A Laundry Revolution with Persil Powergems #extraordinarypowers

The summer holidays are in full swing, and although the sun seems to have missed the memo about bringing the good weather, I am trying to keep the kids entertained with activities and days out, so the six weeks aren't a total wash out. 

With this awful weather, things are however getting a bit messy. Playing in the garden in between rain showers, is resulting in lots of wet and muddy clothes because this persistent rain has turned my garden into a bit of a quagmire. Indoor activities (which we are having to do a lot of at the moment) such as arts and crafts and baking can get equally messy. This is resulting in lots of dirty laundry!

Thankfully, Persil has come to my rescue by sending me a kit to help me out, which includes their new revolutionary and unique laundry detergent: new Persil Powergems. This new game changing detergent has a brand new gem format and a powerful triple action approach to keeping clothing clean, fresh and cared for.  The Powergems are tough on stains, while protecting and caring for fabrics, making them perfect for the summer holiday dirty laundry pile. They also use fragrance release technology to give washing a long lasting fragrance and keep clothing smelling fresher for longer.

To test the power of the Powergems against things such as chocolate, grease and grass, Persil has challenged us to create some of those everyday stains that life can throw at family's clothing. Such activities as playing a family game of rounders, baking some chocolate brownies or painting a family portrait have the potential to get us pretty messy and inevitably soil our clothes. A perfect test for laundry detergent.

The Persil Ultimate Powergems are green and white or blue and white gems of laundry detergent that look different to any other product out there. They resemble confetti - but are definitely not recommended for throwing at weddings!

One concentrated dose, measured using the cap, contains the triple power to remove stains, care for fabric and intensify freshness. The packaging is compact and easy to store. They have a very fragrant clean scent. Placed directly in the drum, the Powergems disperse throughout the wash cycle and go to work straight away using their extraordinary powers!

One thing that I am particularly impressed with is the fact that the Persil Powergems has a child-proof twist and lock inner cap for extra safety. The gem format is also easy to use - no dealing with messy liquids or powders. Available in Non-Bio and Bio variants, they are available in 12, 19 and 30 wash packs.

I have been very pleased with the cleaning power of the Persil Powergems, especially when it comes to greasy stains. My whites are still looking white and my coloureds are bright, which is what I'd hope for from a detergent. Mud splashes, washable paint spills and dribbled food stains have all been dealt with effectively. Most noticeable to me has been the fragrance of my laundry. My washing is smelling very fresh and clean. This product is definitely a game changer.

The RRP of the Persil Powergems is £5 for the 12 wash, £8 for the 19 wash and £11 for the 30 wash packs.

Fun for kids with Persil Wild Explorers app

This summer, Persil has partnered with The Wild Network to introduce the new ‘Persil Wild Explorers’ app, an absolutely free resource packed with over 100 exciting ideas to encourage kids and families to play, learn and get dirty outdoors - whatever the weather!

Activities can be filtered by time, age and location so you can find the perfect activity to do together. Whether you are at beach, in a park or in your garden and whether you have 10 minutes or an hour to spare, there are loads of great ideas for fun things to do. You can also track and share your wild time adventures, so you know exactly what fun things you have done together. 

The activities are all good wholesome fun and don't cost the earth. There are endless play opportunities in the great outdoors from flying a kite to den building to bug hunting to playing conkers. Kids will love crabbing or making artwork out of shells on the beach or enjoy some physical parkour style free running in the woodland. Not only do they get fresh air and exercise, they can get creative, use their imaginations and learn important skills. Many of the activities raise children's awareness of their surroundings and teaches them about nature.

The Persil Wild Explorers app, gives families the ideas and inspiration to get outdoors and embrace playtime, giving kids freedom, fresh air and fun and if you get muddy, Persil will take care of the dirty laundry!

We've just come back from our summer holiday, where we stayed in a lodge in Sherwood Forest, giving us the perfect opportunity to download this app giving us some ideas for things to do. I loved the idea of Leaf & Plant snap, which uses fallen leaves instead of a deck of cards. The forest was the perfect setting for this game!

The 'Surprise Us' feature chooses a random activity to enjoy, so we tried some completely new things including forest parkour and 'fun in the rain'. It's a great way to discover something a bit different.

The Persil Wild Explorers app is available to download now absolutely free on iOS and Android, allowing parents and their children to:

• Explore family-friendly activities for different locations
• Discover an activity for any weather condition
• Find outdoor play ideas ranging from 10 minutes to hours of fun
• Uncover activities for explorers of all ages
• Track Wild Time adventures

For further information and for more ideas on getting outdoors and getting dirty, visit www.persil.co.uk.

Review Round Up - Persil Pouches, Cheerios Oat Crisp, Cadbury's Dairy Milk Medley

New Better Value Persil Pouches

The Persil brand very much believes that 'Dirt is Good' and encourages parents to let their children get outdoors to enjoy messy play, with the promise that Persil will wash away all the dirt from their grubby clothes. The Persil Mono Bio-Capsules are tough on stains, making them great for keeping the kids outdoor clothing clean. Each convenient, fuss free capsule contains a single dose of detergent to make light work of laundry, tackling the muddiest of messes.

Persil is now even better value as it has changed its mono washing capsule packaging from boxes to pouches (using 70% less plastic) with the new packs containing two extra washes for the same price. So this is good news for the environment and for our pockets. The pouches take up less cupboard space too (just be sure to keep them out of reach of the kids).

With two free washes now included in every 12 and 22 capsule pack, there is no excuse not to get outside with the little ones and indulge in some messy family fun!

Persil Mono Capsules 20 + 2 washes pack is £8.32 RRP.

Cheerios Oat Crisp and Cinnamon Oat Crisp

Cheerios Oat Crisp is a brand new cereal that combines light, crispy Cheerios with crunchy flakes of oat. Cheerios Cinnamon Oat Crisp is flavoured with the delicious spice for a sweeter taste. Each bowlful contains a mix of textures and has all the goodness of wholegrain, is high and fibre and low in fat for a nutritious start to the day.

Cheerios Oat Crisp is a natural source of beta-glucan, which can help reduce cholesterol. One bowl contains one third of your recommended daily intake of 3g, needed to obtain the beneficial cholesterol-lowering effect. This is why Heart UK has given Cheerios Oat Crisp its seal of approval.

CHEERIOS Oat Crisp® are available now at Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Waitrose for £2.49 RRP. Visit CheeriosUK on Facebook for the latest news from Cheerios.

Cadbury's Dairy Milk Medley

There is a new luxury Cadbury bar on the market, which combines Cadbury's chocolate, a medley of quality ingredients and a melt in the mouth soft, chocolaty centre. The Dairy Milk Medley comes in two varieties: the first with dark chocolate chips, crunchy biscuit and soft fudge pieces, and the second with dark chocolate chips, caramelised hazelnuts and raspberry pieces.

The added ingredients sit on top of the soft centre, adding a variety of tastes and textures to every bite. The 93g bar is moulded with larger squares, so that a couple of pieces make the perfect amount for an indulgent treat (that comes in at just over 100 calories). The flavour combinations work really well and the visual effect is quite exciting.

Each bar is £1.49 RRP but look out for promotional offers in supermarkets where you can pick up a bar for just £1. You can follow @CadburyUK on Twitter - look out for the #FreeTheJoy hashtag.

*I received samples of these products for the purpose of this review.

Easy Jam-Making for Beginners

This year I have had a bumper crop of strawberries from the patch in our garden.  We have also enjoyed fruit picking at a local PYO farm, so soft fruit has played a big part in our summer eating!

When Persil challenged me to try my hand at jam making, I thought it would be a fun way of using some of the soft fruits we have been enjoying.  I've never made jam before, thinking it was too much of a fiddly and time consuming process, but I used a recipe to make a super easy jar of jam, which I then used to make a Bakewell Tart.  It certainly wasn't cheaper or easier than using shop bought jam, but it was lovely knowing that I had made it myself using just two ingredients:  raspberries and sugar!

Recipe for Easy Raspberry Jam

Ingredients

(to make 1 jar of jam)

300g raspberries

300g granulated sugar

Method

Put fruit and sugar in a pan over a low heat until sugar dissolves.

Turn up heat and boil until temperature reaches 106 degrees.

Remove from heat and cool.

Pour into jar and seal.

You can strain the jam through muslin or a fine sieve to make it seedless, but we just enjoyed it how it was.

Jam making can be a bit of a messy job, which gave me an ideal opportunity to test out Persil's new Dual Action laundry capsules.  Combining stain removing microgranules with boosted concentrated liquid, the next generation capsules can tackle a whole host of household stains including jam!

With a sizeable blob of raspberry jam on my apron, I popped on a white load of laundry.  I did not pre-treat the stain at all, leaving all the work down to the Dual Action Capsules.  I used a 40 degree cycle that lasted 1 hour and 30 minutes.

I was genuinely impressed to see the stain completely gone!  I was also pleased to see that a tomato ketchup stain on a pair of Ella's shorts had washed away.  They are very effective, fuss free and easy to use.

They are available in tubs of 17 and 28 priced at £8.32 and £9.99 (and right now they come with a money back guarantee!)

Visit www.Persil.co.uk

or find them on Twitter @PersilUK #persildualaction