Nothing But Soap: Review and Giveaway ~ Eco-novice

I am pleased to introduce you to Nothing But Soap: all-natural, vegan, naturally scented, and handmade products by Amber Perks. Amber makes

Laundry soap (lavender, tangerine, tea tree or unscented)
Reusable dryer bags (in 3 varieties)
Dishwasher soap (lemon lime)
Lemon cleaning scrub
Carpet deodorizer (lavender mint, lavender rosemary, cinnamon clove, or dust mite and germ fighting with essential oils)
All-purpose cleaner

If you love the idea of homemade laundry soap and carpet deodorizer, but aren’t quite as excited about actually making them, then this is the Etsy store for you. Personally, whenever I read a post about DIY laundry soap, I get about as far as grating a bar of soap, and then I know it’s not for me, at least not for the next 5 years. Amber sent me samples of her dishwasher soap, laundry soap, lemon cleaning scrub, and carpet deodorizer (a few tablespoons of each or enough to try them once or twice), in order to facilitate this review.

Bottom Line: I found Amber’s products to work just as well as my store-bought green versions. They left behind faint or no scent, which has been my experience with natural (rather than synthetic) fragrances in general, and which I personally prefer. I will probably buy at least one of these cleaners when my store-bought ones run out.

10 Things I Like About Nothing But Soap

Homemade handmade soap that I didn’t have to make.
Affordable! About the same price as or cheaper than store-bought green cleaners.
All ingredients listed on product pages (under “Materials” at the bottom). Ingredients are also listed on your product’s tag. I am familiar with all of the ingredients (vinegar, sodium bicarbonate, etc.).
It’s sold by an Etsy store (called “Scrub Naturally”)! I love Etsy.
Lemon Lime Dishwasher Soap worked as well as my favorite store-bought green one by Biokleen. Left behind a very faint citrus smell.
Tangerine Laundry Soap worked as well as my favorite store-bought green one by Biokleen (I do not like everything by Biokleen, by the way). I tried my sample with 2 loads: sheets and whites (my smelliest/ dirtiest load = my husband’s underwear and cleaning rags). I added Oxobrite to the whites load (which is what I usually do with my store-bought laundry soap). The sheets were washed with the Nothing But Soap laundry soap only. Worked great for both loads!
Lemon Cleaning Scrub worked as well as Bon Ami on our stainless steel kitchen sink and porcelain bathroom sinks.
My friend Lys tried the Lavender Rosemary Carpet Deodorizer for me since I have no carpet. She said it worked great on her condo carpet (she has 3 young children and no pets). Lys also tried the carpet deodorizer in her minivan (brilliant!) and said it also noticeably helped with odor there too. The lavender scent faded after a few hours. Amber has 2 dogs and says that her product works really well for getting out pet odors.
Get 15% off your order by using the coupon code econovice15. Hooray!
Amber is giving away one bag of laundry soap good for 50-100 loads (you choose the scent: tangerine, lavender, tea tree or unscented). Hooray again!

Giveaway

Win Nothing But Soap’s bag of Laundry Soap (50-100 loads) by liking Nothing But Soap on Facebook --or-- making Scrub naturally a favorite on Etsy (What is an Etsy favorite? Click here). Then leave a comment with your email (unless I can figure it out from your Blogger profile/ blog/ etc.) telling me you did so. This is the mandatory entry.

Extra entries (leave an additional comment for each extra entry):

Spread the word by email, Facebook, Twitter, carrier pigeon, etc. (you can use the buttons at base of the post).
Become a Facebook fan of Eco-novice.
Extra entry for Eco-novice subscribers (or Followers, or folks with Eco-novice as their homepage or regular readers by some other method). Tell me how you subscribe/ follow/ read Eco-novice in your comment.

You can enter the contest FOUR times total (mandatory entry plus three extra entries). Leave a different comment for each entry. Giveaway ends Thursday, June 9, 2011. Contest open to US residents only. (International readers may enter if you are willing to pay your own shipping: $10 for Canada, $15 for everywhere else.)

The winner is: Heaventaste. Thanks for entering, everyone!

This post is part of

Top Ten Tuesday
Works for Me Wednesda
Things I Love Thursday