As an aromatherapist I am passionate about natural facial care products.
Ingredients from the cosmetics we apply are absorbed into our bodies and I feel it is just as important that they are natural as if they are eaten.
But there are other ways to care for our skin naturally, some of them more important than what we put on it.
Here are some of the most important things you need to know about facial care.
Firstly, water.
Of course it is unlikely that this is news to you, we are seemingly bombarded by nutritionists, doctors and beauty therapists telling us this.
Yet it is one of the most common issues I come across.
Dehydration causes fine lines and prevents optimum cleansing and nutrition of the cells.
Don't forget your eight glasses! Diet, equally unsurprisingly, is hugely important.
This is where the adage "you are what you eat" is in evidence.
It is not only junk food causing a problem here though, low-fat diets which have been extremely fashionable since the eighties, can lead to drying of the skin.
Exercise, perhaps less obviously is important for our skin.
Exercise gets our blood pumping around the body, taking with it nutrients, bathing the cells and removing waste which can lead to a dull complexion.
This is real winner for a healthy glow.
Natural products are, of course, also important.
It is becoming increasingly evident that artificial food stuffs such as colouring, preservative and sweetener are not good for our health.
As I have already said, ingredients in the products we put onto our skin can also be absorbed into our bodies.
It seems to me that putting artificial ingredients onto our face is likely to be equally ill-advised.
And more and more of the large skin care manufacturers seem to agree, as they are investigating plant extracts and adding natural anti-oxidants such as green and white tea to their products.
Protecting our skin from the sun has been well documented and the axiom "slip, slap, slop" is familiar to most of us.
The sun creates free radicals, which are ageing but worse still can be responsible for causing skin cancer.
The best thing we can do is cover up.
This is the slip, as in slip on a T-shirt.
This won't help the facial skin but will protect the decolletage.
Next, slap..
..
on a hat.
This will protect our face and neck which are the most delicate areas of skin, and most prone to lines.
Thirdly, sun cream will help protect the exposed skin.
The amount of time it will protect for can be worked out using the SPF.
Some moisturisers will include SPFs although they are rarely higher than a 15 which will help generally but in strong sunlight a sunblock is advisable.
Another way of protecting our skin from the sun which is less well-known is by eating particular foods.
Anti-oxidant foods are obviously useful for fighting free radicals.
The ubiquitous omega-3 fatty acid is also great for protecting against sunburn, as are foods rich in carotenoids and lycopene, such as tomatoes.
Certain substances are particularly damaging to skin.
Alcohol and caffeine are dehydrating and so it is generally suggested that they are limited.
The amount of caffeine in coffee is not likely to be hugely damaging, but most of us will have noticed that we don't look our best after the night before! Sugar is a bigger enemy than you might think.
Lot's of people believe it causes spots but whether or not this is true (the jury is still out on that one) it has a far worse effect.
Sugar attacks the collagen and elastin fibres which make up the structure of the skin, and can therefore cause wrinkles.
Unsurprisingly, smoking is bad for our skin.
It is very drying and so promotes wrinkles, particularly around the mouth, giving it that "dog's bottom" appearance.
As well as introducing a barrage of toxins into the body, some of which are recognised carcinogens (cancer causing) it depletes our stores of vitamin C which would usually fight free radicals.
Furthermore, it reduces the blood supply to the skin cells, so that they are less effectively supplied with oxygen and nutrients and the waste products remain giving a dull appearance.