Today's Review: Galaxy Salted Caramel

I've been after this bar of Galaxy for a while, which is strange, because all it took to get one was to pop into WH Smith. But I don't like to go in there for some reason. Still, I managed it today, and walked out with a bar of salted caramel goodness. 

Salted caramel seems to be a big thing lately, and Galaxy already had a caramel bar, so all they needed to do was add salt. The wrapper says it belongs to a "caramel collection", so who knows what else they've got planned. But let's focus on the here and now, is this salted caramel any good? Well, yes it is. You have the famous, creamy Galaxy chocolate, full to the brim with smooth caramel. It's been a while since I've had a Galaxy Caramel, but it seems the chocolate in this bar is pretty thin, and there's a lot of caramel inside. Now, I like caramel as much as the next guy, but it did get a bit sickly after a few pieces. As for the salted part, there's definitely a nice hint of it. Perhaps not enough to satiate the sometimes overpowering caramel, there were some mouthfuls where I couldn't detect much at all. But I left with a definite taste of soft, smooth, salty caramel, all wrapped up in some great chocolate. This bar isn't perfect, and there are probably some better salted caramel products out here, but this is a must try for any Galaxy fans. 

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Pink Raspberry Magnum

Magnum flavours seem to be popping up all over the place lately, and I haven't been keeping up with them. I certainly couldn't pass up this pink raspberry variety though, it just looked too good. It boasts the classic Magnum chocolate coating, but this time it's hiding a raspberry ice cream with raspberry swirls, and the whole thing is wrapped up in a nice pink coating.

The chocolate, to start with, is awesome. The classic Magnum chocolate is as flavoursome and crackly as ever, and the extra outer coating makes it seem a bit thicker than usual, even though I'm not sure if it is. The outer layer adds a bit of a lighter flavour as well, which makes for an excellent gateway to what's contained within. It's the same quality ice cream you'd expect from a Magnum, smooth and creamy, but with a fantastic hint of raspberry that really adds a load of flavour, along with a nice zing. Each Magnum contains 10% raspberry puree, and it shows in the taste, it's through and through a delightful raspberry experience. This is the best Magnum flavour I've tried in a long time, and it's one that I'll definitely be picking up again.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Cherry Tango Nanobytes

That reflection of light, that shadow, what a picture. I guess I was too eager to get these in my mouth. I reviewed the Nanobytes range back when they were released, but popping into Wilkinson the other day I saw that there was a flavour I hadn't tried back then. These are cherry flavour, and not just any ordinary cherry, it's Tango cherry. I love me a can of Cherry Tango, so to have it exist in chewy sweet form is pretty sweet. Ha, get it? Sweet.

If you read my previous review (if not, do it now! I even posted the link up there!) you'll know that I prefer Nanobytes to the more established Millions. They're soft and chewy, and don't get stuck in your teeth. The same applies with this variety, they're certainly a joy to consume, and they didn't last long with me. As for the flavour, it's certainly cherry, and I definitely got some hints of the good old Tango flavour as I was chewing. The soft texture of the Nanobytes themselves helped too, lending them a more juicy element. The flavour is perhaps a little too bold, becoming slightly sickly at the end, but hey, I'd rather there be a little too much flavour than not enough. These still make for good eating, a nice cherry flavour to go with the other delicious ones on offer.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Squid Soap Hand Wash

Alongside the neat but slightly flawed Minion hand wash I reviewed a few days ago, I was sent this bottle of Squid Soap to try out. The first thing you may notice is the funky looking squid wrapped around the bottle, and hey, that's pretty fun. But the real selling point of this soap is that little orange disco on top. It's not just for aesthetics, it's actually a little ink pad that plants an orange splodge on your hand, and the only way to get rid of it is to wash your hands thoroughly. Pretty neat right?

Well, yes, it is. It's a simple enough idea, but it's one that will probably get your kids washing their hands properly, unless of course they're those unruly types who don't even look at the sink after using the toilet, but then I guess there's no hope for them. I've even had a fair amount of fun with this soap, squirting out a good number of unnecessary doses to see just how easy it is to get rid of the ink spot. I'm pleased to say that you certainly need to give it a good wash with the soap, a simple rub with a wet finger doesn't quite get rid of the mark. The actual soap itself is pretty nice smelling as well, not like the generic soap that's provided with the Minion hand wash, so really this is a well rounded package for keeping those hands clean. This is a fantastic looking bottle of hand wash, and the ink pad on top is a great idea, a fairly unobtrusive one that will help you keep tabs on your children's hygiene. You can pick up Squid Soap in a variety of colours from Tesco, at £1.99 a bottle.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Wilko's Functional Toaster Packaging

I get it Wilko, you're going for a certain colour scheme here, that monochrome with a hint of yellow is very much your style. That cup of tea, complemented with the jam and knife? That looks pretty cool. But you didn't have to extend those colours to your product picture. You see, toast is meant to be certain colours. Perhaps white, with a few brown lines, or even brown with a few black, depending on your preferred level of toasting. But toast is not supposed to be grey. That's an indication that something is quite wrong, or perhaps this is a toaster that has popped and been left unattended for a significant amount of time. Either way, it's not making me want to buy this toaster, despite how much it may put the "fun" in "functional". Put a bit of colour on your bread, guys.

My rating: 1/5

Today's Review: Milkybar Milk & Cookies

Milkybar has remained relatively unchanged for as long as I can remember. So perhaps it was time for a little refresh, and we now have it in the form of this Milk & Cookies bar. We already had the milk, so the only new thing here is the cookie, and it has a pretty significant smattering of chocolate cookie pieces throughout. It's a simple but effective spin on the classic formula, and though it's been out a while, I've been struggling to pick one up. Thankfully salvation came on a recent trip to Morrisons, and I could finally try this awesome looking bar.

If you've tried Milkybar you know what to expect here. It's some damn good white chocolate, smooth and creamy, though I'm sure pretty much everyone reading this knows what I'm talking about. But what about the cookie pieces? Well, there are a lot of them, and they add a nice crunchy texture throughout the entirety of the bar. The pieces are, perhaps, a little too small, and some of the time I couldn't quite discern the flavour. The white chocolate is quite overwhelming, but not in a particularly bad way, it just drowns out the cookie pieces at times. Still, there is some crunchy, chocolate cookie goodness to be had, and this bar is a pretty solid effort for a new spin on the Milkybar. Well worth picking up.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Maryland Soft Baked Caramel & Choc Chunk Cookies

If there's one brand of cookies I don't mind devouring entire packs of at once, it's Maryland. Their cookie are nice and small, so I think nothing of eating one after the other, and their crunchy goodness and abundance of chocolate chips helps them go down even better. But now it seems Maryland are extending their reach into the more gourmet side of the cookie market, with this slightly posh looking packet of soft baked cookies. They come in one of those neatly wrapped up little trays, and provide merely eight in a pack, but hey, they're significantly bigger than their crunchy brethren. Besides, I like a good soft baked cookie, so I couldn't pass these up.

I wish that I did though. The packet says soft baked, and they're not wrong. But it's certainly not the kind of softness I'd expect from a cookie. The texture is more like cake than anything, and while you may not think that's a bad thing, it's not like a particularly nice cake. While it's quite soft and slightly chewy, it's also kind of crumbly, and there's a bit of a gritty leftover sugar texture that I certainly couldn't get on board with. The chunks are something of a saving grace, the chocolate is quite nice, and the odd hint of caramel can be found, but there really isn't enough embedded in the cookie to detract from the weird tasting dough. Overall these just taste like a cheap off market brand chocolate chip cake bar. Maryland may be one of the best crunchy cookie makers, but they should seriously rethink their soft bake strategies.

My rating: 1/5