As a mum, I'm a bit of an obsessive when it comes to hygiene when out and about with my kids. This stems from experiences such as visiting a soft play area and being horrified to find my toddler with a sticking plaster in his mouth (ugh!) and the inevitable sickness and runny tummy that follows visits to these places. And don't get me started on buses, trains, public play areas and the like. The world is a germy place and my little boy who has autism doesn't know the difference between things that are safe to touch and things that aren't.

I now make it a habit to always have a bottle of hand sanitiser in my bag when out and about. I find it useful when we use public loos or when we want to stop off for something to eat. I mean, washing hands in a cafe or restaurant inevitably means going into the loos, but once your hands are lovely and clean, you still have to touch the door handle to get out again, right? This is where a nice handy bottle of hand gel comes in!

I absolutely love the Body Shop range of hand gels. The offer something a little different to the general range of gels on sale in supermarkets. This is because the Body Shop gels are seriously FRUITY! They smell divine and a single squirt of hand gel fills the room/bus/car with heavenly scent.

The gel comes in a chunky little bottle, which I find is perfect for slipping into my bag. it doesn't take up a lot of space and I usually tuck it into the inner pouch of my bag so I can grab it easily. I have never had an incident of the gel leaking into my bag, as the lid is pretty secure.

The gel is clear in colour and as the bottle is also transparent, it is easy to see the level of gel left in the bottle. You only need to use a small amount and a bottle lasts ages, even with a big family. You simply flip the lid open and squeeze a small amount into the palm before rubbing over the whole hand. My kids love using this stuff because of the nice fruity scent, which makes it enjoyable for them to use without moaning.

The only slight gripe I have with this gel is that if you have any kind of broken or rough skin, this stuff will STING!!! Both me and my hubby have a bit of hand eczema, so a blob of this gel can be quite excruciating! The same goes for any cuts on the hand- ouch!!!

I found the gel really useful the other day when we went bowling as a family. Obviously, we were touching the bowling balls that other people were using, and using the shoes, which are always a bit dubious. The kids also played on the arcade machines, driving games and air hockey, before using the loo and then getting into the car. As we planned to go straight to McDonalds for some food, I was glad to have my bottle of hand gel in my bag to ensure everyone had clean hands before touching their food.

The gel costs £2.50, which is a little more pricey that the average bottle of supermarket hand gel, which usually retails at about £1. You can often buy the gel on offer or half price. it is worth keeping an eye out for promotions. As I say, this gel is a cut above the cometition, due to the sheer gorgeousness of the crisp, fresh fruity fragrance, which will appeal to both men and women.

The gel also gets rid of sticky residue on fingers. My daughter had a kiwi fruit when out the other day, and her fingers were sticky. I put some gel on her hands and her hands were clean.

The gel is community fair trade, which means that farmers get a fair price for their crops. The gel is Triclosan free and the bottle recycleable. I will be buying this again when my current bottle runs out, although it still has pleanty of gel left inside after about 5 weeks use. The gel also comes in lemon, strawberry and mango varieties.