It offers medium-high protection for up to five hours, making it suitable for use in notoriously mozzie-prone areas (although a disclaimer says it’s not suitable for tropical regions), as well as in the UK. The active ingredient in Mosi-Guard Natural is Citriodiol, a plant-based DEET equivalent which comes doubly armoured with lemon and eucalyptus.

Rather than spraying yourself silly to the chagrin of your poor sinuses, bathing in this liquid castile magic soap or lathering up in the shower is a fantastic, low maintenance means of keeping the insects away. Use it once a day, preferably in the morning, and rest safe in the knowledge that you should still be bite free by the end of the day. Better yet, the bottle is made from sugarcane plastic, with a positive carbon footprint and is fully recyclable.

We know what you’re thinking – how is an all-natural soap going to help you repel those pesky mosquitos? What’s more, the devices catches the insect in a tub as they fall, which means you won’t be left with a patio full of mess.

These have traditionally not been so powerful, although newer additions to the market promise similar staying power to their DEET-based counterparts. DEET can be safely used at a concentration of up to 50% on children aged over eight weeks, from the second trimester for pregnant women and also when breastfeeding (wash any areas of contact beforehand). The fact that our bites were minimal is a tribute to the following sprays, although we also took other factors into account, including the ease of application (we’re now suckers for a roll-on repellent), scent and the overall bottle design. The vitamin B theory is the one we hear the most, which is why we roped in an expert to disprove this myth once and for all: “You may have heard the claim that increasing your vitamin B intake can reduce the likelihood of mosquito bites,” says Carolina Goncalves, superintendent pharmacist at Pharmica.Another can that earned top marks in the style stakes, thanks to its leaf-adorned exterior and the cheery combo of yellow and green. The clear liquid had plenty of slip, which made covering large areas a breeze, and we loved the promise of protection for up to nine hours.

Mosi-Guard makes a range of DEET-free mosquito repelling products, made using a range of scents and ingredients hated by not just mosquitos but also midges and ticks. The aerosol dispenser was surprisingly powerful and enabled us to cover large areas in a matter of seconds.The device creates a 20m squared protection zone to ward off buzzing insects via a mat which has been saturated with insect-repelling allethrin, and subsequently heated up to spread the repellent through the air as it evaporates. Its consistency is marginally thicker than the other sprays, and although we were surprised by the white hue of the liquid, it was quickly absorbed without a trace of the greasiness we feared. Luckily, Jungle Formula’s dry protect formula lives up to its name – there’s not a hint of tackiness or stickiness, and the spray dried in a nano-second. This spray is pretty specific when it comes to what it offers protection against – ticks and mosquitos, mainly.