Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Finally seduced by all the glowing testimonials of this product, I caved, ate into the grocery budget, and bought a bottle. Based on the raves, I was expecting wonders--- or at the very least, good basic cleaning capabilities. Hoping I'd purchased the Holy Grail of cleaners, I tested it on the bathroom, the site which resists my most diligent cleaning efforts. My home has one of those hideous windowless bathrooms, and keeping the tile/grout/shower/tub clean is an endless, ongoing endeavor. I need to make it clear that I keep up with this job. The surrounding tile & grout walls get scrubbed down monthly; the tub weekly. The test run of Thieves wasn't conducted on a neglected bathroom with years of mold and soap-gunk build up. After trying several different dilution levels (per the bottle instructions), from weakest to strongest, and vigorous scrubbing with a toothbrush and scrub pad, I saw no difference in the cleanliness than if I'd just used plain water. With each dilution, I let the application soak in for about 30 minutes, before scrubbing, so the product had plenty of time to work its magic. After a couple of hours of experimentation, the bathroom looked as dingy as before. The tiles still had that coated look, despite being well rinsed, and the grout looked untouched. In short, there was no "before & after" with this picture! I dunno, I guess I'm one of those cranks that likes whatever I clean to look clean when I'm finished. I'd like to point out that I clean houses for a living, so I'm good at this. Really. Another unwelcome surprise: contact with the fumes from the Thieves cleaner (with the exhaust fan on) left me with burning, inflamed eyes and sinuses. I was not in the room during the soaking-in phase of the applications, and the windows were open in the rest of the house on a beautiful breezy day. I don't have any special chemical sensitivities to cleaning solution fumes, or to essential oils. I have often used the oils which are in the Thieves formula in different applications with no unpleasant reactions. It was a shock to have this reaction to the cleaner, and I'm literally afraid to use this product again because of the degree of redness, inflammation and discomfort it caused. At the risk of incurring the wrath of Young Living devotees, I wanted to give this a one star rating, but softened my rating to two stars because the stuff smells great, and, due to the oils used in the formula, it does have disinfecting qualities. Naturally, I'm on board with the worthy movement to eliminate chemical toxins from our households, and had high hopes for this product. But being left with a partially wasted day, badly inflamed & burning eyes and nose, a bathroom that looks as dingy as before, (and with the outrageous cost of this product), I'm feeling rooked. I walked away from the experience with the uneasy feeling of having to take it on faith that this product was doing some mighty work--- invisibly. I'll be sticking to baking soda/vinegar, and the occasional diluted bleach solution to have a bathroom which is (quickly) clean, and looks it.