spent time licking up all of the gravy in the bowls, but they were definitely looking for more food and still hungry after just the single sachet.

When I opened the sachet and put it in my dogs bowls, I was expecting to see lots of veggies and meat, but I was very disappointed to find that it was mostly gravy with not much solid feed to satisfy any animal.
The website for Purina - the makers of Beneful medley recommencement 1 pouch per day per kilogram of dog body weight. For a 10kg dog like mine this would be a recommended 10 sachets a day - and when they cost around $1.29ea on sale from supermarkets like Woolworths this works out to be aprox $13 just for a single feed! Definitely not economical or cost effective.


Verdict
These sachet sizes are more suited to small dogs - and do not have enough content inside the sachet to completely feed even a small dog, you will also need to feed something else with this. With the feeding recommendation of 1 sachet (aprox $1.29ea) per 1 kg of weight on your dog - This makes it a very expensive way to feed your dog. I definitely will not be switching to this product if only because of the astronomical cost involved with feeding this item.

Nescafe Coffee Sachets

#cupabove

This week I was asked by The Soup to try out and review the new range of Nescafe Coffee flavours. They sent me a HUGE box of coffee's - about 50+ sachets, in Vanilla, Caramel, an Cuppachino flavours to share around with all my workmates and friends.

Everybody loves coffee, but these new Nescafe flavours put a new twist on an old favourite. Heating up my kettle, I chose to try out the Caramel first (has now become my favourite). I found that the sachets are made for a larger cup, or you could use half a sachet in a smaller cup. To my surprise I found that even before I added any milk my drink was super frothy! Add milk, and wow, it was so frothy and smooth! Great for those people who like coffee but don't want a super strong taste. Normally i find with sachet drinks that they never mix in properly and leave lumps of powder that are hard to break up, but I didn't have this issue with, the powder blended in quickly and smoothly with no noticeable lumps left!

Nescafe is still running its sampling campaign so if you would like to try some yourself follow this link: Nescafe Sample   - But be quick, because I don't know how many more samples they have left!

The caramel was a nice twist to the coffee, it didn't overpower the coffee flavour but added something extra.
The cuppachino flavour was a more traditional flavour - but still very creamy, so no need to add any extra froth.
The Vanilla coffee flavour was a very smooth flavour with a hint of coffee undertone, which I found even my non-coffee-drinking friend liked!

Verdict:
These new creamy coffee flavours are going to become a regular in my shopping trolley. Smooth, Creamy, and full of flavour. I loved it, and all my friends and people i shared it with loved it also - definitely worth trying!

Head and Shoulders Apple Fresh

This Sample was sent to me by PinchMe
I think everybody knows the brand head and shoulders, its been around for years,  I parents always had some in the cupboard, and growing up, you still have some stuffed in the back of the cupboard - but its generally something that I always viewed as used for getting rid of dandruff, and not nice for every-day use for normal hair. Until apple fresh came along!

I was sent several sample sizes of this for the whole family to use - kids included, this isn't just for the grown-ups. The first thing I (and i now many of you) do when getting new shampoo for the first time is smell it. and true to my word - right after receiving me package in the mail i ripped off the lid to give it a good smell - I was surprised to find it actually smelt great! Just like an apple fruit rollup that I ate as a kid, much better than the standard menthol smell of the regular head and shoulders.

I will note that just like the original of this brand - this shampoo is also designed to get rid of dandruff - which it does just as well as the original flavor. I found that only a small amount was required to be used and that it froths and bubbles quite easily. After washing and drying my hair I was pleasantly surprised to find that my hair actually carried the yummy smell of the shampoo! It also left a great smell in my husbands hair (better than the dirt and sweat that it normally has)

Verdict: 

Head and Shoulders has made a come back. It smells great, works just like the original to get rid of dandruff, leaves hair healthy and shiny. Its now something to use every day, not just something to hide in the back of the cupboard for when the dandruff hits! Leaves a fresh clean feeling and smell.

Nudie Juice

This sample was sent to me courtesy of my friends at Contagious Network.
As far as juice goes, I tend to purchase whatever is cheaper at the time and still tastes good I've never been one to buy the organic juiced simply because they're so much more expensive and I wasn't convinced that they would taste any better

Firstly I should note that I was sent this sample specifically to give to my kids, and to share with my friends children, however adults drink juice out of boxes too right? Yep, they might have kiddie designs on the boxes, but they're easy to grab on the way out the door to work. (Hey i've even been known to have a go at the puzzles on the back of the box in my lunch break)
Nudie juice is advertising their claim to fame as having nothing but pure fruit juice in every box, with no added water, and i did notice that there are no ingredients listed on the box. Although I'm not so sure how accurate that claim to fame is, because the juices look quite processed, and certainly look, and taste nothing like what I can produce in my juicer machine with 'just pure fruit.' But they still taste quite alright, and the kids will happily drink them, so that's always a bonus. Although the apple and blackcurrent flavour is extremely bitter and not so great tasting
However, having said that the size of these packages is quite different to the traditional 'Prima' style juice box, and it doesn't fit as nicely in the traditional style Tupperware kids lunch boxes, it takes up quite an amount of room being so tall.
Another complaint against nudie juice is the straw. While the straw its-self is nice and easy to use, you simply pull the clear part of the straw out until it 'clicks' into place with the white part of the straw and viola you have an extended straw; But, the holes in the top of the pack are quite small, and they only just fit the size of the straw. This i presume is to stop little kids being able to squeeze the box and make a mess with juice coming out of the straw hole, but it also means that it can be quite hard to get the last little bit of juice out of the box, especially for little children who havn't quite mastered the art of sucking strongly, and as a result, they tend to leave about a centimeter of juice in the bottom of the box, (which then later spills out into the bin making a sticky mess).

The Verdict: The juices taste pretty good, and the kids love the games on the back of the box, however they aren't readily available in all supermarkets yet, and are currently only available in the chilled sections of select Woolworths stores. I would definitely consider buying these for the kids.

pHisohex Anti-Bacterial Face Wash

This product I sampled and shared with my friends thanks to Soup.
pHisohex created a 6 week challenge and I was asked to test this product, washing my face 3 times a day, then drying my face with a special suede-microfiber towel, (which was supplied with a couple of bottles of pHisohex to share with my friends). I was also asked to use the hashtag #pHeelgood, to try and promote the brand.

My first thought when looking at the packaging and smelling the liquid was that this product seemed to be something more clinical, like something a Doctor would prescribe. The smell was quite different, but it is something you could get used to.
I follow the face washing regime exactly as set out for me in my instruction pack written by pHisohex, washing 3 times a day then using the supplied towel to 'pat dry' my face after washing.
Within the first 3 days I noticed that my skin was starting to become extremely oily. Thinking nothing of it i continued to use the product as directed, and within one week I was starting to develop pimples all over my face. I was horrified at what was happening to my skin; I was getting more pimples in new places on my face than I had ever had as a teen, my skin was now so oily that anything that touched my face, be it clothes, sunglasses, or tissues came away with a visible film of oil.
I immediately stopped using the product and gave my skin a break for about 3 weeks.

Willing to put good faith in this product that stated it was especially good for sensitive skin types, I was willing to give pHisohex another go. This time I started using it once a day only, thinking to wean my skin into using it again, and not wanting to overwhelm my skin into breaking out or becoming super oily again. Sadly, after another week of using pHisohex the same problem started happening again. So on the advice of my Doctor I have permanently discontinued use.

Part of this trial required that I also give bottles of pHisohex to two of my friends; they both had the same reaction as i did. #pHeelbad was a much more appropriate hashtag for our experience of this product.

The Verdict:
This product is deffinitely not for all people or skin types, and i would not reccomend it to anybody who has even slightly oily skin. I also would not reccomend this product to people with a busy lifestyle, as washing your face 3 times a day can be a hard routine to maintain.
Not worth the money.

Uncle Tobys Oat Crisp Cereal

This sample was from Pinchme.

My first preference in cereal is a good muesli stuffed full of fruit, so when trialing a new cereal having real fruit pieces in it is important to me. I trialed both the hazelnut strawberry and almond flavors of this cereal.
My thought about the cereal was that it didn't look much different to other products that are on the market. pouring my cereal in the bowl, I was on the look out for the promised strawberry fruit pieces. This lead to disappointment, in my whole bowl I counted two pieces of fruit, which were not much larger than the size of a pin-head. they were also more brown in colour than the juicy looking red pieces of strawberry depicted on the box. In the almond flavor cereal however, I found that there was considerably more almond pieces or clusters than its hazelnut strawberry counterpart. While eating the cereal, he texture is no different to eating a bowl of sultana bran. I found the taste of the Hazelnut cereal to be a bit lacking, and very plain tasting. The flavor of the almond cereal to be quite sweet, and overall have more flavor than then hazelnut strawberry cereal.
After finishing the cereal I found that there were lots of pieces left stuck among my teeth, which is not really something i look for in a cereal. Overall given the lack of fruit and flavor of the hazelnut flavor, I probably wont buy this product. However the almond flavor does make a nice change from my current cereal, but I wouldnt eat it every morning, as the bits getting stuck in among my teeth does get rather annoying.

Verdict: The flavor and amount of fruit pieces in the hazelnut oat crisp was extremely lacking. The Almond had a pleasant sweet flavor, and I will be eating or occasionally but not making a permanent switch.

Billie Goat Soap (Original)

This sample was sent to me by Pinchme.

One of the first things that comes to mind when I think of soap is the smell. The first time I smelt the Billie Goat Soap, I found it to be quite a different smell, almost milky, but very pleasant; definitely something I could use every day. After reading the instructions on the box, I noted that this soap was to be 'stored away from the flow of water,' to which I thought yeah yeah, it doesn't make that much of a difference to the life of the soap if it gets splashes. (Turns out I was very wrong, but we'll get to that later.) Using the soap for the first time, I was quite surprised to find that once in contact with water the soap becomes very 'slimy' not, just slippery like your average soap, but a very gooey constancy. This in its self wasn't so much of a problem, it just takes some getting used to, and after a while, it actually becomes a pleasant sensation. After using the soap for about a week, I found that my skin was softer than normal, and I stopped having any issues with sensitive skin. As an added bonus, I also found that if I used the soap on sensitive areas after shaving, (such as legs) I didn't come out with any razor burn, or lumps on my skin.
Now, back to where you store the soap, because this soap gets so gooey in contact with water, it literally drips goo on the shower floor if it is stored where it can be splashed. and if you keep it with your regular soap where it may get a little bit of spray, your soap will have dissapeared and dripped allover your shower floor in less than 7 days. Which makes the soap bad value for money, considering it costs around $9 per block. The solutions I cam up with was having a shower caddy sit up higher than the shower head, and storing the soap there. (doing this has allowed to soap to last about a month). Overall I absolutely love this soap, and its something I now cant live without, however, it can be hard to find a retailer. I personally buy online, but you may be lucky and be able to buy this product in a store near you.

www.billiegoatsoap.com.au

Verdict: This soap makes your skin feel great, it soothes and reduces the appearance of razor burn and doubles as a moisturiser. Its perfect to use on sensitive skin and has a beautifully unique smell. I would definitely recommend the use of this soap to anybody!

Pantene Aqua Light Shampoo & Conditioner 

This sample of Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner was from Pinchme.

My hair is pretty normal, I use a hair straightener sometimes, but don't really do anything to damage my hair so have no problems; so I was pretty interested to find out what this 'aqua light' shampoo could do for me.
The first time i used the shampoo I was surprised to find that it was clear! Although being clear and looking like water is great, the look of a shampoo itself won't influence me to buy it. I found that this shampoo made a really easy lather with only a small amount of the shampoo needing to be used, which is something that I like. However, when it came to rinsing out the shampoo I found that my hair felt really 'squeaky' and that it was really 'grippy' to run my fingers through, and felt absolutely awful! You know that sound that people cant stand when fingernails are run down a blackboard.... yeah, that's the feeling I got when touching my hair after rinsing the shampoo. Keen to get rid of the horrid feeling I quickly followed by using the conditioner, which I left soaking in my hair for a few minutes, just to make sure I got rid of the gross feeling left by the shampoo. After rinsing out the conditioner, (which seemed to take forever to rinse out ), and drying my hair, I found that it didn't feel any to different to my regular shampoo, (which is just a supermarket brand).

After giving my hair a day to see how it felt, I found that it felt very greasy, more so than normal. So in the spirit of giving the shampoo a proper trial I washed my hair with it again and had the same result, feeling really yuck after washing out the shampoo, and being really greasy at the end of the day. I think its safe to say, I'll be discontinuing use, and not buying this product in the future, it's really not for me.

Verdict: Made hair greasy after only one day. However, even if this shampoo did work better than my regular shampoo, I wouldn't use it simply because I hate how my hair feels after rinsing out the shampoo. 

Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream.

I was sent this sample from Pinchme.

The first thing I do when looking at or using a new hand cream its to give it a bit of a sniff. Opening the tube and giving a cautious sniff found that there isn't much of a scent to this product. The smell is slightly bland, and has no more smell than your average face cream.
The next thing I look at is the colour and texture; The Norwegian formula has a cloudy white colour, and the texture feels quite gooey and its quite a thick formula compared to normal hand creams, which was a bit of a surprise.
I rubbed it into my hands, and to be honest, it felt a little odd. It didn't feel like it was rubbing in properly or absorbing into my skin. It also left a bit of a greasy film on everything I touched for the next half hour. and half an hour on, my hands still felt quite gooey. I decided that instead of using this during the day like a would a normal hand cream I would use it at night, where I didn't need to worry about touching things and getting them greasy. (Un-stacking my dishwasher and all my glasses got greasy prints on them, not so nice)

I found that using this product at night was more beneficial and allowed the cream to sink in to my skin. (wasn't rubbing it off touching everything.) It did make a huge different to how my skin felt and made my skin much softer, but just isn't practical for every day use. So going out on a whim, I decided to use the Norwegian formula on my cracked and dry heels. I rubbed a generous amount of it on my heels after showering, and before bed then covered it up with socks. After about 3 days I can say that my heels didn't even look the same. they were smooth and without cracks, and generally nice to touch. So in trialing a hand cream I actually found a solution to dry cracked heels!

Verdict: Not great for general every day use. Works best used at night, (so you dont leave greasy fingerprints everywhere). Works especially well on severely dry cracked skin such as the heels of the feet.

Fairy Platinum Dishwasher Tablet Sample Review

I tested these dishwasher tablets with the Brand Power Home Tester Club.

At first I was a little bit skeptic, figuring they would be exactly the same at the tablets I was currently using. (Finish Quantum, which are recommended by the dishwasher manufacturer). So to really put these to the test I loaded up the dishwasher with grimy fatty dishes left over from a delicious meal of pork roast (fat and grease galore). I generally find that my Finish tablet don't clean this very well, and I end up doing most things by hand first. But to my surprise my dishes came out clean! No build up, no grease, no fatty stains or oily marks. just clean.

There were only 3 tablets in the sample pack, but that was enough to show me that Finish just wasn't cutting it for me. After looking into it I do find that Fairy tablets can be a little bit more expensive than Finish, and other brand dish-washing tablets, but the clean is far more superior.

Verdict: Better than 'Finish' Dishwasher Tablets. Definitely worth the extra few dollars at the checkout!