Bubbles made from Bio D washing-up liquid sold by Wikaniko.

Have you heard of Wikaniko? I hadn’t until I started following Julie Brooke on Twitter. She is a Wikaniko distributor and she helps to sell lots of eco-friendly products from the Wikaniko shop.

Wikaniko (pronounced ‘We Can Eco’) describes itself as the most innovative and creative eco friendly business in the UK today! The Wikaniko website is a web portal full of resources, articles, games, tips, eco-ideas and more. The Wikaniko shop is the place where you can buy all the eco-friendly products you could ever think of. They sell Treeless toilet rolls, Wind-up LED torches, Organic Air freshener and lots of other things. The shop categories are as follows:- Aloe Vera Skin Care, Bathroom, Body and Skin Care, Hair Care, Astonish Products, Baby and Child, Men’s Toiletries range, Mangnotherapy, Vitamins and Supplements, Cleaning, Laundry, Kitchen, Bags, Trees, Garden, Pets and Livestock, Dental Care, health and Wellbeing, Organic Make-Up, Gadgets, Cards and Stationery, Batteries, Electrical, Household and Gift Certificates. 

Bio D washing-up liquid sold by Wikaniko.

If you order online delivery charges vary between a minimum of £4.51 and a maximum of £7.79 depending on how much your order comes to. If you spend over £120 (inc Vat) then you get Free Delivery. I am pleased to see that when Wikaniko pack your products for delivery they use materials that are bio-degradable, recycled, recyclable or re-used wherever possible.

Wikaniko say that their task is to help you reduce not only your footprint on the world but also your spending as you decide to live a greener life.

Bio D washing-up liquid sold by Wikaniko.

When I saw that Julie was a distributor for Wikaniko and all their eco-friendly products I thought I would be cheeky and see if she would be happy for me to review some products for her. I was so pleased when she said yes! I asked to review the Bio D Concentrated Washing Up Liquid, 250g of Soap Nuts and a Mighty Mini Limescale Blaster.

All of the products arrived as planned and my Mum and I set about reviewing them. I took home the Soap Nuts and Bio D Washing Up Liquid to review and my mum kept the Mighty Mini Limescale Blaster to put on the cold water copper pipe in the kitchen. Except there was a slight problem…the Mini Limescale Blaster was so small and ‘MINI’ that my mum managed to lose it !!! She had put it out of the way when she was tidying up in with the plan to fit it to the water pipe in the next few days except that as the packet was so small she managed to misplace it. She was so excited about the prospect of testing it out as it is supposed to inhibit the build up of new limescale deposits but also slowly reduce existing limescale build up. The Limescale Blaster came in a little clear grip seal bag and the product itself is made of two small halves measuring about 25mm in length each that wrap around the water pipe and fasten with a cable tie.. It is such a shame she couldn’t test it out and she feels absolutely awful, so do I! As we live in a hardwater area we could have hoped to have seen great results with the limescale magnet.  The Mighty Mini Limescale Blaster costs £11.99 so all I can say is that, although we haven’t actually road-tested it , it may be worth the initial investment as Wikaniko says that ‘Limescale caused by hard water can increase your fuel bills by up to £130 per year’. This would mean that if it does work for you then you could hopefully make some big savings each year. I would like to apologise again to Julie for losing the product. 🙁 Sorry.

250g bag of Soapnuts from Wikaniko.

I started to use my bottle of Bio D washing liquid when I received it in late April and it has only just finished a couple of days ago. It was a 1ltr bottle and I have managed to make it last for 2 and a half months. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if that is good or not as I have never tested how long my usual washing liquid lasts, but I am certainly impressed anyway ! Before receiving this Bio D I have been a very loyal customer of Ecover washing liquid, mainly because of the Eco credentials of Ecover but also because it didn’t play up the sensitive skin on my hands. I am however pleased to say that this Bio D has also been non-irritating to my skin and it washes dishes really well. At first I found it to be a lot thinner in consistency than my Ecover washing-up liquid so I found myself not liking it as much but as the time has gone on I have not paid much attention to the consistency and just got used to it. The Bio D concentrated washing-up liquid costs £2.59 for a 1 litre bottle (plus extra for delivery charges) as opposed to my Ecover which costs me £2.25 for the same size bottle from my local Tesco. If I had a local Wikaniko distributor or was buying a large order on the Wikaniko website then I would definitely purchase Bio D again.

Soapnuts from Wikaniko.

Here is the info written on the front of the Bio D bottle:-

“We believe it is possible to have effective natural and safe cleaning products that don’t cost the earth. To prove this we have developed our range of natural, biodegradable household products that are ethically sound, safe to use and have minimal environmental impact on our planet. Domestic pollution causes more damage to the environment than industrial pollution. Many cleaners containing conventional ingredients have damaging effects on the environment and humans. We are commited to the use of ingredients that are purely the best and safest for all of us. Wherever possible our raw materials are from renewable sources. they have not been tested on animals and have no animal by-products. Our packaging is recyclable and manufactured to contain effective levels of recycled material. To further reinforce our belief in the use of natural ingredients all of our products are allergy tested. You have nothing to lose, the earth has everything to gain. Thank you

250g bag of Soapnuts from Wikaniko.

Ingredients of Bio D Concentrated washing-up liquid :-
A blend of detergents derived from Coconut oil, Aqua, Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride, Vegetable Glycerine

Bio D washing-up liquid is Vegan Society approved and BUAV approved.

The bottle of Bio D lasts a long time which makes it cost effective. It does a great job of cleaning dishes which is what you want from a washing-up liquid.   Plus it is a natural product that can help make the daily task of washing dishes more eco-friendly. The Bio D washing up liquid is great…I can’t fault it !

Soapnuts in a washing cycle with towels. Soapnuts sold by Wikaniko.

My final review product is the natural, organic Soapnuts. They are the pods (or nut shells) from the Soapnut tree and you use them in your washing machine as an alternative to detergent. They are said to be great for sensitive skin as they are allergy free. When I saw them on the Wikaniko site I just knew that I’d love to give them a go. I had read about them before but they are one of those products that I put off purchasing in case they were a waste of money, but also they are extremely unusual looking and I wasn’t all that keen on using them in a wash with my clothes. When they arrived I was so intrigued by them. They are really sticky and the bag of soupnuts reminds me so much of a bag of dates (for this reason I have hidden them in the back of the cupboard so no-one mistakenly tries to eat them !).

The Soapnuts shells contain 12- 15% saponin which is a natural detergent and this means that when you put the soapnuts in your washing cycle they produce mild suds on contact with the water. I really didn’t think this could be possible but when I washed my clothes with them there was definitely suds and the clothes came out the freshest I have ever smelt. They didn’t smell ‘fabric conditioner’ fresh but instead ‘naturally fresh’. I was amazed ! The soapnuts are environmentally friendly, chemical free and biodegradable.  They are perfect for anyone trying to live a greener life.  You put around 4-8 half soapnut shells into a old sock and then pop them in the drum with the clothes or towels to be washed. The shells can be re-used a few times until they go dark brown and soggy. When they can no longer be used for a wash you put the remains of the shells in the compost bin so they can biodegrade.

Mighty Mini Limescale Blaster from Wikaniko

The bags of soapnuts are sold by weight. I was sent a 250g bag but you can also buy a 500g bag. The soapnuts seem to do a good job of washing the clothes but I have to be honest and say that I have stuck to using my normal laundry powder for the majority of my washes.  I’m not really sure why this is as I really do love the facts that the Soapnuts are natural and chemical free but I think while my daughter is still at that stage of getting all her clothes dirty by playing outside and spilling her dinner, etc, I feel as though I can rely better on my usual brand of washing detergent to remove stains. I have still got some soapnuts left to use and I will definitely continue to use them for washing my towels as they made them really fluffy ! I hope that once my daughter is a little bit older and there are not so many stains on all the clothes that I will return to the soapnuts and try to use them again and be a bit greener.  In conclusion I would 100% urge you to buy a bag of the soapnuts, even if it is just because you are intrigued by them like I was. They do work and they are eco-friendly – so they have lots going for them. Go on…buy a bag and give them a go !

Logo courtesy of Wikaniko

Julie Brooke was the lady who kindly organised for me to review these products but she has asked that I direct you all to her daughter’s Wikaniko website shopatwikaniko.co.uk. Her daughter Catherine has just started working with her and so she would love it if you could all support her by buying through the following link:- http://www.wikaniko.com/index.asp?un=1004786 or any of the Wikaniko links in the above review.  What a lovely mum ! 

If you are thinking of becoming a Wikaniko distributor yourself you can sign up here.

I found a review of the home based business of becoming a Wikaniko distributor here on the Business Opportunity Watch website.

They gave it a high score of 9 out of 10 and said the following:- “In 14 years of reviewing business opportunities, 9 out of 10 is rare. I’ve never rated anything at 10 out of 10 because that would mean it’s a dead cert and there is no such thing as a dead cert in business.”

Unbelievable or what… my mum has just phoned and I have told her about writing this review and the fact that I’ve written about her losing the Limescale Blaster …and she has told me that just yesterday she found it amongst a box of paperwork! She is delighted to now be able to start testing it out so I will update this review next week with her findings. 

Thank you Julie and Catherine for sending the review products to me from Wikaniko. I’m so pleased to have had the chance to test out the eco-friendly products for you.

Also I would like to mention that Julie has another web-based business she runs called easytosavemoney.co.uk.  The website helps households and businesses shrink their bills and save money on everything that they buy.