Has anyone found one that actually works please? I have tried various brands & it seems the insects haven't been informed that they are supposed to be repelled.
Deet has a distinctive smell, which not everyone likes. However it's an effective deterrent, especially if you buy it in a high-strength formulation. This, from Wilko, is 50% Deet (which is the same as the far more costly Jungle Formula Maximum), dirt cheap and with impressive reviews:
https://www.wilko.com/wilko-extra-strength-insect-repellent-spray-100ml/p/0250846
Garlic in my blood whether you like it or not, I tend to cook stuff not too much mind. But when in Malta everybody seemed to be bitten by mozzies etc. except me. and still today I rarely get bitten by parasites.
However you take it, pills (I'm not a Doctor) trust me it works for me.
^^^ "A double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of garlic as a mosquito repellant: a preliminary study" (Rajan, Hein, Porte & Wikel, Department of Pathology, University of Connecticut Health Center, 2005) concluded that "The data did not provide evidence of significant systemic mosquito repellence".
During my misspent youth, spending my summer holidays Greek island hoping, I used to cover the exposed parts of my body in Nivea cream – it didn’t smell too bad and kept the mozzies away all night long.