As a master perfumer, I'll be honest: most natural cleaning products smell like a compromise. You trade the chemical tang of a "regular" spray for something worthier but blander: a vague herbal note, an apologetic hint of citrus, the smell of good intentions. Then I met a peach that ruined all that. Not a real peach - a scent so precisely sun-ripened, so convincingly orchard-warm, that it made me, a master perfumer who is professionally hard to impress, fall head over heels. And this one didn't ask me to compromise on anything else, either. It's all-natural, made with real essential oils, and packaged in reusable amber glass bottles.
The new Bower Collective Peach Cleaning Collection brings fragrance to the kitchen, holistically. The range itself is small and considered - a Hand Wash, a Washing-Up Liquid and an All Purpose Spray - and it's built around a peach perfume that's braver than it looks. It doesn't shout "germ-free" the way citrus or pine does; it's the essence of summer, sun-warmed fruit, al fresco breakfasts on holiday. Everything comes housed in refillable amber glass, made to be topped up rather than binned.
And the cherry (or should I say peach?) on top is that there's a nice story behind the collection, too. The whole peach theme is a nod to Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, with Quentin Blake illustrations and all, done with real affection and creativity. But you don't need to know any of that for the scent to do its job. Thirty seconds at the sink can smell like a sun-warmed orchard instead of a hospital corridor, if someone bothers to make it so. And here is a collection of luxury cleaning products finally have.
Bower Collective Peach Cleaning Collection
I love that peach is the hero of this Bower Collective Cleaning Collection, because it breaks from the normal lemon, citrus, or pine trend that's served to us on supermarket shelves. Unlike many other fruity fragrances, this fragrance is realistic far more considered than you'd expect from a bottle that's going to live by the sink. At first smell, you'll note peach and apricot sitting up top, doing the obvious, appetising work, but there's lemon threaded through to stop it tipping into sweet, artificial territory. Underneath, rose and lily of the valley soften the fruit into something more grown-up, and by the time you reach the base (cedarwood, something green and woody) you're a long way from the "fruity" cleaning products of my childhood, which usually smelled of little beyond sugar and bleach.
It's a proper top-heart-base build, and what makes it more impressive still is that none of it is smoke and mirrors: every note comes from real essential oils, which are far fussier and less forgiving to work with than the synthetic aromachemicals most fragrances lean on. That's usually the trade-off with natural ranges - the scent goes thin or safe so the ingredients list can stay clean. Here, both hold, which is exactly what I'd expect from a scent that wants to be taken seriously, not just tolerated for the ninety seconds it takes to do the washing-up.
In a world of plastic, I am delighted that even the packaging refuses to compromise. Each comes in Bower's refillable amber glass, with a microfibre cloth and tea towel thrown into the starter kit that will have you cleaning like a professional. Then, when you need a top up, one of the pouches can be delivered through the letterbox and neatly poured into your bottle - no compromise, no waste, no ugly bottle graveyard under the sink.
Aside from the fragrance charm, which I have a lot to say about, I love the nostalgic charm of the Roald Dahl connection, which is clearly personal rather than a box-ticking exercise. Bower's co-founder Nick Torday traces his own love of Dahl's stories back to childhood, recalling that his passion for the stories "goes back as far as his visit to my parents' bookshop" when he was a baby, and calling the partnership "a genuine delight" to bring to life.
Alice O'Brien, who handles commercial partnerships for the Roald Dahl Story Company, makes a similar point from the other side, explaining that the range "looks after the home as thoughtfully as James and his wonderful bug friends care for their extraordinary peach," a nice echo of the book itself, given the story is essentially about looking after something fragile, precious and natural.
I'm all for trying the natural ways to clean. Citric acid works wonders around the home and cleaning with vinegar is also really impressive, but when you can get the same results with the scent of sun-ripened peaches, it's really not a debate over which anyone would choose.
And, with all three cleaning products boasting the same scent, you get a cohesive fragrance when you're cleaning. Your hands will smell the same when you come from the sink, rather than a blend of coconut hand wash, lemon surface spray, and a mysterious washing up liquid. It's refreshing, fruity, and a new method to live by. If you're curious, the full Kitchen Starter Kit (hand wash, washing-up liquid, spray, bottles and all) is available at Bower Collective right now.
