Product Review: FranceMed Pharma's Magicool

Ah, another mini head-wave threatens Briton. Here is something that you may find useful. The Magicool.

We bought a couple of these about three weeks ago and used one during the first summer 'super heat-wave'. Now the manufacturers claims that this is the world's first and only safe instant cooling spray. It works as a personal air-conditioner and is apparently CFC free.

It is simple to use really. Just spray it all over your body (a couple of seconds per surface) from a foot away, like you would normally do with a deodorant or hairspray. It does work, for a while (about a minute), before you start heating up again. It provide light relief from when you are truly experiencing heat exhaustion like we did during Wimbledon. We also used it when we went cycling and when the cheap fan stopped working.

The downside is these products, while easily obtainable in health stores (we got ours at Boots), may frighten easily paranoid people, especially if you start spraying yourself while traveling on the Tube. Also, the scent while smells like cheap fragrance. Fortunately unlike deodorants, it isn't permanent. It is musky, almost like bad vanilla. The 'unscented' version, weirdly enough, seems to smell almost as strongly as the scented version.

I do find it better if you just splash some water but recognise that not anyone can do that and in certain situations - it would probably be frowned upon. Like when you are trying to sleep. So despite it's rather overhyped marketing content, Magicool does produce, albeit briefly, cooling elements for that emergency situations when you just need a temporary relief from the hot summer days.

At a fiver a pop, it is pretty pricey. Best to get them during one of those '3 for 2' offers or by trading in your loyalty points at Boots. It isn't the best cooling product out there (paddling in Trafalgar Square fountains is easily the best cooling method in London), but it beats having to visit the hospital due to heat exhaustion.

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