Everyone knows there are plenty of less glamorous sides to pregnancy and for a lot of women stretch marks are one of them! When I was pregnant with Toby I thought I had managed to escape them all together but then they appeared in the last three weeks or so! They were all under my bump so I didn’t really see them until after he was born and if I’m honest I was pretty upset by their appearance. They have faded a lot now and this time round I still hadn’t got any new ones by the time I was in my third trimester. I knew there was still time though so when Secret Saviours got in touch and asked if I’d like to try their Anti Stretch Mark System I was very happy to give it a go.

The Secret Saviours Anti Stretch Mark System is made up of a specially designed bump band, a day gel and a night cream. The bump band has small raised spots on the inside which stick to the skin with the help of the day gel and essentially hold you skin together to help stop stretch marks forming. You only need to wear the band during the day, at night apply the night cream to moisturise the skin. The bump bands come in pink or black and a variety of sizes. To find your size simply measure your bump around your tummy button. Secret Saviours recommend you use the Anti Stretch Mark system from weeks 12-14 of your pregnancy for maximum effectiveness so you will probably need two sizes of bump band to see you through your whole pregnancy (additional bands are £29.99).

So what did I think? I found the bump band very comfortable. As well as its function on helping to prevent stretch marks it is also an effective bump support. The only slight issue that I had is that because I have quite a narrow waist compared to my big bump I found the band had a tendency to roll up a bit at the back sometimes.

The day gel which is applied before putting the band on makes your skin slightly tacky so that the spots inside the band stick to your skin. Although it doesn’t sound very appealing (and when you take it off it leaves you looking temporarily like you’ve had a bath mat stuck to you) it is surprisingly comfortable. The night cream is a light moisturiser which soaks in quickly, unlike some other bump creams I’ve used in the past. Both the gel and cream smell lovely too.

The big question though…did it work? Well, no, not entirely. I did get some new stretch marks right at the end of my pregnancy. However, they are quite feint – they are perhaps slightly more obvious than it appears in this photo but still nowhere near as angry looking as the ones I got in my first pregnancy. Also, as I have already mentioned, Secret Saviours recommend you use the Anti Stretch Mark system throughout your whole pregnancy and I didn’t start wearing the bump band until around week 34. It may well be that I would have seen better results had I used the system for longer.

At £69.99 for the kit including the band, day gel and night cream I think this is perhaps quite an expensive way of avoiding stretch marks but unlike other lotions and potions on the market the Secret Saviours system has been clinically proven to help prevent stretch marks in 70% of women so if avoiding those tiger stripes is something you are really concerned about then it might be your best chance of doing so.

**Disclosure: I was sent the featured products in return for this review. All opinions are my own.
**This post contains affiliate links