Queen at the Old Vic?

Our website http://www.queen-cosmetics.com/ has been a key focus this week. We really want to develop it into a place where people with sensitive skin can find everything they want and need to know about their 'condition'. We have included on the site a link to our new Sensitive Skin Tips factsheet (it can be viewed direct at http://sensitiveskintips.blogspot.com/) and we have added some information about the most common skin issues i.e. rosacea, acne and dermatitis. We are emailing the factsheet to all our existing clients and to those who have requested a free sample of our Sensiderma Day Cream for dry sensitive skin via the website.

Often, customers are using so many products/ranges at once that they cannot begin to isolate what is causing their skin irritation. Or, they continue to use perfume on their skin or perfumed shampoo even if they have changed their facial products. Hopefully, our tips will go some way to helping people care for their sensitive skin and help them choose the right beauty products (even if those products are not from Queen!).

From some of the emails we get, we know there is a lot of frustration about what is right for sensitive skin with so many ranges claiming they are hypoallergenic or 'suitable for sensitive skin' while being packed full of all sorts of extracts and essential oils or hi-tech anti-ageing ingredients. One woman writes:

"Right now I am trying very hard to find a face lotion that respects the skin -without perfume, chemicals, or dyes. Since moving here I have struggled for years to find a face lotion, night cream - lotion etc. that is natural without any of the ingredients that aren't good for your skin, but just preserves the product. I am truly tired of products that have all the hype without the means to provide what they say.

"Are you different? I hope so. I have sensitive skin, and I am fed up with being lied to about products. So tell me the truth about your products! I want my skin moisturised, not clogged up, p.h. balanced not greasier. I want my skin to look good and healthy,and for it to actually be that way."

It's a difficult one. We aren't natural (although we are carrying out research into if and how we can safely formulate as natural a range as possible for those that are scared by the silly stories that appear from time to time about 'dangerous chemicals' in cosmetics) but we only use tried, tested and completely safe ingredients, many of which are far superior to their natural counterparts (where these exist).

In addition, we only use as many ingredients as are necessary to make each product effective. We don't fill our skin care and make-up full of unnecessary stuff just for the sake of it or because certain ingredients are fashionable. An organic product is rarely going to be suitable for very sensitive skin. Why? Because organic products can't use synthetic preservatives and the only alternative given cosmetics have to be preserved is to use essential oils or perfume blends, often in conjunction with other extracts, which themselves have a preservative effect. These ingredients add to the total number of ingredients contained in the product.

In fact, this is what irks us about products which claim to be 80% organic or suchlike. Cosmetics ingredients are listed on the product in descending order of the percentage they are present at. By increasing the total number of organic ingredients in a product you can up the percentage that you can claim to be organic. Yet, most of those ingredients will be useless and only in there to up the tally or make the product sound pretty.

Anyway, I have certainly told this lady the truth about Queen products. Whether she feels she likes our truth is a different matter. I hope so and wait to hear back from her.

We had quite a busy day at John Bell & Croyden this Thursday despite the bad weather. JBC is a great place to shelter from the rain though, it has to be said. It stocks such a huge range of interesting things not found elsewhere that many people lose track of time, the result being they emerge with all sorts of things they hadn't gone in for.

A lovely lady who showed great interest in the range, particularly our Theatrical Cleansing Cream, told me she was the owner of the Old Vic Theatre. Having asked if she rubbed shoulders with Kevin Spacey, she said 'Of course, he's our artistic director'. 'You'd better have some more samples,' I replied, dashing off to the store room to scoop up all the samples I could find. I subsequently learn that her name is Sally Greene and she is a well-known threatre impresario as well as the Old Vic's Chief Executive. I also discover that she owns the famous jazz club Ronnie Scott's which has recently re-opened after a makeover. I do hope she likes our products. You never know, the cast of her current productions, which include Mamet's Speed-the-Plow starring Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Spacey, could be Queen fans by the end of the week!

My only other spot was at Victoria Station where I spied Jeff Randall, business and financial journalist, sitting at a table poring over the racing form surrounded by betting slips, it being the Cheltenham festival this week . Being a racing fan myself, I was tempted to ask him if he had any good tips but thought better of it. He looked far too absorbed.

The weekend beckons and it's time to turn the stirrers off and let the latest batches of our Moisturiser and Medicated Cleansing Lotion rest.

Have a good one.

The Queen team