Being pregnant, amongst the other things we expectant mothers worry about, stretch marks are on the list somewhere. Yuck, those unsightly red, ugly, puffy lines, anything I can do to prevent them will be most welcome. At the beginning of the pregnancy I had been using Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula for Stretch Marks which was in the form of a lotion in a bottle. It has been working well but when I finished the bottle I decided to try another product from the Palmer's range.

I decided to stick with this brand because I've known of them for a very long time and it seems to be a well trusted, widely used product. THe product I went for this time was Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Tummy Butter for stretch marks. I love butter products (especially The Body Shop varieties) so I thought I would probably like this too.

The butter comes in a flat tin with a screw top lid. The tin is definitely for pregnant women as there is a drawing of a image of a pregnant woman on the front although I assume you could use this product even if you weren't pregnant to use on existing stretch marks as it says on the bottle that is helps reduce the appearance of stretch marks.

The tummy butter is almost like a wax, it is very thick and stuck together and is hard to get out of the tin. I would say that's my only dislike of this product. It's not like other body butters which even though are thick you can scoop out of the tub/tin. I find with this waxy substance you actually have to use your nails to almost scratch this substance out. Then you really have to rub your palms together to get the wax warm enough that you can then smooth is over your bump. However, saying that, once the waxy butter is on your tummy it is so lovely and luxurious that I would completely recommend it. It goes onto your stomach well, it does make it shine and a tiny bit oily to begin with but once you let it sink in it dries quickly and leaves you with extremely soft, lovely smooth skin. I use this after every shower but if I've gone a day or two without using it my bump is still lovely and smooth.

The butter has vitamin E, collagen, elastin and soothing lavender. According to the Palmers website it is the breakdown of collagen fibres in the skin that can cause stretch marks, so by adding collagen to your skin with the use of this lotion it is adding ingredients to the skin that can help to prevent stretch marks.

Vitamin E is a natural antioxidant that helps to protect the skin from harsh elements that cause rough dry skin and can also help to improve the appearance of scars.

Elastin gives the skin suppleness and flexibility to stretch without tearing. This is invaluable in pregnancy because your skin stretches so much and it's when it stretches that little tears under the skin can cause stretch marks too.

Palmers go onto say that this butter penetrates as deep as the dryness and helps restore vital moisture, smoothes marks and tones skin. I definitely have found this to be the case.

So, it seems like this butter has all the right ingredients to help to prevent stretch marks which is good. The butter is a light yellow colour and the smell is absolutely divine. It's a sweet spicy cocoa smell and it's lovely and makes your skin smell great too. I was pleased with this because that was one thing I did not like about the stretch mark lotion I had previously used.

I have used this butter now for over 3 months and so far so good, no stretch marks at all to announce and I have also been using it on some existing marks on my legs and they seem to be going down a little bit which is great.

The butter is a bit expensive but not too bad considering what it does. A 125g tin costs £5.25 and is definitely a product I recommend.