Caine I help you, Sir?

Another amusing call yesterday from one of our Queen regular customers who signed off by saying 'I've been using Queen products since I was 18. I'm now 81 and I've only got one wrinkle.' She had gone when just a teenager to see a dermatologist with swollen lips (hers not the dermatologist's) after suffering an allergic reaction to lipstick. The dermatologist apparently said: 'Well you must use Queen Cosmetics of course' and she has stuck with us ever since. How's that for loyalty?! We didn't like to ask where the wrinkle was.

Another customer was rather less glowing in her praise. She was having trouble getting our luxuriously thick Sensiderma Rich Cleanser for very dry or mature sensitive skin out of the bottle. She did say it was because she was old and weak but it didn't stop her leaping up and down the stairs on her cordless telephone to examine which products she had in her bathroom so she could re-order them. We settled on a solution to this thorny problem which was to send her the cleanser in a big tub. I didn't dare to tell her that her favourite Sensiderma Day Cream moisturiser now came in a tottle (a cross between a tube and a bottle) as this might have sent her over the edge.

Up at our stockist in London stockist John Bell & Croyden this week, morale was boosted by a very smartly dressed lady who bought several Queen products while proclaiming loudly how much she liked them. I recognised her as someone I had given samples to a few weeks earlier. I am only there one day a week but it is always nice to see that sampling (at the moment I am giving away samples of Queen Moisturiser and Medicated Cleansing Lotion) does work, especially when you can be there to answer questions and really engage with people. So many people do have sensitive skin but find it hard to know what they can or should use with the myriad products on offer in most stores and pharmacies.

Even more exciting was my star spot. Again, it appears I must look like someone who knows what they are doing as a tall bespectacled man wearing a somewhat scruffy baseball cap made an immediate beeline for me asking if I could show him where the shampoos were. 'Of course, Sir Michael,' I grovelled as it was none other than Michael Caine. Seizing the opportunity, I asked if he would like some Queen samples for his wife. 'Sure, show me what you are flogging,' he replied. He very kindly listened to my spiel and took the samples saying: 'I will give them to her and am sure she'll be very interested.' What a nice man. I was thrilled to report back to base that I had been mixing with the rich and famous when a rep who had popped in for a cup of coffee took the wind out of my sales, saying breezily: 'Oh yes, we see him all the time in Sainsbury's in Leatherhead. Was he wearing a scruffy baseball cap?' Oh well.

Well, time to get on. We have been busy sending out 'First Night Boxes' this week. We have a fantastic client called Reanimator Management, a theatrical agency who likes to send its clients a box of Queen products rather than flowers when they open in a show. What makes Reanimator http://www.reanimator.co.uk/ different from most agencies is that every client is a trained dancer. Most of them are highly talented singers as well which is why the agency has clients in every West End show. The agency is run by Suzanne and Piers Gielgud (great nephew of Sir John!) who are themselves trained ballet dancers. Today, Suzanne also makes films and Piers is a wonderful choreographer. They are great fans of our Theatrical Cleansing Cream, having used it themselves when they were dancers, and it's lovely for us that they want to spread the word about Queen products.