Jo loves... A new facialist discovery, ‘self-adjusting’ lip gloss, sipping silver leaf tea, revving up with a new body energiser – and has happy, happy feet!

Antonia Burrell.  Wow.  It isn’t everyday you come across a new facialist ‘star’, but this woman truly has the healing hands that deliver a non-invasive ‘facelift’.  Antonia has 18 years of skincare experience, used to work as Business Manager at Aveda, lectured at the London College of Fashion for seven years teaching aromatherapy – and has spent years fine-tuning her facial technique (not to mention the last four working on her skincare).  I wish I could tell you what happened during this treatment but I was so zoned out, I couldn’t really take notice.  What I do know is that it was almost all hands-on, with deep massage and muscular movement that left me looking totally awake, radiant and – well, younger, with my jaw sharper and lines ‘ironed out’.  (There’s no other way to put it, as I’ve been suffering from tiredness-of-face lately, due to book tour insanity.)  I had my treatment at Urban Retreat, where Antonia’s signature all-natural skincare line is on sale, but she actually mostly works out of Urban Bliss on the Portobello Road (my old stomping ground) – and I will be making a bee-line for W10 to see her again.  Meanwhile, the gorgeous all-natural and mostly-organic skincare is also worth discovering;  Iparticularly like the Radiant Light Facial Serum (key ingredients include frankincense,rosewood and sea buckthorn), and – even though I’m not usually a toner person – the Forest Dew Skin Tonic, which is infused with Alpine plant extracts, cucumber extracts and lavender flower, and feels fabulously ‘plumpifying’ when applied before moisturiser.

•  Antonia Burrell Pure Face Lift, £95 for 60 minutes or £130 for 90 minutes – contact Urban Bliss/333 Portobello Road, London W10 5SA/020-8969 3331 or visit www.urban-bliss.com
•  Antonia Burrell Radiant Light Facial Serum, £58.80 for 15 ml;  click here to find it
•  Antonia Burrell Forest Dew Skin Tonic, £55.40 for 200 ml;  click here to find it

Rare Tea Company Jasmine Silver Tip Tea, £6.75 for 25 g.  It occurred to me lately that my tea habit was getting slightly out of hand, so I decided to switch from builder’s (except in the early mornings) to something which refreshed and revived gently, without the massive caffeine hit.  My friend Henrietta Lovell of the fabulous Rare Tea Company introduced me to this:  the finest white antioxidant-rich white tea, rendered utterly delicious because overnight, for six nights in a row, it’s left to rub shoulders (or rather tips) with fresh-picked jasmine blossoms, which give the most fabulous fragrance.  (The antioxidants in tea, we’re always told, are good for skin, so yes, there is a beauty dimension to this…!)  Henrietta’s on a mission to ‘de-bag’ Britain, so all teas are loose-leaf – and I also like the fact that once you’ve bought the pretty tin, it can be refilled.  (Refills are £6.45 for a 45 g pack.)  Do I miss the ‘builder’s’?  Surprisingly, no.  (Do check out Henrietta’s teas while you’re on the site;  quite the nicest I’ve ever tried.)

•  Rare Tea Company Jasmine Silver Tip Tea, £6.75 for 25 g. at www.rareteacompany.com if you click here

Margaret Dabbs Exfoliating Foot Mousse, £15 for 100 ml.  Anyone who knows me understands that I am obsessed – OBSESSED – with my feet.  Margaret Dabbs’s clinics – on New Cavendish Street in Marylebone, but also at the slightly-more-convenient-for-me Sole Spa in the basement of Liberty’s – have been my go-to foot destinations for a while, now, for medi-pedicures every three weeks or so.  But lately, Margaret has given her signature range of footcare products a makeover (and a snazzy new look), and this is my favourite between-salon-visits product:  an effective foot scrub with a  whipped-air texture, to maintain softness and leave skin nourished.  It is also, I have discovered, fantastic for cleaning hands after gardening.  (Yes, I know there are these things called gardening gloves but…)

•  Margaret Dabbs Exfoliating Foot Mousse, £15 for 100 ml (you get a 5% discount on that at www.victoriahealth.com, deducted automatically at checkout);  click here to find it

Bourjois Rose Exclusif, £6.99.  I seem to remember a product a bit like this from when I was a beauty-junkie-teen:  a ‘self-adjusting’ gloss which works with the body’s pH, adjusting to your individual ‘perfect’ shade.  (Bourjois tell us it’s based on ‘intelligent pigments’.)  What I particularly like about this 2011 version is the non-sticky, comfy texture, though – and the fact I can put it on without looking, because the results are subtle.  (PS  However, all the teens who hang round my house are as obsessed with this as I was at fourteen, so you might want to buy more than one.)

•  Bourjois Rose Exclusif, £6.99 from www.boots.com, if you click here

Como Shambhala Invigorate Lotion, £20.45 for 300 ml.  You know those mornings when you just can’t get going?  This is a real wake-up call for the mind, delivering a real ‘whoosh’ of some truly enlivening essential oils:  eucalyptus, lavender, peppermint and geranium. It’s lightweight and silky, leaving skin deliciously quenched and cooled (great for a summer’s morning).  But what I really love is the double-whammy:  mind, body (and the good-to-be-alive fragrance is excellent for the spirit, I’d say).  NB  I once went to a Como Shambhala spa – in Turks & Caicos (it was a John Frieda press trip, if you must know, to launch Beach Blonde) – and had quite the most outstanding treatments of my life.  So I’m not really surprised that the spa chain’s range – which has now landed here – is also super-effective. And I’m also not surprised that this particular product is the range’s No. 1 bestseller.

•  Como Shambhala Invigorate Lotion, £20.45 for 300 ml from www.beautique.com if you click here

This Works Perfect Legs Skin Miracle, This Works (the fabulous brand created by ex–Vogue beauty director Kathy Philips) has added another sure hit to the already fantastic range.  A serum bursting with vitamins C and E to help even out skin tone and blemishes, there’s also some arnica in there to help bruises (don’t ask me how but my legs also seem to have a few) - and the icing on the cake for me is the lovely caramel tint that it gives to my pale legs, which on their first unveiling after months in tights can look slightly alarming.  It’s such a doddle to use as well:  a pump action bottle that may sound a tad pricey but it should last all summer.

•  This Works Perfect Legs Skin Miracle, £36 for 120 ml;  click here to find it at www.boots.com

Hissyfit Body Double, The first thing I love about this is the superbly summery, almost fizzy orange sherbet smell I get when I apply.  It’s a gorgeous wake–up call after my sleepy shower.  And the second is that as well as being a fantastic moisturiser, this has an SPF30 to keep me protected once I step out my door.  It’s not a huge bottle, so not ideal for days when you may be lying on a beach and need to keep reapplying to your whole body but perfect for days where you have exposed shoulders, arms, décolletage and so on. 

•  Hissyfit Body Double, £26 for 125 ml, is available at www.escentual.com; click here to find it

Sanctuary Spa Therapies Dreamtime Sleep in a Box, I have to say, I’m quite lucky and rarely have trouble nodding off – it’s usually the Land of Zzzzzs as soon as my head touches the pillow - but I do love the whole ritual of getting ready for slumber. A warm bath, reading a few pages of my book or latest glossy, a hot cocoa (gosh, I’m not a very exciting 25 year old, am I…?)  The Dreamtime Sleep in a Box from The Sanctuary’s new Spa Therapies range lets me create a little spa from my own bathroom:  a Soothing Bath Float containing ylang-ylang, frankincense and patchouli sets things rolling and I move on to exfoliating with the Smoothing Silk Scrub, preparing skin for the Comforting Night Butter.  In the handy kit (would also be fab for taking on holiday), there is also a 4-in-1 Restoring Body Elixir which can be used as a massage oil for hair - or add a few drops straight to your bath. There are two other Spa Therapies lines to compliment Dreamtime:  Revive and Relax.  The Melting Body Fondant from the latter is another favourite of mine:  a rich textured balm scented with delicious vetiver, cedarwood and labdanum, I slather it on before bed and wake up all smooth and soft.

•  Sanctuary Spa Therapies Dreamtime Sleep in a Box, £12.75, is at www.boots.com;  find it here
•  Sanctuary Relax Melting Body Fondant, £12.25 for 200 ml is available to purchase from www.boots.com - click here to find it

Bobbi Brown SPF15 Tinted Moisturizer Oil Free, Once the warmer months arrive my skin switches from fairly dry to more of a combination with quite oily patches.  So with the climbing temperatures I like to switch from a foundation to a lighter tinted moisturiser - but this doesn’t always work though as a lot of them tend to be too much and leave me looking a little over-shiny.  Hurrah for Bobbi Brown’s new Oil Free offering:  a lightly-moisturising, SPF-protecting, gel-based formula that glides on like a dream leaving a gorgeous dewy finish but nothing remotely near shiny. Available in seven great shades from my perfect choice, Alabaster, all the way through to Dark.

•  Bobbi Brown SPF15 Tinted Moisturizer Oil Free, £27 for 50 ml, is available at www.bobbibrown.co.uk; click here to find it on-line