Linen looks effortless in holiday photos and then promptly betrays you the moment you zip up your suitcase. A travel editor at Condé Nast Traveller UK has put a potential fix to the test: Bymatter's Liquid Iron, a £24, 90ml spray that claims to relax creases without any heat at all — no iron, no hotel steamer, no pre-flight ironing marathon.
The idea behind it is that instead of pressing fabric flat, the formula works on the fibres themselves, relaxing them on contact so creases drop out. The technique couldn't be simpler: hang the garment up, mist lightly from a few inches away, and give the fabric a gentle tug. The reviewer found less is more — a fine mist beats a heavy soak, which just leaves the clothes wet.
The real-world trial happened on a trip to Mallorca. First up was an oversized linen shirt fresh out of a suitcase and looking, by the reviewer's own admission, thoroughly battered. Within seconds of spraying and pulling the hem taut, the sharp lines softened into a naturally smooth drape. Not flawless — this is no substitute for a proper iron — but perfectly presentable for dinner. A floaty blue summer dress fared even better, regaining its shape in under two minutes, with only a small damp patch that dried quickly.
Beyond the wrinkle-smoothing, there are a few travel-friendly details worth noting. The 90ml bottle clears UK hand-luggage liquid limits with room to spare, and the packaging is genuinely smart rather than chemisty-lab generic. The scent is another plus: rather than the usual soapy laundry-spray smell, it's a blend of sandalwood, palo santo, ambroxan, pink pepper and musk — essentially a subtle unisex fragrance. That means you can use it as a fabric refresher on clothes that aren't even creased, which is handy on day three of a trip when nothing in the bag smells quite as fresh as it did at home.
The honest caveats: at £24 for 90ml it's a premium buy for what is essentially a wrinkle spray, and it won't deliver the crisp finish of a hot iron. If you're after knife-sharp pleats, stick to the hotel iron. But for relaxed holiday fabrics — linen shirts, co-ords, floaty dresses — where the goal is looking put-together rather than press-perfect, it does the job in minutes.
Who is this for? Anyone whose holiday wardrobe revolves around crease-prone fabrics and who'd rather spend the first evening of a trip on a terrace than hunched over an ironing board. It earns a place in a carry-on for city breaks, beach weekends and anywhere you're living out of a suitcase for a few days. The verdict from the test: it has claimed a permanent spot in the travel washbag — high praise from someone who boards planes for a living. You can pick it up directly from Bymatter's website.
Reviewed and road-tested by Condé Nast Traveller UK.
