I was quite surprised to notice this in the Top 5 Popular products on DooYoo this week, for this hand wash has been sitting in my kitchen for 6 months now. When I purchased my flat, I took out a mortgage with Halifax. A couple of weeks after moving in we received a huge hamper full of goodies from Halifax saying thank you, it was a lovely surprise especially as it was full of good quality goodies such as fair trade cookies, posh tea bags and coffee, chocolates and lots of other things, and a Baylis & Harding set was amongst these. The set includes the sweet mandarin and grapefruit hand wash, as well as the matching hand lotion. It comes on a nice Baylis & Harding stand and it's been sat on the window sill above my sink since I took it out of the hamper, as it looks very nice sitting there!

I had heard of Baylis & Harding before, though I must admit I've never used any of their products before until now. If I am honest and had chosen my own scent, then this sweet mandarin and grapefruit would have been near the bottom of my list as I don't like grapefruit at all. I must admit though it does look rather nice, for a hand wash. The packaging is expensive looking, if not simple in design, and the metal cap around the black pump at the top engraved with the Baylis & Harding lettering sets it off nicely. The hand wash itself is a light golden orange colour, very fitting with the mandarin image.

I personally don't use the hand wash all that much, and I find myself using the hand lotion more. When in the kitchen dealing with food I prefer to use an anti-bacterial hand wash (using a bright blue bottle of Carex!) and scented products like these are abandoned. Despite this I do reach for this straight away if I've handled stuff such as garlic or onions, as it gets rid of those smells nicely.
When I first went to use this hand wash, I did have a bit of trouble getting it to work the first time. The top of the pump indicates to turn it one way to 'open' it up. But no matter what I did it wouldn't work. In the end in my frustration I pulled the top of the pump off. Thinking I had broken it, I hastily put it back on but then it started working straight away. I had been outwitted by a pump dispenser!

I find that 2 pumps is quite sufficient, and it lathers up rather nicely. I mentioned before I dislike grapefruit however I am pleased to note quite a nice smell on my hands. I don't find that it smells too strongly of citrus fruits, and the smell is actually quite faint on my hands. It does get rid of any food smells, but what scent is left behind is nice and subtle and not overpowering. Unfortunately I don't find it's very good at moisturising. At first my hands feel smoother, but as they completely dry off, the smoothness stays but I do feel some dryness on my skin, so I often reach for the hand lotion afterwards.

I'm surprised that this huge 500ml hand wash actually only costs around £2, and that's a bargain price for something which certainly looks more expensive than it really is! I would prefer something which smells maybe a bit stronger, and something which moisturises my hands better, but for the price it's a good bargain to be had.