Bzzz: Oust® Surface Disinfectant & Air Sanitizer

About a month ago I got a new package from BzzAgent*. The new product they sent me to try was Oust® Surface Disinfectant & Air Sanitizer.

According to the company, Oust Surface Disinfectant & Air Sanitizer kills more than 99.9% of germs (including cold & flu viruses) on hard surfaces. It is also specially formulated to kill odor-causing bacteria in the air to eliminating odors rather than just covering them up. It kills bacteria like Staph and Salmonella, in addition to a variety of viruses and fungi.

The first thing I noticed when I sprayed the Clean Scent Oust (they also have Citrus scent and Outdoor scent)into the air was the light scent. Some air fresheners can be really overpowering, have a very strong chemical smell, or make me sneeze when I spray them. The scent of the Oust was light, pleasing, and didn't make me (or the cat who was in the room at the time) sneeze.

I use it as an air freshener down in the basement. Sydney has a bad habit of needing to use the litter box as soon as I go down to do laundry. I guess she likes company or something. Now I spray the air as soon as she's done scratching so that I don't have to go running up the stairs for breathable air.

I have found a couple of uses for it as a hard surface disinfectant. I have been using it to spray the inside of the diaper pail whenever we change the bag. It has really made a difference, the plastic pail itself no longer smells. The Oust dries quickly so by the time I'm ready to put a new plastic bag in it's ready. The products we have tried before either pooled in the bottom of the pail and left a bad smell on their own after a while, or took a long time to dry requiring us to leave the plastic bag out until totally dry.

I have also used it to disinfect the counters after preparing raw meat or chicken. For our everyday surface cleaner we use a non-toxic, green cleaner. But it is not a disinfectant. So after cleaning the counters I spray a light mist of the Oust. It dries quickly, leaves no residue on the counters, and doesn't streak.

BzzAgent sent me coupons for other people to try Oust for free along with my two cans. I have one coupon left, if anyone is interested in trying it out just let me know. I'll send it out to the first person who asks.

*Click here for my previous post about BzzAgent

Bright White Teeth

It's the week of the teeth I guess. I just got another package from BzzAgent* today (go here for my last BzzAgent posting). This one is for Listerine Whitening Quick Dissolve Strips. They are advertised as whitening strip that dissolves completely in 10 minutes, leaving nothing on your teeth so they can be used anywhere. They also say that they are virtually unnoticeable, again so you can use them anywhere and no one will know, during your commute, at work, while shopping etc. I have four days worth to try myself, so I'll give you my initial review now and an update after using them all. I'll also be brave and post before and after pictures so you can see for yourself if they work.

My Initial Review

After some initial struggles opening the package (hint: open the foil packet on 3 sides, don't try to pull the strip out just through the top)it was pretty easy to get the strips on. I wasn't completely even on both sides though, so the next time I use them I'll have to remember to put it a little further over on the left side of my mouth so everything is even! Other than that, they are easy to fold over and feel just like a little bit of padding if you bite your front teeth together. I like that you don't need to do anything special to put them on, other strips I had used in the past made you have to completely dry your teeth or they wouldn't stick.

When the strips are on, they are a little sticky, and there is a slight tingling sensation as they dissolve, but I was able to talk normally with them, Lilypad Dad didn't even know I had them on when I was talking to him. They are pretty much invisible when you first put them on, but as they dissolve they form bubbles around your teeth. They have a slightly minty, slightly chlorine taste to them, not the nicest thing but not completely unpleasant either. It's almost like jumping into a pool after having just used mouthwash.

It has been about 15 or 20 minutes now and there are still spots that I can feel something sticky but the majority of the strip had dissolved in about 8-10 minutes. I am going to go brush my teeth to get rid of the taste since I'm home and can, but if I needed to use them and couldn't brush I could live with the taste. Actually, now that it's about 5 minutes later, everything has completely dissolved and my mouth feels and tastes like I just used mouthwash.

Here is the before picture (please don't mind the bad smile and picture, it's really hard to take a self-portrait of your teeth!)


*BzzAgent is an online word of mouth community. They give you the opportunity to try new products that interest you, then you pass along the bzzz about them to people you know that you think would be interested. I also have a bunch of samples of the Listerine Whitening Strips for anyone who is interested, just let me know and I'll get them to you.