And a big HEY right back at ya, Venus! It's been awhile since I used powdered Tide With Bleach, so I'm not remembering the scent. I switched over to liquid Tide HE when it became available in Minnesota a few years back. I don't think there's anything obnoxious about the scent of powdered Tide Coldwater. It's available in Glacial and Fresh scents. I've only ever used the Fresh scent version, as that's what's been available to me. Powdered Tide CW has disappeared from store shelves in my area. I think it may still be available at Target, so I'll have to check there. I have 4 more boxes, so I'm stocked.
I found Foca at a HyVee grocery store near me, but it seemed very cheap so I didn't buy it. The directions on the bag said "Dissolve Foca in warm water, add clothes, soak for at least 30 minutes, then wash as usual." Didn't like the sound of that. Plus, the bag seemed very light for its size---like Ivory Snow or something. I passed, figuring it was a grade B detergent.
I just ordered a 6.6-lb. bag of Mexican Ariel online. Yippee! I'm still debating about the uber-expensive German Persil---$47 for a 15-lb. box. I'm having company for dinner; when they leave, I'll see if I'm still feeling extravagant enough to push CHECKOUT. If I wind up liking the German version, maybe I'll spring for the UK version, which is apparantly the Persil holy grail.
I also saw FRESH START (the powder in a bottle) at a HyVee grocery store in Mankato, MN last week. I debated picking some up at the time, but decided to pass it up. When I go through there this weekend, I'm definitely going to pick up a bottle. I've heard it's very low-sudsing. I need something low sudsing for my bath towel loads. I only use towels once, so they're definitely light-soil loads; I don't need a Herculean detergent for those loads. HE detergents aren't solving the sudsing problem for me. My water is SO damn soft.
When I washed clothes at my younger nephew house in Minneapolis this past weekend (in his brand new LG Tromm), Tide HE liquid made very little suds and the rinse water was clear. They have medium-hard water. At my house, Tide HE (and every other HE I've tried) doesn't oversuds in the wash portion of the cycle, but the subsequent rinses have quite a bit of suds. I always have to use a bit of fabric softener to break 'em down in the final rinse.
My town's water is extremely hard and there's no way my dishwasher would function if I didn't have mechanically softened water.