Emma currently sell four pillows called:

• Emma Premium Cloud Pillow (££££)
• Emma Premium Foam Pillow (£££)
• Emma Original Hybrid Pillow (££)
• Emma Original Foam Pillow (£)

Deciphering your way through the Emma pillows takes a little time. I’ve put (£) signs to help us along, but it isn’t necessarily the case that the most expensive Emma pillow is the ‘best’ one, as it depends on your sleeping position and other factors.

Memory foam or microfibre?

The first decision to make with the range of Emma’s pillows is whether you want a memory foam pillow, a microfibre pillow or a bit of both.

This will sound like gibberish unless you’ve already spent the last three hours searching for advice on pillows. Don’t worry, it’s relatively straightforward:

• The two memory foam pillows are the Emma Original Foam Pillow (£) and the Emma Premium Foam Pillow (£££). Memory foam is a fairly solid material that sinks as you rest your head. It gives something of a hugging sensation and doesn’t really have any of the bounce that you would associate with foam on your sofa. If you attempted to punch it, you’d probably come off worse than the pillow. Memory foam is a synthetic/manmade material.
  
• The microfibre pillow in the Emma range is the Emma Premium Cloud Pillow (££££). Microfibre is another synthetic/manmade material but it’s very light and fluffy. It feels a bit like feathers or down that you get in some posh pillows but some people prefer it over natural materials. When you lie on a microfibre pillow, you’ll instantly sink into it with very little resistance.
  
• Finally, the Emma Original Hybrid Pillow (££) is a half-way house between memory foam and microfibre. It’s a double sided design, with firm memory foam on one side and soft microfibre on the other. The idea is that you can flip it over and decide which is right for you.

So, which is best? Memory foam or microfibre?

Microfibre pillows feel very familiar. The Emma Premium Cloud Pillow that we have feels like many of the other pillows that we have previously owned – but just quite a lot softer. Most synthetic pillows use hollowfibre, which is made from similar stuff but is much chunkier.

The most useful comparison is with microfibre and hollowfibre duvets. Microfibre ones are considerably thinner but are easier to wrap around yourself. Hollowfibre duvets look more inviting as they as are deep and plump. Personally, I prefer microfibre duvets as hollowfibre duvets rest on top of your body rather than fitting around your body shape.

And what about memory foam?

Memory foam is widely used in mattresses but it’s a more divisive material when it’s used in pillows. For some people it’s the knee’s bees, whilst others struggle to get used to it after a lifetime of ‘standard’ pillow materials. It’s certainly exceedingly supportive but it feels notably firmer than microfibre and hollowfibre pillows.

The other thing to consider is that some people find memory foam to be quite a warm material. Your body sinks into it and the memory foam gives you something of a hug. That’s fine if you like to feel cosy and want to discourage wriggling around, but it’s less good if you tend to overheat in bed.

Emma’s Premium Foam pillow (£££) uses something called Thermosync, which is an attempt to overcome this overheating problem with a more breathable type of foam.

What about sleeping position?

Another factor to consider when picking between pillows is how you usually sleep.

The general idea is to keep your head is suitably supported so that it’s in a ‘natural’ position.

• If you sleep on your side then you’ll probably want a deeper and firmer pillow.
• If you sleep on your front then a softer and thinner pillow is better
• If you sleep on your back then a pillow that is medium firmness and medium thickness is most likely to be best for you

It gets a little complicated as there isn’t an industry-wide agreement of how to measure firmness in pillows or mattresses.

Emma has taken a rather novel approach, by allowing you to adjust the thickness of the pillow by removing layers.

Some are firmer than others, but they make it much easier than most brands to find a pillow that is the right depth for you.

Regarding firmness, here’s how they rank:

• Emma Premium Cloud Pillow (££££) – soft to medium
• Emma Original Hybrid Pillow (££) – soft on one side, firm on the other
• Emma Premium Foam Pillow (£££) and Emma Original Foam Pillow (£) – medium to firm

Our summary of each Emma Pillow

Next up in our thrilling summary of four rectangles is a guide to each product.

Let’s start with the cheapest Emma Pillow.

1. Emma Original Foam Pillow (£) – try this one first if you like firmer pillows or sleep on your side

Emma’s Original Foam Pillow has a neat design, where you can pick how many of the different layers you want to use. It zips open so you can pick and choose whether you want one, two or three layers.

All three layers are manmade materials (as is the case with all Emma pillows) and they are types of foam.

When it arrives, the Emma Original Foam Pillow has a layer of memory foam in the middle with a gel foam above it and a layer of ‘HRX’ foam beneath. We are drifting towards Jargon City here, but the idea is that you play around with the layers until you find the right combination for you.

The HRX layer is the softest layer. HRX stands to High Resiliency Extra but I wouldn’t too much about that as it just means it is Emma’s own version of memory foam.

The gel foam is a little firmer with the idea being that it keeps you slightly warmer than you would be with just a standard memory foam.

It’s a medium firm pillow, but as you’ll have gathered, you have some flexibility so it can be adjusted for different sleepers.

2. Emma Original Hybrid Pillow (££)

Next up is the Emma Original Hybrid Pillow.

This is the model to go for if can’t decide between microfibre (the more traditional option) and memory foam (the modern and trendy alternative material for pillows).

One side gives you soft microfibre, the other gives you a firmer memory foam.

You might decide to go for this one for guests if you run a B&B or similar. They’ll be able to take their pick from whichever suits them.

3. Emma Premium Cloud Pillow (££££)

The Emma Premium Cloud Pillow is the full-on microfibre pillow from Emma. It’s the one to go for if you want a more traditional style of pillow – although it has a few more bells and whistles than most pillows.

As mentioned earlier, the use of microfibres rather than hollowfibres gives the pillow an exceedingly light and soft feel. The closest comparison I can think of is a pillow made entirely from goose down.

When it arrives you’ll notice that it’s a very thick pillow, but it has two inner layers which can be removed. These could probably pass off as thin pillows themselves, though I don’t think that’s the intention.

This softer type of pillow is particularly good if you tend to sleep on your front or back. It’s not the one to go for if you like a firm pillow.

4. Emma Premium Foam Pillow (£££)

The upgrade from the Emma Original Foam Pillow (£) is the Emma Premium Foam Pillow (£££).

So, what’s the difference and is it worth the extra cost?

The main difference is that the more expensive model has a ‘Thermosync cooling layer’ instead of a gel foam layer. In other words, Emma says it will do a better job of keeping you cool than the Emma Original Foam Pillow.

Other than that the pillows are very similar. They are a similar firmness and both have the flexibility of being able to choose how many layers you want to use.

What about the trial and warranty with Emma’s pillows?

Emma’s pillows come with the notable advantage of a 30 day trial period. That is significantly more useful than giving a pillow a squeeze inside a plastic bag in a shop.

If you don’t like it, you can send it back for a refund.

The warranty with the Emma pillows is two years.