Emma Premium Mattress Topper review – tried and tested

This Emma Premium Mattress Topper review puts the brand's bestselling mattress topper to the test to see how it compares to the best mattress toppers and best cooling mattress toppers on the market.

A comfortable mattress is one of the best ways to get a good night’s sleep. But even the best mattresses can become uncomfortable over time, or perhaps your sleep style has changed or you've invested in a mattress which isn't quite the right fit for you. This is when a mattress topper can come to the rescue and offer an easy way to upgrade your bed. A good topper can also make one of the best sofa beds a more comfortable affair.

The Emma Premium mattress topper promises 9cm of cushioning comfort that the brand claims will help a sleeper to maintain 'the optimal sleeping temperature every night - never too hot or cold'.

As such, I was eager to test out this topper in my own home to see whether it could live up to its claims. During testing, I noted how easy it was to attach to my bed, how comfortable myself and my partner found it to sleep on, whether it was able to keep me feeling cool overnight, and how easy it is to care for.

Emma Premium Mattress Topper review

Specifications

• Construction: Foam
• Sizes available: Single / Small Double / Double / King / Super King
• Depth: 9cm
• Care instructions: Machine-washable removable cover

How I tested

Rachael Penn

Sleep position: combination sleeper, but mainly side Tension preference: medium firm Sleep problems: hot sleeper, lower back and neck pain I’m Rachael, a freelance reviewer who helps the Ideal Home team put products through their paces to find the top recommendations for our readers. For this review, I tested out the Emma Premium Topper over my existing hybrid mattress on a king size slatted bed base. 

I'm a combination sleeper, so this mattress topper's comfort levels have been put through their paces in various different sleep positions, and – much to my partner's annoyance – I tend to move around a lot at night, so I was able to test out the Emma Premium Topper's motion isolation as well. As a hot sleeper I was also well placed to assess the topper's breathability to see if it delivered a cool night's sleep.

What the brand says

First things first, what is a mattress topper? Well, a mattress topper is a cushioning layer that you can add to the top of your existing mattress to increase breathability or comfort. If your existing mattress is too firm or sleeps too warm and you're looking for how to sleep better, a mattress topper could help.

If you're not sure whether you need a whole new mattress or whether a mattress topper could suffice then our mattress topper vs new mattress guide will help you to decide. A mattress topper also shouldn't be mixed up with a mattress protector which is a much thinner affair. You can find out more in our mattress topper vs protector explainer.

So how does the Emma Premium Mattress Topper aim to improve your sleep? Emma makes some pretty big claims when it comes to the Premium mattress topper, stating it can help sleeper's to maintain 'the optimal sleeping temperature every night - never too hot or cold'.

The Premium topper promises to do this via the 'ThermoSync foam' layer which the brand states 'prevents overheating and absorbs moisture'. This foam layer has a 'graphite coating that ensures an extended deep sleep phase through optimal temperature regulation'. Graphite is a mineral very popular with mattress manufacturers at the moment thanks to its ability to conduct heat away from the sleeper.

Underneath that is a layer of 'Adaptable HRX comfort foam' designed to offer cushioning and pressure relief. These layers are then wrapped in a breathable fabric cover.

Unboxing

The Emma Premium Mattress Topper arrives shrink-wrapped and rolled up in a small branded Emma box. That meant it was easy enough to carry up the stairs and unpack in our bedroom, although it is heavy, weighing in between 9 and 15kg depending on the size of topper you purchase.

Once unboxed, the brand recommends that you leave the topper to fully decompress for at least five hours before sleeping on it. 

I found that the topper expanded pretty much straight away, however I did notice a strong off-gassing smell when the topper was unpacked so because of this I left the topper to air for a good 24 hours in our spare room before popping it on the bed.

Attaching the topper to the bed

The Emma Premium Topper doesn’t have any straps or a cover to secure it to the bed. Instead, the base of the mattress topper is made from a textured plasticky-feeling material that grips to your mattress to prevent the topper from moving around in the night. 

However, unlike the Aidapt Memory Foam Cool Mattress Topper I tested, the Emma Premium isn't so grippy that you can't still get it into position on top of the mattress easily.

As someone who moves around a lot at night, I was concerned that the lack of straps would mean this mattress topper would also move with me when I tossed and turned in the night. However, the textured anti-slip coating does a really good job of keeping the topper attached to the bed and at no point did this topper move around. 

One thing I would recommend, if you don’t already have them, is to invest in some extra deep sheets. This topper is 9cm deep, so add that to your mattress height and a regular fitted sheet just won’t cover it. 

Comfort

I currently sleep on a hybrid mattress, and having not slept on an all-foam mattress for quite some time, I have to admit that the Emma Premium mattress topper did feel a little firm when I first slept on it. But that firmness soon morphed into a cradling comfort, especially when I lay on my side. 

Thanks to those 9cm of foam – that's almost double most cheaper mattress toppers, like the Silentnight Airmax Mattress Topper that comes in at 5cm deep – I found the Emma Premium Topper did an excellent job of cushioning my hips and shoulders. I woke up the next morning feeling pretty refreshed with no noticeable aches and pains.

The foam mattress topper also did a great job of bouncing back once I got out of bed. I’ve found in the past that memory foam toppers and mattresses can take a while to regain their shape, and their mouldability can mean I struggle to change position in the night. There were none of those problems with the Premium Topper's foam construction. I found that despite the cushioning thickness of this topper it still had a bit of bounce so I found it super easy to move around at night and change sleeping position. 

However, I did find there was a lack of edge support on this topper. I tend to sleep close to the edge of the bed and found the topper was quite soft and spongy towards the edges. If you prefer a firmer edge to stop you from feeling like you might roll out of bed in the night, or to provide better support to push yourself out of bed in the morning then the Simba Hybrid Topper with its pocket-spring construction might be the better choice for you.

Breathability

I’ve always been a hot sleeper, even during the deep mid-winter I’ll wake up with one leg hanging out of the bed in an attempt to get some air, so I was very interested to try this mattress topper and see whether it meant I could keep both legs under the covers all night.

In particular, I've struggled before sleeping on Emma's Original mattress, which I found I slept very warm on due to its dense memory foam top, so I was a little bit concerned I might have the same problem with the brand's topper.

Thankfully, I found the Emma Premium Mattress Topper a much cooler sleep experience. I can only put this down to that ThermoSync foam layer which is infused with graphite to draw heat away from the body. However it works, it certainly did the trick in offering a more breathable sleep and my temperature seemed to stay regulated all through the night.

When I got up in the morning, the bed didn’t feel hot to touch as I'd found could happen with the Emma Original mattress. It felt just lukewarm from our residual body heat, like you’d expect from a spring or hybrid mattress.

Care instructions

One of the things I love about this mattress topper is that the polyester cover can be removed and machine washed. This helps keep the topper fresh, and because only the top layer gets removed it’s pretty easy to add back on to the bed once it’s been washed and dried. 

You shouldn’t wash the topper any hotter than 40C, and the brand states you should only use a mild laundry detergent when washing the cover and not use any abrasive chemicals like bleach. 

A top tip when you wash your mattress cover is to use less laundry detergent than you would in a normal load. This will stop the soap from building up and remaining on the fabric. 

The topper isn’t suitable for tumble drying so when you’ve washed it, either line dry or place over a clothes horse and leave to air dry.

Find out more about keeing your topper fresh in our guide to how to clean a mattress topper.

Verdict

All in all, I think the Emma Premium mattress topper does a great job of adding an extra layer of comfort to any mattress. Its 9cm deep sleep surface is great for adding additional cushioning to the bed – although its depth does mean you might need to buy new fitted sheets and it does make the topper heavy to move.

We found this topper also does a great job of isolating motion at night. The base layer of foam is thick enough to absorb any movement making it the perfect choice for couples and co-sleepers who don’t want to be disturbed by a restless partner. 

I was also very impressed by its breathability. I was initially worried I might overheat on its synthetic foam surface – especially after sleeping on the natural materials of Woolroom's Deluxe Wool Mattress Topper which I found a delight – but the graphite infused Thermosync foam seemed to do the trick in regulating my temperature and I found I stayed a comfortable temperature all night long.

The downsides to this topper are its lack of edge support and the strong off-gassing smell I encountered after I'd unboxed it – although this chemical smell did dissipate over time. That, and the fact that its synthetic materials are non-biodegradable and can contribute to environmental pollution and waste. 

Plus, this topper is very much an investment, costing almost as much as a new mattress itself.  

Its price tag is perhaps justified by its 9cm depth, with this topper being one of the deepest I've tested. However, at full price it's hard to justify the fact that its over three times more expensive than the 5cm deep Panda Mattress Topper which I also found did a great job of cushioning a firm mattress, and it comes in more expensive than the Simba Hybrid Topper, which offers better support thanks to its pocket springs.

However, Emma is renowned for its bedding deals, so it's unlikely you'll ever have to wait too long to find the Emma Premium on the sale, which does make it a far more appealing prospect. 

I certainly found this a comfortable topper to sleep on, it kept me cool and I woke up feeling like I’d had a really good sleep. As mentioned, it's also one of the deepest mattress toppers I've come across, so if you're struggling with a hard sleep surface those 9cm of cushioning foam could be worth every penny.