The best laundry detergents for dealing with chocolate, grass, make-up stains and more

Two of its powders and one of its capsule options took out the top 3 spots. But while these products are the best overall, some others did a better job on specific stains.

If you’ve got a particularly pesky stain, we list the detergent that should do the best job of removing it. If that stain still won’t budge after you’ve tried the best detergent for the job, check out the results of our stain remover tests. You can easily see which are the best soaking and spot removal products to buy.

Best laundry detergent for sweat stains

Persil Ultimate powder

The top laundry detergent, Persil Ultimate, was the most effective on sweat stains.
A cheaper powder, Surf 5-in-1 Sunshine Citrus, wasn’t far behind though. It costs just 28c per wash, compared with 66c for the Persil.

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Best laundry detergent for grass and mud stains

Persil Ultimate powder

Persil Ultimate was the best on grass and mud stains.

Persil Active Clean powder also did a good job.

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Best laundry detergent for olive oil stains

Persil Active 3 in 1 capsules

There are Persil capsules that scored higher overall but these Active ones managed to get out the most oil. If you sometimes splatter yourself while cooking, it could be handy to have some ready to throw into the wash.

If the oil stain hasn’t budged, we’ve got further advice on how to remove it over on our stain removal page.

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Best laundry detergent for engine oil

Ariel Original – liquid

If you like to tinker with cars or have someone in your household who does, this Ariel liquid is your best chance at getting motor oil stains out of clothes.

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Best laundry detergent for blood stains

Pams Tropical Laundry Powder

This Pams detergent’s overall score wasn’t that high, but it did well on blood stains. Make sure you use it with cold water as hot water will set a blood stain.

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Best laundry detergent for chocolate stains

Ariel Allin1 Pods Original

The swatches for this test were stained with chocolate ice cream, and it was the Ariel capsules that proved to be the best for the tricky job.

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Best laundry detergent for baby food stains

Laundromate Liquid Cotton Flower & Freesia liquid

This New Zealand-made powder did the best job on the baby food stain, which comprised banana and strawberry. Laundromate is only available at New World and Pak’nSave supermarkets in the South Island at the moment. So, if you’re in the North Island, the next best option would be Persil Ultimate powder.

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Best laundry detergent for tomato-based stains

Persil Ultimate powder

Persil Ultimate did the best on tomato stains too, so it’s the one to try if slurping spaghetti Bolognese gets away on you.

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Best laundry detergent for make-up stains

Persil 3 in 1 Sensitive – capsules

Persil’s Sensitive capsules did the best job of removing fluid make-up. It could be handy to have some ready to go if you sometimes find your foundation has made its way onto your neckline.

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It’s easy to see how each laundry detergent in our test performed on these stains. We’ve given each one a rating of good, average or poor based on how much of the stain they removed. Check out our laundry detergent test results.