Murphy’s Naturals Mosquito & Tick Bug Repellent Spray, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus for Skin + Outdoor Gear, DEET-Free, 4 Ounce Pump, 2-Pack by Murphy’s Naturals

Initially, I bought this for a friend who reacts extremely badly to mosquito bites. Where we live, there are a *lot* of mosquitoes, ticks, and biting flies in the warmer months. Before, we just always covered ourselves in a 30-40% deet spray. (The tick-borne illnesses in our region especially make this a necessity.) Even with the deet though, it is unpleasant to go outside in summer because the deet spray doesn’t really seem to deter the biting flies which just zoom around and around us in threatening circles.

My friend, though, is a mosquito magnet, and gets numerous bites every time they go outside in the warmer months. When they get bitten by mosquitoes, the bites often become huge welts, which become infected, and can take weeks to heal.

This spray has been a game changer. Neither one of us has been bitten by anything since we started using this spray, and mosquitoes and biting flies don’t come anywhere near us.

It has a strong scent that reminds me of lemons, but in a pleasant way. We will definitely be buying this again!

The only con is that it’s a pump spray, so when i try to spray my feet and legs, I have to keep turning the bottle right side up, and pump it a few times, to fill the little straw inside back up, so that it will spray properly upside down.

Ok, I basically never leave reviews, because I just don’t have the time. But knowing how much I rely on others’ reviews to help me find things that work, I feel it my duty to share.

I bought this a month ago for my 3- and 4-year-old kids, especially. We live in DC (which is a swampy, humid, mosquito-breeding steamroom in the summer), and the mosquitoes are just awful and relentless. My kids love to play outside, both at their daycare and at home, but they’ve just been getting eaten alive, and my daughter gets really bad reaction and swelling when she gets bitten. It’s been so bad that, prior to using Murphy’s Repellant, they’d only stay in the yard a couple minutes before coming inside, covered in painful mosquito bites. I’d been using a different repellant (Sallye Ander No-Bite-Me Bug Repellent Cream – 2 oz, Natural, Safe for Kids & Infants, Anti-Itch, Moisturizing, Lemongrass & Mint Scent), which smelled pretty good but was sadly not very effective. Back to the drawing board, I did more research and found Murphy’s. The reviews seemed promising, but honestly, I’ve tried so many non-DEET repellants over the years and none of them have worked very well and are always a disappointment. So I didn’t have high hopes for this one.

Well, my kids’ skin doesn’t lie! This stuff has worked shockingly well! We apply it in the morning around 8 am before heading to their daycare (they spend a lot of time outdoors there at the on-site playgrounds). It is effective up through pick up, which is around 4:30/5pm. Then if they want to play outside when we get home, we do have to reapply one time, but that will last them the rest of the evening. It’s like…night and day. When my daughter has it on, she plays happily outside. When she doesn’t, if she plays outside anyway, she comes in crying in 5 minutes from 5-10 painful mosquito bites. My son doesn’t get so upset by bites, but I can see them on his skin when he gets them, and since we started using this, he very rarely has bites on him.

Here’s a quick pro/con list.

PRO:
-WORKS (at least for us)
-Effective even in humid, mosquito-swarming environments
-Easy to apply, and after several minutes, it soaks in completely and leaves no greasy or unpleasant residue

CONS:
-the smell is rather strong when applying and for about 10 minutes after application (but it does dissipate)
-it’s a bit pricey (but worth it, since it works!)

I hope this review is helpful to other folks looking for EFFECTIVE, non-DEET, non-greasy mosquito repellant!

This stuff is amazing, granted and only lasts like four hours, maybe six but it’s a lot better than some of the other products out there that have a band chemical smell. This smells like eucalyptus and mint just don’t get it on your lips or any open cuts, cause it will burn.