For years now, we have all been eyeing up those photo shopped pictures in magazines and wishing we could look like that. Some people spend £1,000s on surgery and expensive clothes to look like their ‘idol‘ and some go through extreme diet programmes. This company think they have cracked it and out of curiosity, I wanted to see if it works and whether using an expensive product id never normally try would justify my happiness at having my shoulder blades and collarbones visible again.

I’m not going to lie, I’m not as thin as I was 4 years ago when I was 21 but I’m not overweight, all that pizza is starting to catch up on me though. I live a relatively healthy lifestyle, bar all the pizza and I go to the gym on a near enough regular basis. I could eat better still and I could exercise more but I don’t and that’s my problem and it certainly doesn’t call for the media telling me I can only eat a lettuce leaf for breakfast, lunch and dinner otherwise I’m considered fat and greedy.

This is why there are companies out there that exist and why the Atkins, green apple, marine commando, slow carb, celebrity slim and weight watchers diets all continue to take our money and feed our need to be disproportionate to what our bodies are meant to be. Why we are wearing waist trainers, weight loss patches and other weird contraptions found on the internet to try and make us skinny and ‘beautiful‘. So, like I said when I was asked if I’d like to review this ‘breakthrough’ product I was curious, it sparked an interest in me to look at some of the extreme measures and costs people will go to just to be happy with the way they look.

Shrinking Violet, an internationally recognised and well established UK brand, within the professional beauty industry has recently become the first clinically proven loss leader to brace the market, with a DIY kit that everyone can use and that claims you can drop a dress size and lose inches immediately after one try.

The kit itself contains a measuring tape which enables you to fill in the record cards that are also included to track your pre, post and total inch loss after each session, a plastic cup that holds 25ml of the special solution (ingredients: grape seed oil, jojoba oil, phosphatidylcholine, lavender essential oil, juniper essential oil, cypress essential oil and juniper berries.) that you are required to rub into your skin before then getting yourself into the ever so attractive Shrinky Suit. All this for £129.99.

There are numerous reasons as to why this would be attractive to the public which I completely understand. One of them being we can do this in our own time at home. This kit is an alternative to going to a salon and avoiding invasive body wrapping which tend to come in blocks of 3. Everything you need is within this kit for you to use by yourself comfortably and you can even relax on the sofa catching up on those episodes of EastEnders you missed throughout the week. Me personally, I took a nap. I figured it would be more effective the warmer I was and the less I was fidgeting so I lay down under the duvet and had a nice hour long snooze.

The second reason, it’s a cheaper option on the whole than buying a block of 3 body wraps. It says that you should leave a week in between each go, this kit is supposed to provide 3 months / 90 days’ worth of treatment so you get more for your money.

The third reason being that our generation loves anything that our favourite celebrities do and we aren’t slowpokes when it comes to jumping on the bandwagon. There have been images rocking around of Britney Spears walking around in her very own Shrinky Suit which leads back to one of my original points, if it’s good enough for her it’s good enough for us right?

So, 24 hours of detoxing myself of caffeine and excessive sugar consumption I am ready to look hot in mine. I took my measurements and made a note of them.

I applied the solution onto my ‘problem’ areas which happened to be my entire body, I wanted to give it a good go and see results from all areas rather than specifically on my legs for instance, plus if I’ve got to sit in my super shiny silver space suit for an hour I want to take full advantage of what’s on offer and reap the potential benefits. You’ve seen those meme’s of ‘why you shouldn’t skip leg day’ – if this was to work, I didn’t want to look like that!

Shrinking Violet body wrap is a painless, effortless process that can successfully remove fat in problem ares, such as thighs, buttocks and abdomen. The fat in the cells are broken down and easily excreted by the body.

The Shrinky Suit consists of 2 parts, a long sleeved top half and a pair of trousers cuffed at the neck, waist and ankles. It’s easy enough to get into, the same can’t be said to take it off. It also has quite a pungent smell which I can’t quite put my finger on.

Shrinking Violet body wrap is a technique that is so powerful, that a 60 minute session can shrink waistlines by up to 2 inches.

Set the timer, 1 hour, slip under the covers and relax.

First thing I noticed when the hour was up, I felt disgusting. I just wanted a shower. I felt sweaty, oily and dirty. I didn’t feel slimmer and when I eventually managed to peel the plastic that had stuck itself onto my skin off, I don’t recall looking slimmer either. There was no noticeable difference in my opinion and it wasn’t until I re measured myself that I could see there was a result.

So in all I lost 3 inches. I lost 3 inches worth of knee fat. I never thought my knees were an issue but now they aren’t, great, I can’t wait to show off my new knees in a pencil skirt. There was a couple of 0.1” and 0.2” here and there but nothing substantial, nothing that would make someone look at me and say ‘Wow, have you lost weight?’ or ‘You look so slim!’. I didn’t drop a dress size either. I still couldn’t fit in the dress I brought purposefully for this experiment a size smaller than I would usually buy to see if I could fit into it.

The amount of fat reduction varies depending on your build, but many people may reduce by at least one whole size after the first treatment. Immediate results can be seen.

I took it upon myself to measure again 24 hours after as the solution is said to continue working its magic and be at it’s maximum potential after you have completed your first session. There are a further couple of inches lost, again mainly my knees which worries me slightly, if they keep shrinking I’m not going to be able to stand up! Almost an inch on each calf and 0.5” off each bicep. I guess it’s not bad going really, it still doesn’t provide a noticeable difference that people will shout about nor does it allow me to fit into my tiny dress.

To conclude, if numbers and inches are what matter to you then this will be a perfect investment for sure. It clearly does help to reduce inches as I have seen the figures reduce with my own eyes I just haven’t seen a dramatic change in the way my body actually looks which is what I am after.

Looks like I won’t be cancelling my gym membership anytime soon.