The Laundry Tarts Review and Giveaway!

Rounding out Detergent Giveaway Month today, I am pleased to be able to give one lucky reader the chance to try a fabulous detergent that isn't very easy to come by here in the US. The Laundry Tarts is a Canadian company with a limited number of US retailers, but I can only hope that changes soon! I would very much like to see this soap featured on the shelves of my local cloth diaper store!

When I first came across The Laundry Tarts detergent while browsing around on EcoFriendlyGreenThings.com, I was intrigued by three things: first, the eco-friendly list of ingredients; second, the pretty, biodegradable, compostable packaging printed with vegetable inks; and third, the list of scents offered on that website: Key Lime Pie, Lemon Meringue, Orange Dreamsicle, and Plain Jane Unscented. As a woman who will usually only use scented versions of anything if they smell like food, the idea of a detergent company that only uses fragrances you'd find in a bakery definitely appealed to me! And the offering of an unscented version for babies with more sensitive skin is always a plus.

Naturally, I had to find out more, so I went on their website, and was amazed by not only the long list of delicious-sounding scents offered, but the company's clear commitment to being environmentally responsible. Not only do they feature a long explanation of why it's best to use environmentally friendly alternatives in your washing machine, they also feature an "Eco-Corner" with recommendations for eco-friendlier and healthier alternatives for toothpaste, menstrual relief, cleaning products, facial care, so on and so forth. This is a company that clearly is passionate about being eco-conscious!

Also, I can't even tell you how much I love the name and the logo: "The Laundry Tarts" is not only indicative of the delicious smelling pastry-inspired scents they offer, it is also how the founders, Jessy Cooke and Tanja Warren, refer to themselves - The Tarts. At least, this is suggested by the pair of coy, "tart-ish" ladies featured on the package, hanging a gigantic diaper out to dry behind a sudsing, cup-cake shaped laundry tub with a cherry on top. It just doesn't get much cuter than that!

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda), Sodium Carbonate (Soda Wash), Sodium Percarbonate (Powdered hydrogen peroxide), Sea salt, Saponified coconut/canola oil, rosemary extract, phthalate free essential and fragrance oils.

So how well does it work? It works quite well even in our cheapo, lukewarm-water toploader. Every bit as well as Eco Sprout or Rockin' Green, and I must say I have a personal preference for the scents that The Laundry Tarts have to offer (I tried samples of Red Velvet Cake, Peaches 'n Creme, and Brown Sugar Pie...and though I just bought a 4 lb. bag of Plain Jane Unscented, I am sorely tempted to purchase at least a few samples of Cinnamon Bun, Gingerbread, Lemon Meringue, Key Lime Pie, and Mint Chocolate Chip...yum!) They actually put a warning on the package that the detergent is not edible, that's how good it smells! The scents wash out completely, and though heavy stains should be pre-soaked, pretreated and/or sun-bleached (as with most diaper-specific detergents), poopy smells and urine/ammonia smells do wash right out. My RearZ fitteds still do have to be washed twice, but I've basically resigned myself to that...we'll see how they do in our new machine!

I also had the opportunity to try The Laundry Tarts in my mother-in-law's HE front-loader, using half the amount of detergent as I use in my machine (dissolved into a bit of warm water). Her machine is much more powerful than mine (and gets much hotter water), and I was so impressed by the results! There was definitely less staining. I cannot wait to try this detergent in our new HE toploader when it arrives! I'm really just so eager to be rid of our current machine.


The Giveaway - How to Enter
Jessy and Tanja have generously agreed to give away a 12-24 load sample pack of The Laundry Tarts in four yummy scents, plus a Sweet Spots stain remover stick (which I have not tried but am very curious about)! To enter, please use at least one of the mandatory entries below (use more than one for additional entries). You may also use one or all of the optional additional entries, but none of these entries will count if you do not include a mandatory entry! PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH EACH ENTRY. I will never use your email address for any purpose other than to contact you if you are the winner.


MANDATORY ENTRIES (pick one or do them all!):
~ Follow Jem's Room on Google Friend Connect (by clicking the "follow" link at the top of this blog page or going to the GFC box in the righthand column). Leave a comment here that you have done so (if you already do, it counts!)
~ Follow Jem's Room on Facebook. Leave a comment here that you have done so (with your Facebook name).
~ Follow Jem's Room on Networked Blogs. Leave a comment here that you have done so.
~ Follow Jem's Room by email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column of this blog page. Leave a comment here that you have done so.


Additional optional entries:
~ Visit the The Laundry Tarts website, then come back to this blog post and leave a comment to tell me which of their scents sounds the yummiest to you!
~ Like The Laundry Tarts on Facebook. Come back to this blog post and comment that you have done so (with your Facebook name, please!)
~ Visit The Laundry Tarts distribution partner, MonkeyDoodlez. and comment here to tell me which of their products you'd most like to try!
~ Leave a link to this contest page anywhere on Facebook or your own blog or website. Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find the link!)
~ Grab my button and post it on your blog (on the main page or other permanent page, not in a blog entry). Leave a comment here that you have done so (and tell me where to find it!) You may use this for 4 separate entries.
~ Add Jem's Room to your blogroll. Leave a comment here that you have done so. You may use this for 2 separate entries.

Sweet Spot stain remover

This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada and will end on Wednesday, September 14. Winner will be picked by a random number generator. Good luck to all!

***I received a small sample pack of detergent for review. No other payment was received for this review, and all opinions expressed here are my own.***