I am 41 and seem to be allergic to most eye creams on the market. I am able to use Decléor Eye Soothing Eye Contour Gel; however the area under my eyes is very dry and would benefit from using richer eye cream. While I can use their face creams, I cannot use for example eye creams from Crème de la Mer, La Prairie, Natura Bissé Diamond Extreme... Having looked at previous & A perhaps I should try Green People or Liz Earle? What do you think?
A A toughie. For sensitive eyes, gels work best because they don’t ‘travel’ so easily into the eye itself; they tend to sit where they’re put. As soon as you enter eye-cream-territory, the ingredients tend to move more easily down those little tram-lines that we call wrinkles, and into the eyes. Certainly, we know many women (including Jo, who has touchy eyes) who get on well with the Liz Earle Naturally Active Daily Eye Repair, which is priced from £6.50 for 5 ml (find it on-line here). But we just can’t make promises. In addition (or alternatively), you might want to try the wining product in our The Green Beauty BibleTried & Tested Anti-Ageing Eye Cream section: A’kin Ginkgo & Chamomile Revitalising Eye Cream, which scored a creditable 8.35/10 score. One particular tester commented: ‘Did not irritate my sensitive eyes,’ which is encouraging. As a www.beautybible.com ‘insider’, you’re entitled to a 10% discount on this (and everything else) at www.victoriahealth.com - just click here to find it. To help your quest, you might like to keep a record of ingredients in products that you try, which would help point to ‘common denominator’ ingredients that are the potential trouble-triggers - a bit like keeping a food allergy diary.
I'm 54 and desperate to find a suitable foundation. The anti-aging types just make me look sweaty rather than youthfully glowing! Also, I'm having problems finding a suitable shade: my natural skin colour and type is typically Celtic pale, which means every other shade on your face - blue eye circles, red areas around the nose and now, horribly, brown age pigmentation - means there is a lot of work to do! Other than a paper bag with two holes cut out, any advice you could give would be much appreciated!
A With her own Celtic pale (or English rose) skin, Jo has encountered many of the same foundation challenges. So her ultimate foundation discovery is Giorgio Armani Hydra-Glow Foundation SPF15, which is priced £27; Jo’s best shade is 4.5. (You can only find it in department stores, not on-line, but it’s stocked in Harvey Nichols, Brown Thomas in Dublin and Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham.) Says Jo: ‘This is a little miracle-worker of a base. It’s incredibly light, but amazingly concealing. When I put it on, my very red cheek veins disappear completely – particularly if I use a synthetic foundation brush (Armani sell those, too), using it to “pat” the foundation into skin while blending.’ It’s not specifically anti-ageing – but frankly, if you use an anti-ageing cream, you don’t really need a foundation to be specifically age-defying, too. There is a light-reflective action to this foundation, but in Jo’s experience it makes skin look dewy, not sweaty – and you can always tone down the dewiness by brushing on the lightest whisper of powder. Best of all, you only need the merest dot for the whole face, so while expensive, a bottle lasts for aeons.
Loving your book! But question: my brother is fed up with his skin looking dull and dead and wanted me to start doing facials for him once a week. I’ve sorted out some products for him via the book that would suit him, but I was wondering if you would do a mini-book for men? Because they have different skin to women and need good shaving products. I know these books are for women and beauty’s a ‘girl thing…’ But it might help men improve?
A We’ve dithered over this in the past, but frankly, we just don’t feel we have the expertise to do a men’s grooming book. A mini-book, though – there’s a thought. (We just might have a couple of those in the pipeline…!) Seriously, though, men’s skin is different and why our books are so successful is that we understand what women want to know about. And try as we might, we just can’t put ourselves in men’s shoes (or rather, toweling slippers!) But as a P.S., when it comes to doing your facial, we thought you should know there’s now a specific men’s version of Liz Earle Naturally For Men Active Cleanse & Polish (the men’s version of what was, of course, our highest-ever scoring cleanser for women): it’s £10.75 for 100 ml, and you can find it here.
Perhaps you could give me some advise on choosing a potential new moisturizer? I am 37 with normal/combination skin. My skin has always been relatively good; however I am now noticing fine lines and wrinkles around my eyes in particular. I was using Clarins Hydra Quenching Lotion but was considering changing to an anti-aging product. Do you rate Clarins Multi-Active Day Cream? I was also interested in the Liz Earle range? Also should I buy an anti-aging cream or stick to my usual cream and just buy an eye serum - if so any recommendations…?
A Oooh, lots of questions in one. So: do we rate Clarins Multi-Active Day Cream? Yes, from a personal perspective, it’s terrific (although this question’s made us realize that somehow, it’s slipped through our net when it comes to sending creams to testers to trial. We’ll have to address that.) Great cream, great smell, bliss-to-use… And definitely richer than your existing lotion, which your skin may be needing, now. (We’ve found it on-line for you, if you just click here.) But as you may have realized, our testers are very, very keen on the Liz Earle Naturally Active range, and both Skin Repair and Skin Repair Light scored extremely well in our Day Cream Tried & Tested, for the new book. (They’re each priced £15.50 for 50 ml, and you can find them on-line here.) As for eye product recommendations, we suggest the A’kin Ginkgo & Chamomile Revitalising Eye Night Cream, £17.99, (see question above), which attracted comments like: ‘Sank in really easily – fine lines less noticeable’, and ‘definite reduction in puffiness and fine lines reduced’. (Find it here). What we would add, though, is do try and find an SPF15 moisturiser for day, because at this stage guarding against ageing is every bit as important as repairing any damage.
I read Sarah’s article in You Magazine which mentioned organic porridge – but I’ve lost the magazine and wondered if you could tell me the name of the porridge…?
A Rude Health! My testers are drooling over organic Fruity Date Porridge by Rude Health: ‘It cooks in three minutes, has a wonderful fruity/spicy flavour and keeps you going for hours’. £4.95 for 1 kg in an eco-friendly bag; from health stores nationwide, and mail order from www.rudehealthfoods.co.uk. By the way, you can find Sarah’s previous Health Notes from You on this site; access them via the Contents page (click here).
I have lots of thick, curly hair with a big tendency towards frizziness. What can I do and what products can I use to make the curls as defined as possible? I work in an office and the only way to look 'smart' is to straighten my hair/put it up - I would really like to be able to wear it down and curly, partly because heat/highlights and all the rest leave my hair dull and easily broken.
A Hair straightening definitely takes its toll on hair and is not to be recommended on a daily basis. (Be sure to slather on hair packs at least weekly to undo some of the damage.) The man who probably understands frizzy hair better than any hairdresser is our friend John Frieda, so have you tried his (fairly recently-launched) Frizz Ease Curl Around Shampoo and Conditioner, £4.49 each for 250 ml (click here to find them). Charles Worthington Style.com Curl Enhance Cream, £4.49 and Hot Curl Setting Spray, £3.99 for 200 ml, are also excellent (find them here); what we recommend is sweet-talking your own hairdresser into showing you how to use them. He or she may be resistant to this if their salon is linked with a different brand, but remember: you’re the client, you call the shots. A personal ‘tutorial’ from a hairdresser with your curl-enhancing choices will really help you get the best results, as you’re not used to ‘going with the flow’, making the most of your natural curls. (One last tip, from another friend – L’Oréal ‘face’ Dayle Haddon: ‘always pack a silk headscarf to cover up your hair the minuteit starts to drizzle’.)
All the make-up experts advise using eyelash curlers, so I invested in a good make and followed the instructions. So far, I've noticed absolutely no difference. Are these a waste of time or do you have some advice on how best to use them? Thanks.
A Now, make-up artist Ruby Hammer insists that using lash curlers regularly can actually lead to a ‘permanent curl’. We’re just not so sure, and tend to file eyelash curlers in the ‘life’s too short to….’ category. We can say that the eyelash curlers which did best in our Tried & Tested are Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers, £16 (find them on-line here) or Tweezerman Classic Eyelash Curler, a more affordable £7.50 (find them on-line here, and better still, you get a 10% discount as a Beauty Bible ‘insider’.) The pros we know recommend a ‘multi-squeeze’ technique: ‘Use over bare lashes - not over mascara - and start at the roots, working up to the tips till you’ve squeezed two or three times,’ Lee Pycroft tells us.
I’m 35 and have used Liz Earle Naturally Active products for about three years and love them. My question is that I would like to start using a facial oil in the evening as my skin is dry. I have used Clarins Santal oil in the past and was wondering if you could recommend any others. Are there any good budget oils or any others for dry skin you like?
A With facial oils, you tend to get what you pay for: there are less expensive oils on the market (like Bio-Oil), but they can be based on petrochemicals rather than skin-nourishing natural oils. A first step if you’re keen on Liz Earle Naturally Active is to try their Superskin Concentrate; you can trial a small 2 ml vial of this for just £5 and see if you get on with it (click here). The most reasonable of the facial oils that did well in our new book is Neal’s Yard Orange Flower Facial Oil, which has a heavenly smell of orange blossom and is beautifully skin-softening (and remember: oils do go quite a long way); it’s normally £20 but you get a 5% discount at www.victoriahealth.com, if you click here, making it £19 (with free postage). It’s worth considering, too, that making your own facial oils can save you money; although the oils are an initial investment, the base and essential oils last for a long time (in a dark, cool cupboard), and there’s enough to make up a recipe several times over. A good blend for dry skin would be a base of almond, avocado and/or apricot oil, with perhaps some jojoba or evening primrose oil (and carrot if you expose your skin to the sun), and a mixture of sandalwood, neroli, calendula and geranium essential oils. The amounts are 30 ml of base oil, plus 50 drops of the ‘additions’ (jojoba/evening primrose/carrot), and a total of 60 drops of the essential oils.
There's lots of info on your website and in your books about menopause, but what about those of us who have had hysterectomies in our early thirties? There's surprisingly little information about supplements, how long one should keep taking HRT etc. I had a radical procedure at age 34 (uterus and ovaries} and have been on HRT up to last year. Since I stopped taking it in December, my skin has started to age. Help, please!
A I am surprised that your physician has said you can discontinue taking HRT if you are still under the normal age of menopause. But if that has happened, let’s move on to beauty! In the book I wrote on an integrated approach to the menopause, with a leading consultant gynaecologist, there’s a whole chapter on this subject. It’s called YOUR CHANGE YOUR CHOICE by Michael Dooley FRCOG and Sarah Stacey. If you go through to Contents on www.beautybible.com, you will find all our books and there is a click through to www.amazon.co.uk to buy them. As far as supplements go, you will find a full list in our book Feel Fab Forever but the basics would be MenoHerbs II (plant oestrogens), usually £17.95 for 90 tablets, and Essential Oil Formula (the essential fatty acids that keep your skin plump), usual price £15.95 for 90 capsules, but you get a 5% discount and free postage on both those items at www.victoriahealth.com. I would also eat lots of dark pink, red and purple berries and grapes as they contain antioxidant vitamins called proanthocyanidins, which have been shown to help protect skin cells and also to help collagen production so skin tone is maintained.
The rosewater product you recommended to use as a toner is Neal’s Yard French Rose Floral Water. This doesn't appear on their website. Has it been replaced and if so what rosewater do you now recommend?
A In fact, the product name is Neal’s Yard Remedies Rose Water, £8, and in all our years of research we’ve never found a prettier-scented or a better version (click here). You may also be pleased to know that the Neal’s Yard Remedies skincare, suncare and bodycare range is now available on-line at www.victoriahealth.com, where you are of course entitled to a 5% ‘insider’ discount – and you enjoy free postage, too.
I’m looking for the number of a Guam stockist but the number on your website calls Philip Kingsley, the trichologist. When I spoke to them they said that they just recently moved there. Do you have the new number for Guam?
A The number listed actually gets through to Harrods, where Philip Kingsley has a consulting room, but to access Guam we suggest you visit www.beautique.com, where it’s one of the featured brands – just click here to make it even easier! (Guam, for everyone else’s info, is an anti-cellulite range, in which the star pproduct is a bit like a mud pack for thighs.)
I'm 22 and I have oily skin with some blemishes. I would like to know what are the best products for me (I use Body Shop’s tea tree line) – and do I need to use a toner?
A If Body Shop’s tea tree range works for you, then stick with it: we’re against confusing skin by constantly chopping and changing products. (But do monitor your skin, because as we age, oil production naturally slows down: assess your skin whenever you get to the end of a product, to see if it’s behaving differently.) What we would also counsel is avoiding harsh toners. Many oily-skinned women are under the illusion that a harsh toner will tackle oil, but in fact, it strips away the skin’s natural oils, causing the oil glands to whirr into overdrive – a vicious circle that just makes the problem worse. If you like the feeling of a toner, we think you can’t do better than Neal’s Yard Remedies Rose Water (see the + A above): gentle, softening, swipes away the last traces of make-up but leaves skin in natural balance (it’s on-line here).
What product do you recommend for sun protection for the face and neck?
A After a bit of a flirtation with other products, Jo has recently rediscovered Estée Lauder DayWear Plus Multi Protection Anti-Oxidant Crème SPF15, price £30 (find it on-line by clicking here). This is skin-quenchingly moisturizing, smells subtly of cucumber and, she is reminded, does a really good job of shielding the vulnerable décolletage – which as we all know is angled so that it tends to pick up the sun’s rays (as do cheekbones, nose tip etc.) Jo is still a big fan of Vaishaly Patel Anti-Ageing Day Moisturiser, £45, but finds that when skin is feeling dry, the Lauder product is a bit more dewifying.
I was wondering if you could help me with a limited edition perfume? It is by Issey Myake, called Gotte sur un Petal; it was out over the Xmas period 07/08, I was wondering if there is anywhere I can still buy this product – is there perhaps surplus stock anywhere?
A Excellent news: this fragrance hasn’t been discontinued, but it’s changed its name. Gotte sur un Petal - which for the uninitiated is lush with mandarin, lotus, mimosa and ‘pastel wood’ - has been relaunched as Reflections in a Drop (definitely a more attractive name!), and is available nationwide priced £40 for 50 ml. It’s also at Harrods if you have trouble tracking it down elsewhere, and they will mail order if you call 020-7730 1234 and ask for the Issey Miyake fragrance counter.
I'm looking to invest in some quality make-up brushes, preferably ones that come in a roll up carry case (but not a killer if they don't!)
A Good make-up brushes are an investment. Frankly, a big part of why make-up artists achieve more impressive, lasting results than most women is because they use the right tools for application (not just fingers!) If you’re prepared to splash out, the Chanel brushes are unbelievably gorgeous, and there is a roll available; brushes are priced from £12-43 on line at www.boots.com if you click here (and you can always build your collection month-by-month; we especially love Le Petit Pinceau ‘touch-up’ brush, chunky and really comfy in the hand, for applying blush/powder; it’s £25 if you click here). Shu Uemura brushes are legendary (find them at department stores like Harvey Nichols, or on-line at www.spacenk.com if you click here, while the softest, most glorious brush Jo ever owned (and sadly, lost in a mislaid make-up bag) was from make-up guru Terry de Gunzburg’s By Terry range: the All Over Powder Brush, £71, is part of her very special brush collection, which you can find on-line if you click here. If you’d like to ‘play-before-you-buy’, check out the By Terry counter at the Sloane Square/King’s Road branch of Space NK. (Remember: there’s no law that says you have to buy all your brushes from one make-up house - and DO try counters like M.A.C.’s for empty brush-rolls and pro-style kitbags).
I was browsing through your 21st Century Beauty Bible last night, which was on loan to me (I’ve now ordered my own!), and have a question: is it possible to order on-line? I am keen to buy the following: Champneys All-in-One Complete Eye Care (for tired and puffy eyes), Clarins Beauty Flash Balm as an ‘instant face saver’, and Christian Dior Hand Cream.
A Well, we’re not an on-line retailer, so we don’t carry stock of items ourselves – which would be a mammoth operation beyond our capability... What we do do is try to identify on-line retailers who offer a high level of service, and point you in their direction. We choose these retailers carefully, based on the speed of their response to orders, efficiency, customer care, etc. For the first time, readers who’ve bought our book The Green Beauty Bible can quickly find any of the products we’ve mentioned in the book on-line, by keying the product name into the ‘Search’ box with quotation marks around it – for instance, if you were to type “Trilogy Eye Contour Cream” into the search box, it would take you to a page with the price, the ingredients, and a click-through to find it on-line. Wherever we possibly can, we also try to set up ‘insider’ discounts for our readers (though it’s not always possible, even with arm-twisting). Later this year we will extend this so that all products from our previous books will be accessible in this way (but we’re going to have a lie-down over the summer, so look out for this new feature on the site in the autumn!) Till then, we can help you speed through cyberspace to the products you’re interested in. For Champneys All-in-One Complete Eye Care, £10, click here; for Clarins Beauty Flash Balm, £25 for 50 ml click here, and to find Dior Hydraction Hand Cream (NB they’ve dropped the ‘Christian’ from the name), price £15, click here.
I have very sensitive eyes, and every time the wind catches them I look as if I've been crying, and many people come up to me asking me if I'm OK??!!!! Do you have any suggestions for this?
A Get yourself a pair of specs with decent-sized lenses. If you don’t need a prescription, just get clear glass, but these will literally act like goggles to protect against the action of the wind. (Jo suffers from exactly the same problem.) In summer, of course, sunspecs do this job – but in winter, use ordinary glasses to do the same reason (sunspecs may just make life too gloomy and dark, on winter days). It may sound weird that we’re suggesting you wear glasses when you don’t really need to but trust us: it should work to stop the ‘I’ve-been-sobbing’ redness. (You may be able to find clear, non-prescription lenses in a sale at an optician’s, as all their display models have ordinary, non-prescriptive glass in.) For instant relief, do try Tulsi
Please send info on Medihoney treatment for eczema - is this a herbal remedy and can it be used in conjunction with other medication?
A It is actually, well, honey! – not a herbal remedy and it is topical, that is you put it on your skin so should certainly not interact with any medication you are taking. If in doubt, do check with your doctor.
Sarah found it originally after a YOU magazine reader recommended it. Here’s the item:
A reader with ‘very bad, stress-related eczema’ on her hands wants to tell everyone about the ‘AMAZING’ effect she has experienced from using Medihoney Moisturising Cream from Australia. ‘My hands were cracked, bleeding and very painful. Steroid cream only has a limited effect. I bought some Medihoney cream at a Lloyds Pharmacy, because it didn’t have any “nasties” in it ; after five days my hands were pain-free and looked virtually normal for the first time in five months.’ (NB it may not work for everyone.) Medihoney Moisturising Cream, suitable for anyone prone to eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis and dry skin, £4.99 for 50 g from Victoria Health and pharmacies nationwide. You can buy it from www.victoriahealth.com, with 5% discount and free postage online, by clicking here.
I wonder if you could tell me whether testers for the new Green Beauty Bible will be sent a free copy of the book or if I need to order it myself? I'm really looking forward to reading it.
A We wish we could send all our testers copies of our books, but we just can’t afford to: there were over 1,150 of you taking part in the trials for this book alone… If we win the lottery then you’ll all get a copy, but the costs of our testing operation are already incredibly high (we had seven ‘elves’ helping us, at last count…) However, the good news is thatThe Green Beauty Bible is very accessibly priced at www.amazon.co.uk - just £8 at time of writing – so we hope that you’ll be able to get hold of a copy this way. And a paperback will be out next year…
I believe you give discount for HQhair.com - how do I do this? I have bought from them loads of times and only just found out.
A Yes, we have organised a 10% discount on almost everything for our Beauty Bible ‘insiders’ – which includes you, as a visitor to our site. You shouldn’t have to do anything: you simply click through to HQhair.com from our site, and then the 10% discount will be calculated at the time of check-out. So just log onto Beauty Bible whenever you want to go shopping there, click on the HQhair.com logo button on the right-hand side of the page, and from the ‘landing page’ then click through to their site and go shopping…!
Did David Downton illustrate The Beauty Bible ?
A He sure did – all of them, in fact, including our latest green offering. We have been huge fans of David’s work for ages, and sweet-talked him into illustrating our first book – and the good working relationship and friendship has blossomed from there. He is, of course, the leading name in fashion illustration now, with countless magazine credits – and highlights like the poster for the V & A’s The Golden Age of Couture exhibition – to his name, so we are thrilled that he still loves us! If you’d like to see more of David’s work, log on to www.daviddownton.com, for a good swoon! (There are some wonderful limited edition prints available on the site, too.)
I've suffered from dandruff most of my life (even had cradle cap). I have used a number of products, ranging from the supermarket stuff (Head & Shoulders,and other brands offering anti-dandruff versions), to products you get at your pharmacy or boots (Selsun, Neutrogena's coal tar-bsed product, Vichy and many others). I've found that the best solution is Selsun though it doesn't completely solve the problem, only alleviates symptoms, and in addition all these shampoos dry the hair out. I wondered if you could enlighten me on why dandruff occurs (in my case I guess it's genetic as my father has it too) and if you know and effective (and non-drying) cure for it? Will I ever be able to stop using the foul-smelling stuff and use an ordinary shampoo…?
A The most common dandruff, which affects 75 per cent of people during their life, is pityriasis capitis, which means ‘scaly head’, consultant dermatologist Dr Tony Chu tells us. It’s caused by a minute yeast-like fungus called pityrosporum ovale (also known as malassezia). People with dandruff have higher amounts of pityrosporum than usual; they often have a history of childhood eczema. The flakes seem dry and the scalp is dry and itchy. It’s rare in children but increases in the teens and twenties. We do worry that the problem isn’t ceasing: have you asked your GP for a referral to a dermatologist or trichologist? Or maybe considered consulting a trichologist privately, if funds are available? (Institute of Trichologists, tel: 08706 070602, www.trichologists.org.uk) If your father has the same, we wonder if the problem might be an intolerance to something such as dairy products. You could consider giving up dairy products for a month to see if it makes a difference. It won’t help everyone but trichologist Dr Hugh Rushton has seen patients with an eczematous type of dandruff improve with this dietary shift.
Also, if you work in a very dehydrating environment such as an aeroplane, take care to drink lots of water and use moisturising products on hair and skin. If you work in an airconditioned office, try putting bowls of water around your desk. Integrated medicine expert Dr Mosaraf Ali recommends avoiding yeast products, citrus fruits, coffee, alcohol, excess salt and sugar. He also suggests using a neem-based shampoo and eating plenty of oily fish and/or consider a fish oil supplement such as LifeTime Vitamins Fish Oils, £17.95 for 90 capsules, from www.victoriahealth.com if you click here. Remember your 5% discount for online purchases at Victoria Health, with free postage.
I was wondering whether you could tell me whether all your products featured in the Green Beauty Bible are paraben- (or more generally preservative) free?
A The answer is no, not everything – but our daisy rating helps you identify what’s what. One daisy indicates products which are mostly botanical and natural, but which may have some synthetic ingredients in – including parabens. (In reality, there are very few products in the book containing parabens; you can look up all the complete ingredients lists on our website. – and see the question below for more thoughts on parabens.) Two daisies means that the products contain no synthetic ingredients, which means no parabens or other synthetic preservatives. There are plenty of ‘two daisy’ products in the book, so look for these. Three daisies gets a tiny bit more complicated: it means that the products are independently organically certified, acknowledging their true sustainability. However, under organic guidelines, one or two well-tolerated, carefully-screened preservatives are permitted, such as sodium benzoate and phenoxyethanol. (Not every product does, but they are permitted.) As we say, you can look up all products in the book on our website: simply type the product name in the search box with quotation marks around it (i.e. “Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax Bath Oil”), and you can see the entire ingredients list there, linked to a glossary that explains the role of any synthetic ingredients, and whether there are question marks over them.
I've just got the Green Beauty Bible and I think it's great. I was just wondering though, if you included NVEY ECO products in your testing.
A Not yet, but we’re trialling them now. If there are products that do well in our testing – better than those featuring in the book – we’ll let you know via the website. NVEY ECO is a promising make-up range, available via www.lovelula.com (one of our ‘approved’ beauty websites), and as there are still precious few natural make-up brands on the market, we’re as keen as you to see how the new ones perform.
I have turned 40 in April and I've found out that I am four weeks pregnant with my first baby. My question is: Is it safe to colour your hair while pregnant? I get highlights done, but don't use peroxide. I would like to get them done again but don't know if it is safe or not now that I'm pregnant…
A It probably is safe, says writer Hilary Boyd, author of Blooming Beautiful with Mel Sykes (Penguin, £12.99, or £8.44 at www.amazon.co.uk if you click here). But no one has enough information to guarantee that using chemical dyes on your scalp during pregnancy is completely safe, she adds. Some experts recommend semi-permanent vegetable rinses, such as pure henna, as a good alternative. The general feeling about highlights is not to do it, especially in the first trimester when the foetus is most vulnerable. In pregnancy, the fewer toxins you submit your body to, the better. If the result isn’t known, best not to risk it in our view.
I have been using Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare products for a while now, but have just noticed some ingredients are listed as ‘PEG’ ,then a number after these letters for example PEG-40 in Instant Boost Skin Tonic. Are these synthetic? The Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth cleanser has an ingredient Polysorbate-60 - is that similar too?
PEG is short for Polyethylene glycol, and yes, this is a family of synthetic ingredients. They are waxy compounds and the number refers to how liquid they are (the higher the number, the harder the texture of the ingredient). They are commonly used as emulsifiers to combine the water and oil phase in skincare products - and they are in extremely wide use. Polysorbates are also used widely for emulsifying products and stabilising them, but these are sugar-derived, or from lauric acid, which is derived from coconuts. Some polysorbates are used in processed foods. You might like to know that we have explained all of the less widely-known ingredients which feature in all the products inThe Green Beauty Bible in the ‘Green Pages’ section of this website: click here to access the INGREDIENTS A-Z page, and then click on the first letter of the ingredient you’re interested in reading more about.
I've been using some of the Laveré products recently after finding a great local shop (The Dolphin House shop in Brighton which acts as a fundraising venture for the children’s natural health clinic behind it). But having recently bought The Green Beauty Bible I can't find a reference to them - is that because they weren't tested, they weren't natural enough or just didn't perform well enough in any of the tests?
A First the good news: two of the Lavera Laveré products made it to the book. Now the bad: Lavera, in their wisdom (!) are discontinuing them. If you love the Laveré range (and we certainly do), we suggest stockpiling now; products should be good for two years before opening. We’re pretty confident that this is happening because Lavera will be launching something even more effective, but will keep you posted via the site. (NB Victoria Health still has a stock of some of the Lavera Laveré products, on which you can get your usual 5% insider discount; click here to go to their product pages.)
Last year I had breast cancer and so decided to change all my skin and body care products to organic ones and particularly ones with no parabens. At first I thought there were not many ranges that did this but after a bit of research discovered so many it became a bit confusing! Therefore I was very much looking forward to receiving The Green Beauty Bible to help me decide on various products. I understand the daisy rating but was very disappointed to find that the Liz Earle Naturally Active eye products - which are mentioned several times in your book, contain FIVE different parabens.
I know there is no definite evidence about the dangers of these but surely this is one of the first things anyone trying to be organic/natural wants to avoid.
A OK. Here goes. The daisy rating is, as we’ve said in response to another question in this edition, your short-cut to paraben-free products: two daisies means no synthetic ingredients, including no preservatives such as parabens. We would have loved to have listed all ingredients in the book, but obviously it would have become the size of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The good news, though, is that you don’t have to buy a product to see what’s in it; we have put all ingredients listings for all products featured in The Green Beauty Bibleon our website: just key in the name of the product, making sure to use quotation marks (i.e. “Circaroma Replenishing Hand Cream with Rose Flower”). You can then access the relevant product page on the site. We made a decision not to focus exclusively on 100% natural products, but also to include those with high levels of botanical ingredients, because feedback told us that many of our readers want products that harness the true active power of botanicals, and are less concerned about some synthetics in there. (We would probably have had a riot on our hands if we’d left out Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare products, because many of our readers are fans.) The bottom line is: we can’t please all of the people all of the time, although we do try! In fact, we called the book The Green Beauty Bible, not ‘The Natural Beauty Bible’, specifically because we look at the bigger picture: environmental sustainability, packaging, recycling, ‘moisturiser miles’, the idea of making your own products etc. On the subject of parabens, meanwhile, we do understand your concerns. However, we have recently been made aware that the studies pointing to the potentially carcinogenic effects of parabens were, at best, flimsy – and possibly flawed. Although the evidence about parabens and skin irritation is indisputable. We would certainly welcome more research into this area – bring it on! - but overall our philosophy has always been that it’s important not to get hung up on individual cosmetic ingredients, or individual additives in food, but to look at the big health picture: relaxation, a healthy five-a-day diet, lots of fresh (not polluted city) air, exercise etc. (And if we all really cared about not putting ourselves at risk, we’d never get in a motor car…) We are certainly against all those ‘killer cosmetics’ headlines which just send people’s stress levels skyrocketing (not healthy in itself) - but by all means avoid parabens, if that’s your decision; we generally tend to but still make quite a few compromises on that front, especially in terms of make-up. We hope that the two-daisy symbols will help you find products that meet your concerns, though. (Our daisy system isn’t perfect, but in the absence of anything else out there in the industry, it is as helpful as possible…)
I was a little concerned on the suncare pages of your book about the issues surrounding nano-particles. I noted Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare's mineral sunscreen (I use the SPF25) wasn't in the very green section - I would love more advice on this (although I do not sunbathe and don't go away on holiday now). I would still add sunscreen as I use my computer a lot, as well as when I’m outdoors. I have learned a lot and can agree with a lot of the wisdom in the book but last night became concerned about nano things! Please advise?
A Well, if you have read the answer above you will know there are no easy answers. Sarah recently talked to skin permeability expert Professor Jonathan Hadgraft who says there is no possibility of nano-particles in sunscreens such as Liz Earle’s penetrating the skin barrier. He assured Sarah that they stay on the surface of the skin. However, other experts are less certain, as we wrote in the book, and doubts continue to surface. While Sarah acknowledges Prof. Hadgraft’s expertise in this area, she still prefers to avoid nano-particles in suncare, to be on the safe side. (Jo uses olive oil in the sun. Please don’t tell the suncare police but she’s really, really careful and spends a lot of time in the shade.) There is as yet no legislation to compel companies to list nano-status with ingredients. When Sarah spent several weeks investigating the issue in 2007, there was a distinct divide between companies that were happy to say that they used nano-particles in sunpreps and send over the research they based their views on, and others – who shall be nameless – who wouldn’t acknowledge they used them until, effectively, they were up against the wall with our journalistic guns trained on them… it was invariably a marketing issue – one hapless PR admitted that the company in question did indeed use nano-particles but wouldn’t say so because it might worry customers.
Just wanted to check that The 21st Century Beauty Bible and Feel Fab Forever are not soon to be reprinted/updated before I buy them, as I see that one is from 2004 and the other 2006. And how do I become a tester?
A These are the most recent editions, and will not be updated till next year. Almost all products featured in them are still available, and of course, all the other advice is utterly timeless. We are currently trialling thousands of new products for the books, and any real ‘stars’ will be featured on the website in the meantime. In due course, we hope to make it easier for you to access all products featured in our previous books by using this site as a short-cut - just as we have for The Green Beauty Bible; if a product’s been discontinued, the site will say so and suggest something similar which also impressed our testers. However, that’s going to be a lot of work and we ain’t there yet!
Being a lover of organic beauty products and already a reader of your previous Beauty Bible books I was keen to read The Green Beauty Bible. I am enjoying the information and especially keen to try the highly-rated Vaishaly products - in particular the day cream with the SPF15 for the summer. I am however disappointed, after having read on page 7 that I can buy all the products which have won ‘Beauty Oscars’ at a discount price through your website - and I have not been able to see any Vaishaly products at discount price.
A We have managed to set up discounts on products featured wherever we possibly can, but not on everything - and alas, not with Vaishaly. And on page 7, we do say ‘wherever possible’ – and we’ve been doing a lot of arm-twisting on that front. Right up until the last minute it looked as Vaishaly was going to be selling via the Victoria Health website – where our subscribers get a 5% discount - but unfortunately, took a decision not to do so. Some companies decide that they simply will not sell at a discount, for their own reasons to do with protecting the brand’s image. In addition, sometimes small companies like Vaishaly simply can’t afford to do it. But as we say, wherever possible we do try to organize these exclusive ‘insider’ discounts, and many other companies and websites are happy to do that, aware that our beauty subscribers are particularly well-informed and discerning! (That’s absolutely true!) NB Jo would like to add that she is a huge fan of the Vaishaly Patel Anti-Ageing Day Moisturiser, £45, and it lasts for a very long time. Remember: a price-tag is only half the story; how long a product lasts – ‘cost per wear’, if you like – is also a factor.
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