I'm not generally a stressy person but in certain situations, such as interviews and any kind of public speaking, I do find myself feeling very anxious and I know it stops me from performing at my best. So, with several job interviews lined up I decided to try do something to control the anxiety. I looked around online at different products available and settled on these Bach Rescue Pastilles. They are available in original or blackcurrant flavours, I opted for the blackcurrant as I thought it would be more palatable. I found them on the Boots website for £5.65.

They come in a round metal tin but this tin is so much better than the usual old fashioned style tins with pull off lids that can take years to get off. With this one you simply press down the centre of the lid and up pops the edge, allowing the lid to be removed. Then to close it again you just press it at the sides so that the middle pops back up. I love it! So easy to use. The tin is about 3 inches in diameter and about 1 inch thick so it's easy to fit into a handbag or even a pocket if you needed to.

I didn't think to count the pastilles when I got the tin but judging by how many I have left now I'd say there were around 30-35 pastilles in the tin. The pastilles are round and about 1.5cm in diameter and look like little jelly sweets. These blackcurrant ones are a reddish purple colour and quite see-through.

They do taste nice as I would have expected of blackcurrant flavour, and luckily they don't have any nasty chemical background taste like I found the chewable vitamins did, they just taste like blackcurrant flavour sweets. On the tin the directions simply state 'chew one pastille as required' but I personally prefer to suck them and make them last longer. I find if I chew them they stick to my teeth, which is another reason to suck them instead.

To be honest I can't say I was really expecting these to do anything, it was more of a no harm in trying purchase. I've used them a few times before interviews and other stressful situations and I'm not really sure whether they work or not. In a couple of interviews I did find myself feeling a little more relaxed than usual, but I honestly couldn't know whether it was the pastilles that made me feel that way, it could just as easily have been due to the environment the interview was being conducted in or the interviewer themselves that made me feel more at ease, there's no way of knowing for sure. I don't think I could convince myself that they work unless I felt more relaxed every single time I used them, and I didn't.