Q. How did ‘The Beauty Bible’ come about?
My friend Sarah Stacey had the idea for a book which would talk about specific products, to help steer women through the beauty jungle. She felt a project like this – enlisting real women to test real products - was more than one person could manage and as we got along incredibly well, she asked if I’d join forces with her. Over the 14 years since our first book The Beauty Bible was launched, we have had over 8,000 women take part in our Tried & Tested, making this the biggest-ever consumer trial of beauty products ever carried out.
Q. What is your biggest bug-bear in the industry?
I get upset when products which are less-than-natural over-inflate their claims to natural-ness and organic-ness. There’s a lot of green-washing out there. There’s room for everything in the market – high-tech, green/organic, expensive/inexpensive – but I really get mad when brands beef up their eco-credentials with nothing to back that up
Q. Would you say that expensive products are more effective than the cheaper counterparts?
Not at all! Over the 14 years we’ve been writing our books, Sarah and I have consistently come across many, many inexpensive products which perform just as well as their expensive counterparts. (Often better!) So about 18 months ago, we set about researching our book Beauty Bible Beauty Steals (Kyle Cathie, £8.99), focusing our Tried & Tested surveys on affordable products. In most categories we did indeed find many products that performed brilliantly and got fabulous scores. There were terrific performers from some Healthspan nurture products, which can now use the ‘Beauty Bible Beauty Steals Award’ symbols. We absolutely know that you don’t have to break the bank to get great beauty products – 2400 testers (for Beauty Steals alone) can’t be wrong!
Q. Do you think people are becoming more obsessed with their appearance and trying to keep ageing at bay? (than they were, say 10/20 years ago)
Definitely, although I’m not sure that it’s a good thing. Ageing happens. You can look great for your age – thanks to good skincare, staying out of the sun, taking skin supplements and exercising (which is essential for radiance, in my experience). But clinging on to ‘lost youth’ is just going to make people unhappy; women need to be realistic, or they’ll find themselves going down the fillers/Botox/plastic surgery route, and becoming ever-more-obsessed. What I do think is great is that women do want to take care of themselves more. My mum’s generation felt that at 40 life was pretty much downhill from there, and that’s so not true now. Look at Joanna Lumley! Look at Tina Turner! Look at Lulu! They all take fabulous care of themselves (and know all the great make-up tips, too, which can make you look younger than you are) - but none of them are chasing rainbows; they’re just enjoying the adventure.
Q. What aspect of beauty are you most commonly asked about?
Under-eye bags and dark circles! The answer for the first is to cut down on salt a bit (though some salt is essential for health), drink lots of fluids and especially take up facial massage – tapping with your fingertips around the eye area can make a huge difference, by draining away fluid. The second is trickier, because it tends to be genetic – so if you’ve got dark circles and you’re getting enough sleep, then make friends with a great light-reflecting concealer.
Q. What would be the one piece of advice you would give to anyone trying to follow a good skincare routine?
First off, cleansing is much more important than women tend to think. I once interviewed a leading dermatologist in the States who pointed out that ‘if you put anti-ageing creams or treatments on skin that’s not perfectly clean, it’s like trying to put polish on a dirty floor!’ I’ve always remembered that.
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