Your cosmetics: free-from parabens etc... but do they actually work?

 

I was just perusing this month's issue of our industry magazine SPC (Soap, Perfumery & Cosmetics should you be interested!), and was taken by editor Clare Henderson's editorial in which she makes the point that surely what is important is not what cosmetic products don't have in them but whether they work or not.

She asks "Are we a free-from culture?' and goes on to say that while 'free-from' used to be the preserve of products developed for sensitive skin, it's very much equated today with the naturals sector. She says that Mintel has been tracking fragrance-free and alcohol-free products for a number of years but recently began tracking paraben-free and found it is now way ahead of the other two.'

Says Henderson:'And now there's a whole slew of ingredients that are being given the free-from treatment.......In addition to parabens....sulfates, PEG products, mineral oil, petrolatum, silicones, DEA, TEA, glycols, phthalates, synthetic fragrance and synthetic colours are often on the free from list. It's not quite the same as a claim to efficacy."

She goes on: "Some products seem to be pretty much without everything which, as Mintel points out, begs the question: "What's left? What's in it?" In some cases the answer is that the product is basically made of essential oils."

Henderson concludes: "I suppose that's fine if that's what people want but, with all the advances in cosmetic science coupled with high consumer expectations I'm guessing that what most people want is products that are going to work, whatever they have or haven't got in them."

As Henderson says, free-from did use to be the preserve of sensitive skin products. The Queen range, for example, is free from perfume and other ingredients which are traditionally known to be irritants. In addition, we try to keep formulations as simple as possible while still producing products which do actually do what they say they do. We wouldn't still be going after more than 80 years if our creams and lotions didn't work.

Now that so many ingredients have been demonised (I won't bang on about this again - do read our previous post about parabens here) it is these that are associated with causing irritation to sensitive skin. I appreciate that all sensitive skin is different but our creams are no less suitable for sensitive skin now than they have been for the last eighty years i.e. for all the years before this nonsense about chemical ingredients and natural-being-better-for-you started.

If you do a search on Google or another search engine for a 'cream for sensitive skin', the sponsored links on the right-hand side are dominated by ranges which jump on the free-from/naturals bandwagon. 'Toxins in your skincare!' screams one, 'Natural Organic Skincare' clamours another. It's all a bit misleading for the consumer.

An email we've just received underlines this point:

'I wonder if you could send me some samples for my skin type,' writes a woman from Derbyshire. 'I have oily skin and have been diagnosed with acne rosacea. I have quite red skin and would like something that will not affect it, I have tried (she mentions here a whole host of brands) and most tea-tree products.'

The assumption she is making is that because tea tree is an essential oil and it has an antiseptic quality, it must be ok for her. As I am always saying, essential oils are some of the most irritant ingredients around.

I suppose I'm also a bit confused as to where this leaves Queen. If we say perfume-free or fragrance-free, we could be accused of jumping on the free-from bandwagon. And, given every other company is advertising that they are suitable for sensitive skin, we are not left with much else to differentiate ourselves. Apart from, of course, that our products do work and don't make ludicrous marketing claims! That's not very glamorous or compelling though as a marketing or advertising strap line. 'Buy Queen because our products work and  we don't make ridiculous claims' doesn't really work.

I think we are perhaps always destined to be understated and a bit of an 'undiscovered secret'.   This certainly seems to fit well with our existing clientele. A letter we received enclosed with an order today is typical of our customers:

"I would be most grateful if you could send me two more pots of your Queen Skin Cream as I have always found it most beneficial."

Most beneficial! How's that for a strapline? Queen - it's most beneficial. It says it all......no drama or free-from needed!

Have a good week.

Technorati Tags: Queen Cosmetics,www.queen-cosmetics.com,paraben-free,mintel report on cosmetics,tea-tree products,perfume-free cosmetics,perfume-free products,fragrance-free products,parabens

Pregnancy and sensitive skin - go back to basics

I wrote a while ago that we had had a number of emails about skin problems during and after pregnancy. Since then, we've had quite a few more.

Having had a baby fairly recently (well, two years ago but it seems like yesterday what with the ongoing and endless fatigue), I do remember that the skin changes do take you by surprise. I had thought everyone 'glowed' during pregnancy but my experience, and that of my friends, was that we actually found our skin was worse - spotty but very dry and ultra sensitive. As an aside, skin does glow - caused by an increased volume of blood to the cheeks, resulting in an attractive blush - but if you are suffering from acne at the same time, the visual effect isn't quite as pleasingly aesthetic!

That's quite apart from all the other afflictions that occur: a fine down on your cheeks and jawline that makes you feel like a small, furry creature (that does go thankfully) and brown spots and patches. And then there's stretch marks. I know it's hard to take on board but if you're going to get these - and not everyone does - no amount of slapping on moisturiser or body cream will help prevent them (they will, however, keep your skin moisturised) whatever all the advice or product marketing says to the contrary. Your best guide is to ask your mum what happened to her. If she didn't get them, there's a good chance you will avoid them too.

The brown patches, called chloasma and commonly called 'the mask of pregnancy', are areas of pigmentation which usually appear on the cheeks, forehead and neck. They are caused by the hormones oestrogen and progesterone stimulating the production of melanin. Annoyingly, they can't be prevented (not everyone gets them, I hasten to add) but can be minimised with the use of sunscreen and by staying out of the sun. They do fade but, in my experience, do not disappear completely.

Anyway, back to the spots, dryness and sensitivity....My experience seems to be shared by those who have emailed Queen.

"Now that I'm pregnant my skin is getting even worse with more red spots and dry spells. Do you have any advice on what sort of skin care I need that will actually improve my skin's condition," says one woman.

Another says: "My skin used to be oily, but during pregnancy and since having a baby it's been quite dry."

Someone else writes saying she has always had sensitive skin but that, during her current pregnancy, Nivea baby sun lotion has caused an outbreak of urticaria (an itchy rash caused by an allergic reaction to anything from food to sunlight to prescription drugs). She is now finding it impossible to use anything on her skin without further irritating it and is desperate to find some skincare and make-up products she can use before she goes to a number of weddings later in the year.

Hormonal changes do increase skin sensitivity during pregnancy and some women do find they become irritated by products - both cosmetics and household detergents - that they have previously used without problem. Spots and acne,  are caused by increased sebum production during pregnancy, another result of all those hormones surging around the body. 

These extremes should stop once your baby is born so our advice is not to stress about your skin. The best thing you can do is to support it during pregnancy by going back to basics and keeping things as simple as possible (the Queen philosophy for all skin!). Drastic changes and trying out numerous different products will only make things worse.

So, here's the Queen guide to looking after skin during pregnancy:

Cleanse, tone and moisturise twice a day, preferably using a cream cleanser rather than a wash-off cleanser;

Avoid perfumed products and products containing essential oils;

Avoid harsh acne creams. Your skin will clear up once you've had the baby;

Don't overstimulate your skin with scrubs, masks and other products.  If you do feel the need to use an exfoliant, use some oats moistened with a bit of water - messy but very gentle;

Fight the urge to attack spots or over-handle your skin as this can just make it worse:

Don't take long, hot baths as these will further dry your skin. Take short, just-warm showers and baths and moisturise well afterwards.

I must mention that the other great thing about Queen products is they can be used on your baby too. Our Medicated Cleansing Lotion is a fabulous alternative to wipes or as a supplement to wipes (you should never just use wipes on a baby's bottom but should always follow with lotion) and our Skin Cream is a great barrier cream. I've always used both of these, as have my friends, and our babies have NEVER suffered from nappy rash, not a claim many people can make, I think.

Right well, I am off to update our sensitive skin tips blog at http://skinsensitive.wordpress.com.

Have a good weekend.

The Queen Team

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Are you getting value from your cosmetics?

We have just had a call from a lady who had samples of Queen products a few weeks ago at John Bell & Croyden:

"I just love them and can't believe I'd never heard of them before. I wanted to tell you because I am so pleased with them."

She went on to tell me about how she had tried all sorts of ranges, including one which cost six times as much as Queen (that's about £160 for a moisturiser then!) and that ours were as good, if not better.

It's so true that you don't need to spend a fortune to get decent products. I know some might consider Queen products are expensive but at less than £15 for a Queen Moisturiser, I do disagree. Yes, you can buy a £3 moisturiser from big high-street chains but quite apart from it not being as good, it will have been mass produced, most likely made and packaged abroad and has quite probably been sitting around for a long, long time before it hits the shelves.

Queen products are not mass produced (they are handmade and hand-filled), they are made in tiny batches so are always fresh, they use only the highest quality ingredients and they are made in the UK. So many companies have farmed out their production to Eastern Europe or Asia, buy their jars and labels from Asia and their labels from Eastern Europe. We buy everything from UK-based companies. It costs more but it's supporting British Industry -  we know quality is good and a by-product is that surely it's better for the environment.

I am reminded as I write of a packaging company sales rep that came to see us last year. He looked stressed and angry as he'd just found out that a foreign supplier had let him down, thus putting him in a really difficult position with a client. He felt completely powerless as he was not able to see the supplier to talk to them face-to-face and he had been unable to physically check up on the manufacturing process (he'd been told weeks before that production had started but was then told it hadn't). Anyway, I am digressing. The point is we have control over our production and, if anything goes wrong, or a customer has a problem we can look into and solve it ourselves. Our customer service is fantastic.

In addition to the above, our products are tried and tested. There aren't many skincare ranges that have been around for 81 years and which have loyal and longstanding customers, some of whom are in their nineties! As for products that cost £160 a pop, do have a look on the back and see if the ingredients they use are any different from the mid-range products. You will probably be surprised to find they are not. The high prices are all a marketing ploy. If it's expensive, people assume it must be better.

So to my make-up lesson. I am quite excited by what I learnt even if I was told I have dark circles under my eyes (one thing I didn't think I suffered from). The therapist was lovely and it's not her fault that she has been misled to think/say that the products she use are entirely natural (it was a mineral make-up range). As it happens, the products were nice but I did feel really itchy and over made-up by the time I got home. In addition, I looked ridiculous because I had a day look on one side of my face and a night-time look on the other (even down to my lips).

I am sure most people would feel a lot of pressure to buy some of the products as the lesson (despite costing £40) was definitely geared towards demonstrating the benefits of this particular mineral range. I did try to make it clear from the beginning, however, that I was interested in general tips and tricks and that I did like my existing make-up mix (Queen with a few other brands thrown in!). I learnt how to shade my face, how and where to apply eyeshadow to minimise the black circles and to cover imperfections. I will be sharing these tips in my wordpress blog (http://skinsensitive.wordpress.com/)and on our site at www.queen-cosmetics.com in the coming weeks so stay in touch.

The other excitement down at Queen HQ this week is that The Tiny Box Company (I wrote about them in our 11 April blog), our neighbours down here at the farm, were on Dragon's Den on Monday night and secured £60,000 of investment from Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis in exchange for a 40% stake in the business! They hadn't said a word about it (although we did know they were going to be on TV in some form or another) as were under strict instruction not to. I am dying to find out what the next step is and whether Peter and Theo will be making a visit to East Grinstead. I am sure there will be a lot of rubber-neckers if so. We wish them all lots of luck.

Well, we are short-staffed here today due to various viruses striking down children and grand-children so I had better get stuck in with getting the orders out.

Have a good weekend.

x

 

Technorati Tags: Queen Cosmetics,www.queen-cosmetics.com,handmade,sensitive skin,Queen Moisturiser,Tiny Box Company,Dragon's Den,Peter Jones,Theo Paphitis,East Grinstead,mineral make-up

What's bismuth oxychloride then?

Back in the blogging saddle after a busy week last week which meant I didn't even find the time to get online and vent my spleen about various issues. I am sure we were missed......Anyway, it was probably a good thing as the blood does cool with time, albeit not much. We had a run on lovely Queen Soap again and John Bell & Croyden placed a large order (due, we like to think, to our promotional efforts at their Summer evening event the week before last!).

I was becoming increasingly irritated with all the emails requesting samples which clearly weren't genuine. One woman (or it could have been a man from the email address) asked for about four different skin-care samples (which we dutifully sent -more fool us). Two weeks later, another email came asking for samples of all of our make-up products. I kindly - and I wasn't feeling kind - replied to say that we were limited to only a few samples per person and that, anyway, we don't have samples of our make-up. He/she was welcome to buy some make-up, however, and would receive a full refund if unhappy with anything. Sure enough, an email appeared with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. Grrrrrr.

I really do not understand why people bother to request free samples of things they clearly have no real interest in. Is it just to have something for free or is it to get one over companies they see as faceless corporates trying to rip them off? Or are they just deeply sad? Anyone know the answer, I'd be pleased to hear it.

Anyway, this week I have conceded defeat and have now amended the Queen website to say that free samples are available but only by 'phone or by writing in. That should sort the wheat from the chaff.

The other thing bothering me last week was social/business networking sites. We have joined a few and have 'met' some really genuine (that word again) and helpful people but I am just astounded that there are so many loons out there. I keep receiving emails which make no sense at all. I would like to copy some examples here but that probably isn't the done thing. I feel that when the contact with and from lunatics begins to outweigh that from normal, sane individuals then that is the time to head for the hills. Perhaps you might say that no sane individual joins one of these networks in the first place but the founders do usually have integrity and a desire to help people make contacts and do business. Sadly, they can't screen for the bonkers contingent which means the site loses credibility.

Moving on, I have booked a make-up lesson at a local beauty salon. As you get older, it's good to update your look and highlight the good parts while hiding the not-so-good ones! I was given the lesson as a gift, I hasten to add. It's not something I would have initiated myself but I thought it would make good market research. I was told on the 'phone that a certain brand of 'very natural' mineral make-up was used and that 'i may like to buy some' to take home with me. While I am looking forward to it, I am concerned that the whole thing is going to be a promotional exercise for the products they use which is not what I want at all. I use a variety of different brands, including Queen of course (in particular our eye-liners, blushers and Tinted Foundation Cream) and don't want to change. And if I wanted a 'promotional' make-over, I would go to one of the large department stores where you get that part for free and just pay for the products. I will update you on what happened next week.

Anyway, the word 'natural'  was like a red rag to a bull so I did a little research into the ingredients contained in the brand which will be used on me. There is lots of praise for mineral make-up and I am not getting into discussing its efficacy and I am certainly not looking to criticise it. I was just interested if the 'natural' claim held up and I discovered that the brand to be used on me (not ALL brands use this ingredient) contains something called bismuth oxychloride which doesn't sound very natural and which, I found, is used to impart the pearlescent effect the make-up has. A quick Google search revealed it is a by product of lead and copper ore processing. In as much as lead and copper are natural, it has natural origins but that's about it. It goes through a lengthy chemical processing and refinement to make the product which actually goes in the make-up.

My research revealed lots of scare stories written about bismuth oxychloride too but, like the rubbish written about parabens etc, these seem to be perpetuated by the companies which are not using it, enabling them to therefore claim that their products are better/safer/more trustworthy than those that do. I am not an expert on this ingredient so cannot comment but it just underlines that even in the world of mineral make-up, there is hypocrisy and one-upmanship! Some companies are claiming to be natural when they're not and others are claiming ingredients used by their competitors are dangerous when they are not (if they were, they wouldn't be allowed to be used).

I will be interested to hear if i get a long marketing spiel at my make-up lesson. I may have to casually ask if they use bismuth oxychloride and see if a) they actually know and b) what they say if I say it's not natural. I will report back next week.

I do seem to have got carried away with my 'issues' this week, so much so that I haven't told you that Queen Sensiderma Refine & Renew (I think this is the name of our new anti-wrinkle cream) will be on sale in October. We can't wait!

Have a good weekend.

x

Technorati Tags: bismuth oxychloride,mineral make-up,Sensiderma anti-wrinkle cream,Queen,www.queen-cosmetics.com,cosmetic ingredients,Queen Soap,Queen eyeliner,Queen Tinted Foundation Cream,Queen blusher,social networking sites,freebie sites

It takes all sorts

I have to admit we are taking it a bit easy here today after a busy afternoon and evening at our stockist John Bell & Croyden in London's Wigmore Street promoting our skincare and make-up for sensitive skin.

The store was open until 9pm yesterday as part of a special Summer promotional evening and everything was discounted by 20% between 4pm-9pm. As John Bell sells everything from surgical instruments to gadgets for every kind of back, foot etc problem and from vitamins to cosmetics for every skin type, this was a fabulous shopping opportunity and, as you can imagine, people surged into the store to take advantage. I swear many shoppers were there for two hours, baskets bulging, although they were no doubt encouraged and fuelled by the free Pimm's and canapes and sandwiches on offer. I actually saw a woman with two children loading up a napkin with food and then giving them a sort of picnic tea in a corner. Feed your kids for free, what a bonus.

We had put together some nice goodie bags containing a rather too generous (in my opinion) sample of our Medicated Cleanser, Non-Alcoholic Toner, Moisturiser, Light Night Cream and Eye Make-up Remover. There was lots of interest and we sold a good few items as well as giving out the freebies. We have realised, however, that what really draws the crowds is doing mini-facials so, next year, or at the annual Christmas version of this event that John Bell holds, we are going to ask one of the many beauty therapists who use Queen to come and give practical demonstrations of the products and show how to best look after sensitive skin.

The event did attract the customary freeloaders and loons who lurked around the store for hours, buying nothing but enjoying the free food and booze. One rather assertive sales assistant told me that the previous Christmas event had brought in a load of teenagers demanding free samples of cosmetic products. She ended up calling security to eject them as they got more and more unruly. Thankfully, no rowdy teenagers pitched up last night.

John Bell always attracts lots of Arab ladies who are accompanied by burly minders. I have no idea how the latter manage to stay awake as their charges spend hours poring over products and trying out make-up but they do. They are also employed to ferry overflowing shopping baskets to the check-out. "They spend thousands of pounds and sometimes pay in cash," whispered a sales assistant to me, her eyes wide with awe.

We also had the (thankfully very few) women who refuse samples as though you are trying to indoctrinate them into some obscure cult. One woman, who looked absolutely ghastly with too much make-up and a dry, wrinkled complexion, looked up at me smugly when I asked her if she minded telling me what cosmetic brand she used and said: "Creme de la Mer" with a sort of half smirk. I wanted to implore her to look in the mirror. She certainly wasn't a good advert for that brand. And, I can only imagine the amount of money she's wasting (although I suppose these things are relative - without the cream, she could look ten times worse).

Legs-aching, we headed for the tube at the end of the evening, only to find the Victoria Line was closed for maintenance. Then ensued a frantic dash across London via the Central, Jubilee and Circle lines to get the train back to Sussex. Much as I love London, it's always a pleasure to leave.

Otherwise, it's been an uneventful week at Queen. The stream of freebie-hunting emails has finally become a trickle and it's quite easy now to distinguish the genuine from the freeloading (at least I think I can tell them).

We are very close to starting full-scale production of our anti-wrinkle cream so we are focused on finalising labels and some literature to accompany the product. We have had a lot of interest from our existing customers so are hoping this does actually translate into sales.

Well, we are going to despatch the orders and head home. It's quite a nice balmy afternoon here now although clouds are gathering in the distance.

Have a good weekend.

Technorati Tags: medicated cleansing lotion,non-alcoholic toning lotion,eye make-up remover,moisturier,light night cream,john Bell & Croyden,sensitive skin,skincare for sensitive skin

Queen bored of parabens nonsense

Another week, another 'attack' on parabens, the preservatives used in cosmetic (and many other) products.

I write attack in inverted commas because it's not really an attack when someone proves themselves unable to articulate a case against whatever it is they are supposed to be shooting down. The case is even less convincing when the person is promoting a book and, guess what, their own cosmetics' range.

I am referring to Kate Lock's book 'Confessions of an Eco-Shopper' which I do think sounds a great, and worthwhile, premise for a book and for life. It details her 'one-woman's mission to go green'. However, and this may not be her fault (but probably is given she wants to publicise her range of cosmetic products - can't wait to find what they're preserved with), the press have focused in on the old 'your cosmetics are toxic' rubbish rather than any of the rest of the book which presumably looks at every other aspect of our daily lives too.

This week, I read an extract from the book in the Daily Mail (the same Daily Mail which writes week-in week-out about miracle anti-ageing, anti-cellulite and anti-everything else creams which all contain parabens - but of course that can be overlooked if they really do work miracles) and then heard Kate Lock on LBC. Both times, the focus was cosmetics and parabens in particular. When asked what the problem with parabens was, she haltingly trotted out the discredited research that parabens were found in cancerous breast tissue.

This much-quoted research was carried out by Dr Philippa Darbre at Reading University in 2004. It found parabens in samples of cancerous breast tissue. The suggestion was that parabens could mimic the female hormone oestrogen which can drive the growth of tumours in human breast tissue. Darbre called for a review of the use of parabens in 'cosmetics applied to the breast area including deodorants'.

Quite apart from the fact that parabens have never been used in the majority of under-arm deodorants, the research was shown to be flawed because the researchers chose to ignore that they also found parabens in non-cancerous i.e. healthy 'control' samples of breast tissue.

I could bang on all day about this but may be accused of having a vested interest. So, why not read this,  a good, neutral, scientific article:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/01/it_is_one_of_the.html.

In it the journalist, James Randerson, quotes Dr Darbre as saying:

"Just because they (parabens) get into the body doesn't say they are going to cause breast cancer," added Darbre. Making the breast cancer link from these experiments was "scientifically inappropriate", she said.

He goes on to say that Darbre refuses to use or endorse products containing so-called 'natural' alternatives because scientists know little about the effects of these on the body either. "It might be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire," she said.

To be honest, I am not particularly interested in standing up for parabens today. The cosmetics' industry knows they are the safest, most effective preservatives around and, until something else is found which  betters them, they will continue to be used.

What irritates me is newpapers' laziness in trotting out this stuff week after week and the fact that every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks they can launch a 'green' or 'organic' range of cosmetics these days based upon nothing but their sanctimonious avoidance of parabens (oh, and other ingredients they've demonised). Now that it is more widely known that the breast cancer research is flawed, they use other arguments, including that parabens are a major allergen for sensitive skin. Nonsense.  Perfume, essential oils and masking fragrances are the major culprits yet these abound in so-called natural cosmetics.

Most of the people making these new marvellous ranges have no experience (they are usually ex-beauty writers, aromatherapists or just mad hippies). They are using unproven preservative systems and are promoting other ingredients about which little is known. Our products have been around for 80 years and have been using parabens for at least 30 years. We constantly monitor what ingredients' suppliers have to offer and will only use those which are proven and have a track record. An unpreserved or inadequately-preserved product is far more dangerous than a preserved product. Bacteria from fingers, the air etc and transferred into eyes or broken skin can have horrid repercussions.

And it's not just me supporting parabens. Read Liz Earle's blog and FAQs. She is a well-respected beauty expert and owner of an extremely successful cosmetics' company. She has built her reputation not on scaring people into buying her products but on giving them good, effective products. She's not a multinational and she cares about her customers. This extends to wanting them to be able to make informed choices, not ones based on hysteria and fear.

Oh dear, this has turned into a rant. The fact is that this debate can only be good for the cosmetics' industry. Even though parabens are perfectly safe, it does prompt scientists and chemists to continue to test and trial other ingredients that might, one day, be proven to be even better. We are open to that possibility but we are not interested in all this hysteria.

So, what else is happening down here at Queen HQ? It's wet and windy and wood pigeons are gorging themselves on elderberries. Seaside Cream and Shampoo are the order of the day and we have run out of the latter so the stirrers are whirring into action. Time to get the orders out.

Have a good weekend!

The Queen Team

On our soap box

There's been a run on soap here this week at Queen. John Bell & Croyden, our main London stockist, ordered a whole load followed by a pharmacy in Kensington. Why the sudden interest in soap, we wonder, not that there shouldn't be as it is very nice - unperfumed of course and very creamy. Still, it did cause us to suddenly worry about our stocks and we are busy counting how many bars we have left. I often snaffle them for myself and for use on my toddler as they are perfect for baby skin but if supplies are low, I may have to go short.

And, when I walked in this morning, what were the mail order customers buying but soap? It is very strange the way things go in waves. You may not sell much of a particular item for weeks when suddenly everyone wants them. The week before last it was green eye-pencils.

I have been asking ecademy (the online business networking site) members for advice on how best to deal with our freebie hunter issue. 'An occupational hazard for small and medium sized businesses', says one member. He's not kidding. Today, all the enquiries were coming from Ireland. A quick check of Google Analytics revealed that, yes, we were being listed by an Irish site called couponmaster.ie. The thing is that the enquiries all sound very genuine and people have taken the time to explain their sensitive skin issue:

"My skin is very dry, but very sensitive also. After showering, my skin is tight and sore, and stings when I use moisturiser. I was hoping you could recommend one of your products for my skin, and was also hoping you could send me a sample before I buy?"

Says another:

"My skin used to be oily, but since having a baby it's been quite dry. I use Tisserand foam cleanser and Sante day and night creams, but they still contain perfume (although I think it's essential oils) and I really find it difficult to find a correct cream."

This last message reminds me that we have had quite a few enquiries of late from women who are experiencing problems with their skin during and after pregnancy. Another woman writes saying she has always had sensitive skin but that, during her current pregnancy, Nivea baby sun lotion has caused an outbreak of urticaria (an itchy rash caused by an allergic reaction to anything from food to sunlight to prescription drugs). She is now finding it impossible to use anything on her skin without further irritating it and is desperate to find some skincare and make-up products she can use before she goes to a number of weddings later in the year.

Having had a baby myself a couple of years ago, I can only say that Queen products are fabulous for both mother and baby. My lips were so dry during pregnancy and, even now, I can't go to sleep without slathering on Skin Cream (I have to have a pot by the bed and now always carry one around with me lest I forget to pack one when I go away for the night or on holiday. I can't stand waking in the night with dry lips which it is impossible not to lick thus making them even more dry). Enriched Moisturising Lotion was, and remains, a godsend for dry skin and to prevent or minimise stretch marks.

It was actually a client of ours that alerted me to the fact that our Medicated Cleansing Lotion makes an excellent baby lotion. Once we started using that instead of wipes or perfumed lotion, we had no more nappy rash and it's great, and so much more gentle, for cleaning a mucky face with than harsh, drying wipes.

Anyway, I do think that Queen for pregnant mums is definitely an angle we should pursue. There is clearly a need out there.

John Bell & Croyden was relatively busy this week when we went up to do our weekly promotion. Famous faces I didn't see (due to having gone to the toilet or nipped out for a sandwich) included Johnny Vaughn who was very chipper according to the staff. I did see Michael Portillo walking past the store wearing an extraordinary (and very scruffy) ensemble but that was about it.

A couple of women wafted past, saying 'Ah yes, Queen, I know it well. Lovely products, very good reputation.' We were unable to ascertain whether this meant they were Queen users or not. I like to think so.

Well, time is running out and there's things to do, like catch the last post.

Have a good weekend.