Sensitive skins should avoid mineral oil?

I was just reading through my Google alert daily bulletins which contain cosmetics industry news and point me in the direction of interesting articles or blogs about beauty products in general and about sensitive skin in particular.

Imagine my delight when I found one entitled 'When “Natural” Skin Care Products Can Be Bad For You' (see http://www.kelseypub.com/blog/healthfitness/beauty-healthfitness/2009-02-24/when-natural-skin-care-products-can-be-bad-for-you).

As you know, we advocate people being able to buy whatever products they feel suit them. There are some lovely natural and organic products out there and we are developing some ourselves here at Queen (our first trial moisturiser has had an excellent response and feedback). What we don't agree with is cosmetics' companies or journalists or bloggers pushing natural as the best alternative for sensitive skins. At Queen Cosmetics (www.queen-cosmetics.com), we have been making skin care and make-up products for sensitive skins for more than 80 years and we know which ingredients are the least sensitising. As a matter of fact, we don't just use mineral oil but a number of others too, including sweet almond and wheatgerm.

Anyway, my delight was due to the fact there I thought I had someone who was prepared to put forward a balanced view. In fact, this blog was very sensible and had some good advice. Until, that is, I noticed a line which said:

"...learn which ingredients to avoid in a skin care or beauty product. For your own protection, know why you should not use a face cream or body lotion that contains substances such as perfume or mineral oil. By arming yourself with this knowledge, you are better able to find natural beauty products you won’t have qualms using and recommending to others."

Perfume yes? But mineral oil???? Where on earth did the writer get this from? This is yet another myth. Cosmetics-grade mineral oil and petrolatum are considered the safest, most non-irritating moisturising ingredients around (Source: Cosmetics & Toiletries, January 2001, page 79; Cosmetic Dermatology, September 2000, pages 44–46).

I don't want to get into the debate about how natural mineral oil is but it does come from a natural source. Yes, it's refined and treated but then so is every other oil. How would it be safe to use otherwise?

Mineral oil is an excellent emollient, it has no smell or colour (did you know that many oils have to be deodorised because they have an unpleasant smell?) and it doesn't go off or become rancid like many vegetable, plant or fruit oils do. It is ideal for sensitive skin.

If you have sensitive skin, don't be put off by these scaremongers and don't avoid trying products which contain mineral oil. You might find they are the answer you've been looking for!

Back soon.

The Queen Team

Technorati Tags: mineral oil,sensitive skin,queen cosmetics,www.queen-cosmetics.com,sensitive skin blogs,perfume

Multi-functional skincare products to help you beat the recession

In these difficult times, I have been musing about multiple uses for some of our individual products.

What has prompted this musing is that today, as well as slathering my eyelashes with Queen Eyelash Cream (conditionning, protective, makes them glossy, etc etc and, of course, suitable for sensitive eyes), I have been using it on my lips which are really dry this winter (due, I'm sure, to non-stop in-car and central heating).

I usually use Queen Skin Cream but had my Eyelash Cream to immediate hand. Skin Cream is already super-multi-functional and should be a bathroom cupboard or dressing table staple. For £14.55, you can buy a 50g jar which will last you for ages, even if you do use it for all of the following on a daily or nightly basis:

Queen Skin Cream: The sensitive skin supercream

Soothes sore dry lips
Repairs cracked heals, dry feet, elbows
Soothes itchy skin
Soothes and gets rid of eczema patches
Banishes very dry skin on face and body
Works as an eye cream staving off wrinkles
Makes a great intensive moisturiser
Soothes minor burns
Soothes nappy rash and protects babies' bottoms
Soothes and repairs sore cracked nipples on nursing mums
Moisturises nail beds when massaged into finger nails
Protects against the elements - great when used before sailing, running, gardening

I could go on but that's enough for now. Eyelash Cream, for its part, is also great on eyebrows as it makes them look glossy and keeps them neat.

Enriched Moisturising Lotion is not only a great face and body moisturiser but also makes a super cleanser for dry skin. It's a marvellous after sun lotion and soothes sore legs and other body parts after hair removal. Queen Theatrical Cleansing Cream is not only a make-up remover but is also used by some of our professional clients as a massage cream.

There's more but I haven't got time to detail them all today so do come back next week!

Just had a very nice email from a journalist who uses our products. "I will definitely recommend your products to anyone I know. I've sung your praises to my friends in any case because I love your stuff - my skin can't handle many products and yours seem to be the only one it likes at the moment. Congratulations on a really good brand."

Oooh, we do love it when Queen products get feedback like this.

No star spots this week at John Bell & Croyden, our stockist in London's West End. I think we must just choose the wrong day to go there as we used to see all sorts of stars of stage and screen. Still, sales are going well with lots of women I recognise from handing out samples coming back to buy. Fingers crossed it continues.

Hope to see you again soon.

The Team at Queen

Technorati Tags: sensitive skin,skincare for sensitive skin,Queen Skin Cream,Eyelash Cream,soothes ithcy skin,Enriched Moisturising Lotion,Queen Theatrical cleansing cream,recession,suitable for sensitive eyes

Sensitive skin product recommendations abound

Queen's HQ has been battered this week variously by deep snow, ice, gales, driving rain and, today, just freezing temperatures and grey skies. The wind has been whistling through our draughty office and even my Gumbies boots (have you seen these - sort of Croc with a moc-Ugg attached - without which I would now have trench foot) have been tested to the max. Cup after cup of green tea is keeping me going though as have some lovely comments from Queen customers.

Says a longstanding customer: "Queen Skin Cream is just wonderful. I suffer from eczema and find it really soothing and it has got rid of dry, scaly patches that I have had for years. I use it on my face, on my feet, on my lips and in areas of eczema on my ankles and face.  It's better than the stuff the doctor has given me. At night, if my legs or ankles start itching, I rub some Skin Cream in really well and it soothes it immediately. It's brilliant, I can't praise it enough."

Another called to order some Sensiderma Cold Cream and said how it was the only product she could use. "I think I could be your oldest customer," she said, meaning longstanding as opposed to most elderly. I asked her how long she had been using Queen products and she was disappointed to hear that her 30 years fell a good 20 years short of many of our other customers!

The results of our Sensiderma Renew & Refine, the new anti-wrinkle cream for sensitive skin, are beginning to show. Repeat orders are coming in and its users are getting compliments from their friends and families. A new customer ordered today based on seeing her friend (a longstanding Queen client but who has recently started using Renew & Refine) with a glowing complexion. "I said you look amazing, what do you use and she told me Queen," she recounted, before saying that she used Clinique but was ready for a change!

I have to balance all of these compliments by saying it's not all been sweetness and light over the last week or so. Parcels have gone astray (customers were kindly very patient) presumably because of the weather and there have been a few criticisms about our hand cream tottles (a cross between a bottle and a tube). We do need to look at finding some better ones but it's hard to find things - particularly from suppliers within the UK which we prefer to use - which are lightweight enough to go in the post, which preserve the cream well and which dispense the product quickly and easily.

Ah, can I just say a customer has just ordered a brown Mascara, declaring it "marvellous" for her sensitive eyes. Sorry, bragging over.

Time to get back to the orders.

The Team at Queen

Toxic cosmetics and natural oils which cause allergic reactions - sensitive skins take note!

It is always interesting to read the latest research and articles about sensitive skin and about the beauty industry and beauty products in general and the marvellous Google alert system enables us to do this without having to spend ages trawling the internet.

A couple of things caught our eye this week. One was yet another article about how toxic your cosmetics are (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1132810/Is-make-killing-There-deadly-poisons-lurking-handbag.html) which again seemed to be prompted by the publication of a new book on the subject and which yet again talked about, amongst other things, parabens in underarm deodorants (which was based on discredited research carried out six years ago).

Just who is buying all these books? There's a new one every week. The authors - in this case someone called Dawn Mellowship - are just churning out the same old stuff and it really is time the cosmetics' industry stood up for itself. Millions is spent on research to make cosmetics safe and the fact that something is a 'chemical' doesn't make it dangerous. I know we're always using the quote (see below) from the Sense about Science report Making Sense of Chemical Stories, but it does underline that everything is chemcial in essence:

“If someone came into your house and offered you a cocktail of butanol, iso amyl alcohol, hexanol, phenyl ethanol, tannin, benzyl alcohol, caffeine, geraniol, quercetin, 3-galloyl epicatchin, 3-galloyl epigallocatchin and inorganic salts, would you take it? It sounds pretty ghastly. If instead you were offered a cup of tea, you would probably take it. Tea is a complex mixture containing the above chemicals in concentrations that vary depending on where it is grown.” Derek Lohmann, research chemist (Making Sense of Chemical Stories, Sense about Science).

The alternative that these books always offer is that people should use natural products (sometimes the authors have launched their own range. Hmmm!). The fact is, these are not always the best option. Sensitive skins should be careful in particular. And, many ranges are not as natural as they claim and are not rigorously tested. Quite apart from this, many are not even effective.

We were quite pleased that many of the 41 comments posted on the Daily Mail website were dismissive of the subject of the piece.

Anyway, we have ranted before about these articles so I take a deep breath and move on. The second interesting article was about some new research from the University of Gothenburg which shows that even natural aromatic oils may cause allergic reactions.  This is not surprising to us because so many ranges loaded with essential oils claim to be fine for sensitive skins these days but we get calls or emails from many people who find the opposite to be true and are confused because the label on the bottle said 'for sensitive skin'.

On http://www.bio-medicine.org/ they report that the University research shows that hypersensitivity to perfumes is the most common contact allergy in adults. The University of Gothenburg has demonstrated, the article says, that even natural aromatic oils, which many deem harmless compared to synthetic perfumes, may cause allergic reactions.

Below I have copied extracts from the article and bolded the bits we found useful. The full thing can be read here http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Even-natural-perfumes-may-cause-allergies-6922-1/.

"Roughly one in five adults in northern Europe is believed to suffer from contact allergy to one or more chemicals. The most common is nickel allergy, but many people also suffer from contact allergy to perfumes even perfume substances that at first glance appear to be harmless can cause allergic reactions. New eczema-provoking allergens are formed by reaction with acid in the ambient air (known as autoxidation) or with skin enzymes.

"Modern society commonly regards anything that comes from nature as being healthier and less dangerous. Where it concerns natural aromas, known as essential oils, many manufacturers believe that natural antioxidants in these oils offer protection against autoxidation thus making them safer and longer lasting than artificial perfumes. Research at the University of Gothenburg shows this is not the case.

"Lina Hagvall, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg's Department of Chemistry, has examined natural lavender oil in her thesis. Her results show that essential oils do not prevent the formation of allergenic substances through reactions with acid; something which had not previously been possible to confirm. Hagvall's thesis also examines geraniol, a common constituent of perfumes such as rose oil. The study shows geraniol by itself to be only slightly allergenic. However through autoxidation and reaction with skin enzymes, the substance is activated and becomes the closely related allergen geranial. This is the first time these activation pathways have been demonstrated for the substance."

Well, that's enough food for thought for one morning. There's shampoo to be made here and orders to process.

The Team at Queen

Technorati Tags: sensitive skin,toxic cosmetics,parabens,essential oils,allergic reaction,Queen,contact allergy to perfumes,nickel allergy

Give sensitive skin an extra boost to beat dryness this winter

Are you struggling with super dry winter skin? Is your sensitive skin more sensitive than ever? Are you fed up of flaky, itchy skin? Well, read on for some emergency help!

In a bid to beat the winter blues, we are today launching our New Year special offers here at Queen.

If, like me, you are finding this extra cold weather (with a bit of fog thrown in today just to make things more exciting), really hard on your skin then you will be pleased to know that we are offering two of our bestsellers at special price to get your skin back on track and to give it some extra assistance. I cannot go to sleep without slathering myself in these two products (face, lips, heels, cuticles, elbow -  you name the body part, I'm slapping cream on it) to help combat the effects of central heating (on constantly) and, when I'm not at home, the car heater blasting at me (the only way I can bear to stay in the car!). Fortunately, it's working wonders - no more dry, chapped lips, tight face on waking and general scaliness and itchiness (I know those aren't attractive words but they're the most accurate to describe the state of my skin!).

So, as from today, we are offering Queen Light Night Cream at just £10.00 for 50g (normal price £14.55) and Queen Skin Cream (used to be called Skin Food until trading standards of the 1940s had their way and it really does feed the skin) at £10.00 for 50g as well (normal price £14.55).

During the day, I am sticking with my Queen Moisturiser for all over and Queen Sensiderma Renew & Refine for expression lines and wrinkles. Oh, and I can't possibly get dressed until I have covered myself in Queen Enriched Moisturising Lotion.

There you have it: Queen's Emergency Winter Survival Pack.

These fabulous special offers are available at www.queen-cosmetics.com.

We will be back soon without the blatant advertising!

The Team at Queen

Technorati Tags: sensitive skin,dry skin,help for sensitive skin,Queen Cosmetics,Queen,www.queen-cosmetics.com,Skin Cream,Enriched Moisturising Lotion,Light Night Cream,Sensiderma Renew & Refine,Queen Moisturiser

The Queen review of the year

As the year comes to an end (not an original start or premise, I realise), we thought we would have a little muse on what's happened here at Queen Cosmetics during 2008.

This time last year we launched our online shop www.queen-cosmetics.com. Given Queen is 81 and as far from cutting edge as it's possible to get (we revel in this by the way - it's abacuses and quill pens all the way here) we did recognise that this was a move we needed to make. We still get ridiculously excited when emails ping up alerting us to the face that a customer has placed an order online but there have been teething problems and strange things do seem to keep happening. Yesterday, the aforementioned email alerts didn't ping up, meaning that some customers' orders were missed, much to our chagrin. One customer declared that she was 'desperate for some Sensiderma Rich Hand Cream' for herself (she was also buying extra to give as presents) and could we get it to her ASAP.

We look forward to improving the site over the coming year and to reaching more people who may benefit from the Queen range.

As if this giant step into the 21st Century wasn't enough, we also launched our first new product in very many years following increasing demand for an anti-wrinkle cream for sensitive skin. Sensiderma Renew & Refine, which contains a peptide which works to reduce the appearance of expression lines and wrinkles, is such a lovely cream and, so far, it is proving very popular and getting rave reviews. Actually, it is the bestseller online, followed by Sensiderma Rich Hand Cream and Queen stalwarts Moisturiser and Medicated Cleansing Cream (the best cleanser and moisturiser for any skin, not just sensitive skin, in our view!).

Prospects for the year ahead include increasing the range of Queen products available at our London stockist John Bell & Croyden and to finalising our small range of organic products. We recognise that the year ahead could be difficult but we will continue to give an excellent service (online blips aside) and can persuade our customers to stay with us by continuing to offer what we believe are top quality skin care and make-up products at a good price.

Well, as I wait for the latest batch of Queen Skin Cream (I cannot live without this at the moment - hourly applications are staving off dry lips a treat) to cool down, I would like to thank all our customers for their continued support and wish you all a festive New Year's Eve and a happy and healthy 2009 on behalf of Queen.

We hope to see you soon.

The Team at Queen

Technorati Tags: Queen,www.queen-cosmetics.com,Queen Skin Cream,Queen Moisturiser,anti-wrinkle cream for sensitive skin,Medicated Cleansing Lotion,Sensiderma Renew & Refine,Sensiderma Rich Hand Cream,sensitive skin,Queen range,Queen skincare,Queen make-up,peptide,top quality skin care

Singing Queen's praises (again!)

Gosh, it's been rather busy here at Queen, so much so that we haven't had time for much other than manufacturing and dispatching orders. Not that we are complaining, you understand.

Our second batch of Sensiderma Renew & Refine, our anti-wrinkle cream for sensitive skin, has hit the shelves and customers are already re-ordering. Writes one by email:

"I am LOVING it particularly the fact that it makes my skin feel all soft and, dare I say it, plump."

And the praise has not been reserved for Renew & Refine alone. Oh no. One new customer called last week to place an order and told us that Sensiderma Rich Cleanser left her skin feeling: "all velvety, like baby skin, I can't think of any other way of describing it." Another said of Queen Skin Cream (that old stalwart!): "It is just gorgeous, what amazing stuff." She was also after some more Sensiderma Rich Cleanser and said she would be "working her way slowly through the Queen range after discovering it at John Bell & Croyden on a recent trip to London".

Sales have also been perky at John Bell & Croyden (lovely pharmacy on Wigmore Street in London). Medicated Cleansing Lotion and our Moisturiser have been the big favourites although they are almost out of Theatrical Cleansing Cream too. So are we for that matter so that's a priority over the Christmas break.

Sorry if we sound like we're bragging but if we don't tell the world, noone else will! May as well continue with the own trumpet blowing to say that one new customer has defected to Queen from the Ella Bache range. I was only writing the other day about how we may benefit from customers moving away from super-expensive ranges to products which are good value but just as good, if not better, in terms of their effectiveness (i.e. Queen!). Mind you, we are not complacent in thinking that customers won't look for cheaper alternatives to Queen. This is clearly a possibility, although of course there is no alternative in our minds, which is why we are determined to hold prices for as long as possible despite the cost of everything else increasing. We haven't actually increased our prices for two years.

Well, we just wanted to touch base to show that we are still very much alive and kicking. If we don't get a chance to post before the festive season starts, have a great one and see you in 2009.

The Team at Queen

Technorati Tags: Queen,Sensiderma Renew & Refine,Sensiderma Rich Cleanser,Queen Skin Cream,Medicated Cleansing Lotion,Theatrical Cleansing Cream,John Bell & Croyden,anti-wrinkle cream for sensitive skin