Febreze Air Effects: Not For Strong Odors (Homeowner Horror Part II)
Written: Oct 10 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: nice scents, gives whole house a "breath of fresh air," great packaging
Cons: odors come back, can didn't last long enough, more expensive than other air fresheners
The Bottom Line: A great air freshener, but it doesn't tackle tough odors. I recommend it if you are looking for a nice air freshener, not if you're trying to eliminate an odor.
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| Candice923's Full Review: Febreze Air Effects |
Note: When visiting homes for potential purchase, pay attention to the smell. Not all smells leave the home once the owners move out. As a matter of fact, the smell will linger and be a LOT stronger than you remember.
Such is the case for me and Craig. When we visited homes while searching for a place that we could call our own, there were a few that we couldn't stand the smell of. When we visited the townhouse that we finally ended up purchasing, there was a big, hairy dog there. The house smelled like dog, but we figured that the dog was causing the smell. We didn't even take into consideration that the smell would stick around when the dog left.
We were wrong.
Not only were we wrong, we were EXTREMELY, PAINFULLY wrong.
Throughout my Homeowner Horror series, you will find out all sorts of horrible things that can happen to you when purchasing a home. The smell of our home is one of these horrors.
Now, you might think that a smell in a home isn't exactly a horror. However, the story of this smell is. Prepare your barf-bags, because you are absolutely going to retch.
THE SMELL
Above I mentioned a big, shaggy dog that the former owners of this townhouse had. Well, in the 3 years that they lived in this house, they never took the dog outside. NEVER. Our new neighbors told us that they thought the dog had died since they didn't see it. The dog did everything inside: slept, ate, played... and, yes, "did her business" on the stairs and in the downstairs bathroom. FOR TWO STRAIGHT YEARS!!!! To make matters worse, they hardly ever cleaned up after her. Of course, they cleaned before showing the house, but the smell hung around.
The house doesn't smell like poop and such... It just smells like dog. It seems that it is impossible to get the smell out of anything, too, which is very discouraging. We are in the process of remodeling the bathroom, but the smell is still in the other parts of the house. That is because this dog just laid on the carpet on the stairs. Plain and simple, we are going to have to replace this carpet.
THE PRODUCT
While in Home Depot, I noticed Febreze Air Effects. I had just taken a survey online about this product, so I figured that I would give it a try. Febreze Air Effects touts, "Eliminates odors and freshens the air" on the front of the canister. The back reads, "Febreze Air Effects is like a breath of fresh air at any time because it actually sweeps away those stale and stifling odors and leaves a fresh scent."
Febreze Air Effects comes in six different scents: Original, Meadows & Rain, Blossoms & Breeze, Spring & Renewal, Summer & Splash and Citrus & Light. I liked the light, refreshing scent of Meadows & Rain, so we shelled out the $5.49 at the checkout and went home to deoderize our house.
DIRECTIONS
Using Febreze Air Effects is easy. There is a unique nozzle that allows you to control the flow of spray like an aerosol can, yes nothing to depress on top of the canister. Instead, you pull the trigger back and out comes a constant flow of Febreze. You use a sweeping motion to disperse the spray around the room.
The directions on the canister read, "Hold trigger down and spray the air in a sweeping motion throughout the entire room. For a noticeably fresh home, spray all of the rooms in your home." Obviously, it is very easy to use, not messy in the least and effective.
PACKAGING
Febreze Air Effects comes in a tall, metal canister with a plastic head. I like this canister and spraying mechanism a lot better than any other hand-held air freshener that I have used. I did not have nay problems with this canister. When it was empty, the can was really empty. I couldn't hear anything inside when I shook the can.
The can is light blue with the blue Febreze lettering and a picture of the scent that you chose. It is quite attractive, as it doesn't look like a sterile Lysol can. I like using this as an air freshener because it is so attractive and easier to use than pressing that little button on top of a can.
This can is also virtually indestructable. I wanted to see how well it held up after I finished the product, so I dropped the can from shoulder height. It didn't break. Then, I dropped it from the top of the stairs. It still didn't break. Finally, I went outside and threw it as hard as I could to the pavement. Guess what? It still didn't break.
SCENT
I really like the Febreze line of products. I think all of the scents are terrific. This one was great because it wasn't "froufy"-- my new word to describe things that are overly feminine. I don't like "girly smells" and neither does Craig. This scent is unisex, clean and fresh.
I'm sure some of the other scents are a bit more feminine, such as Blossoms & Blooms. Those are scents that I will stay away from. There are enough choices, however, that I am able to use a small variety of scents and not be stuck with a "girly smell."
EFFECTIVENESS
Unfortunately, I don't think that Febreze Air Effects is all that effective. First and foremost, we have hardwood floors throughout the townhouse. The only place carpeted is the staircase-- for now. We sprayed the Febreze Air Effects all over the house to try to eliminate the smell, and even opened the windows. The Febreze Air Effects actually settled to the ground. I was wearing a pair of sneakers, and I slipped and fell. Twice. In different locations of the house. Clearly, the Febreze Air Effects doesn't stay up in the air. With the advertisements, I thought that it was supposed to "sweep odors away," not drag them to the ground and leave them for someone to slip on.
There is nothing on the can that says "for carpeted homes only." I am very disappointed that it settled to the ground. I had to mop it up so no one else would fall. That is just very dangerous.
Yes, the house smelled great. It appeared that the dog smell was gone, and we were thrilled. We locked the house up, then went back to our apartment for the night.
When I returned in the morning, you can imagine my dismay when I was greeted with the dog smell! What happened to eliminating odors? Again, I sprayed the house with Febreze Air Effects. Soon, the smell was gone.
This went on for a week. Finally, I ran out of Febreze Air Effects. It took a week to use up a 9.7oz bottle. I was very disappointed that Febreze Air Effects didn't last longer. It appears to me that Febreze Air Effects can't handle the really big jobs. It should just be used to freshen the air in your home, not tackle the elimination of odors.
INGREDIENTS
The ingredients in Febreze Air Effects are as follows:
Odor eliminator, water, fragrance, non-flammable natural propellant, quality control ingredients. No CFCs and contains no phosphates.
I don't like the vagueness of the ingredients. Odor eliminator? Exactly what is in the odor eliminator? What quality control ingredients are they talking about? How do consumers know if they are allergic to this product or not?
IN CONCLUSION...
If you're looking for a nice,crisp air freshener, then Febreze Air Effects is certainly a good choice. Your house will smell wonderful.... That is, if it is already clean and free of any strong odors. However, if you are looking for an actual odor eliminator, Febreze Air Effects really doesn't do such a great job. It covers up the odors, but, if they are really strong, they will come back.
Recommended:
Yes
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Candice923
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