I realised the other night that i'd nearly come to the end of a bottle of a product that i was trying for the frist time, and had not yet written a review about on Ciao! Well, i thought i should immediately set to work writing a review so that you could all benefit from my impression of the product. So, what product is it? Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Massage Lotion for Stretch Marks, of course!

Palmer’s is a brand owned by E.T. Browne Drug Co., Inc (E.T. Browne (U.K) Ltd). On the back of the bottle is says that Palmer’s does not manufacture store brands, so I’m guessing it means that the only brand E.T Browne Drug Co., Inc manufacture is Palmer’s various ranges, and Palmer’s only manufacture their various ranges, no others. Anyway, on the bottle is says to go to www.palmerscocoabutter.com, which I did, but it re-directed me to http://www.etbrowne.com/ which come up as the Palmer’s website. So I’m guessing the two companies are just one and the same thing. Anyway, if you go to the Corporate Profile section of the website under About Us (
http://www.etbrowne.com/about/Default.aspx) it tells you a bit about the company. Basically they say that the company was founded over 160 years ago as one of America's first skin care companies, and is a leader in treatment oriented skin and hair care products. They say that Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula is the only brand offering a full line of cocoa butter items (they certainly do offer a lot, see the section on ‘other items in this range’ below!). They also say that they are dedicated to producing only the highest quality, natural skin care products.

I bought my bottle from Wilkinson’s. To be honest, I’ve not looked to see where else it’s sold, so I can’t say for sure but I’d imagine Boots would sell it, and most likely Superdrug. Some other pharmacy type places might sell it too. You should also check out your local supermarket to see if they stock it, supermarkets stock all sorts these days so I wouldn’t be surprised! Also, don’t forget to check for places that my stock in online, just use a search engine like Google or price comparison site like Kelkoo. Oh, and don’t forget e-bay!

This Massage Lotion for Stretch Marks comes in a rather handy 250ml (8.5fl.oz.) pump action bottle. The bottle & pump are both white plastic, and the bottle is a slim-line oval shape. The label on the front of the bottle has a white background with the Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula distinctive orange & brown oval & stripe logo on it. It also has various bits of writing in brown and blue, and a square peach coloured picture with an outline of a pregnant woman on it. On the back it the ingredients, a caution and directions written in English, French & Spanish, the ingredients written in English/Latin and a few lines about the company. The writing is brown on a white background. It’s quite small writing, so you may need to squint to see it.

Well obviously as the product is called Massage Lotion for Stretch Marks, it’ll come as no surprise that the bottle proclaims on the front that it ‘helps prevent and reduce stretch marks.’ It also says that it’s clinically proven and dermatologically tested. On the back of the bottle it expands on this saying that it’s ‘clinically proven to increase skin’s elasticity, which helps prevent and reduce stretch marks.’

I was somewhat disappointed with the smell. I was expecting it to smell of the yummy trademark Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Lotion chocolately smell. When I smelt it though, I was very unhappy to find that it hardly smells the same at all. One of the main reasons I bought this bottle was that I thought it would have that same lovely, buttery, chocolatey smell, and that I’d get the benefit extra stretch-mark reduction too by buying this product instead of that one. It’s not that it doesn’t have a nice smell, it’s just that once you’ve smelt the original Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion, you’re bound to be disappointed if you find that not all Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula products smell the same. It does have a very vague cocoa buttery smell, but it’s not got that sweet chocolateyness to it. It also has another, stronger smell to it, a kind of fresh smelling smell, if that makes sense. Like I said, it is a nice smell, just not the one I was expecting and just not as nice as the original all Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion. I suppose if you aren’t keen on the smell of the original lotion, you might actually prefer this. Personally though, I was disappointed.

It cost me about £3.50ish for my 250ml bottle, though depending on where you get it from it could cost you up to £5. My tip would be to shop around, and certainly check out Wilkinson’s if you have a store near you. It’s a bit more expensive than the original Palmer’s cocoa Butter (which from the same store is just under £3), and I didn’t think the bottle has lasted me all that long, though I do use it often and use a fair amount, just about enough to do nearly my whole body! I guess considering it on its own merits, it’s good value for money. It has improved my skin condition, even if it’s not done wonders for my stretch marks, and for that alone it’s worth the price. But I still thin the original formula stuff is better value, and thus will opt for another bottle of that instead next time!

To be quite honest, I don't really think this Massage Lotion for Stretch Marks works any better than Palmer's original Cocoa Butter. However, I’ve not tried using it as a stretch mark preventative, so perhaps it works really well at doing that. Considering that this doesn't have that same gorgeous fragrance as the original Cocoa Butter and doesn't do any better job at keeping my own skin moisturised and fading my stretch marks, my personal opinion is that I think you'd be better off buying the original Cocoa Butter and giving this a miss.

On the Palmer’s website there are a whopping 39 Cocoa Butter Formula products listed, so forgive me if I don’t list them all here! I’m not sure if they are all available in the UK, as the website is USA based, and I certainly don’t recall having been in any shop in the UK that has stocked that many Palmer’s products. Included in that range are a whole array of different types of moisturisers, lotions and creams for soothing dry skin, firming skin, fading stretch marks & scars etc, as well as face care, soaps, body wash and even sunless tanner.

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