Secrets of the £2.99 cream that keeps Joanna so Ab Fab
FORGET over-priced face creams and expensive serums. Apparently, the real, celebrity-endorsed, must-have, anti-ageing beauty panacea costs just £2.99 for a 200ml tub.
Even better, it can be picked up at your local supermarket along with your weekly shop.
This week, 70-year-old actress Joanna Lumley attributed her ever-youthful looking skin to Astral cream, an innocuous-looking little blue pot of moisturiser that is deeply ingrained in our national consciousness.
Most people can remember their mother or grandmother dipping a finger into a pot of Astral. Its distinctive perfume, too, can evoke childhood memories with one sniff — not surprising given that Astral launched in 1952 and the recipe hasn’t changed in 64 years.
Originally, it was sold as a bit of a cureall, a ‘multipurpose beauty nurse for moisturising, sun-bathing, soothing babies’ bottoms and husbands’ razor chapped face’. In 1961, there was a relaunch in the little blue plastic pots with white writing which, today, are so ubiquitous. Fifty-odd years later, nothing has changed.
Two pots are sold every minute in the UK. Besides Joanna Lumley, other celebrity fans include actress Kate Beckinsale and TV’s Amanda Holden, who are not known for their lowmaintenance, low- budget beauty routines, yet still swear by it.
So what amazing secret ingredients are in this wonder cream that make it so popular?
According to Astral, none. That’s right, the main selling point is that it’s ‘ just’ a moisturiser. ‘Astral cream doesn’t contain any miracle ingredients,’ its makers declare proudly.
THE rich formulation of Astral Original is a simple water in oil emulsion. It acts as a barrier cream, stopping the moisture already held in the skin from evaporating, while simultaneously delivering extra moisture, leaving skin feeling plumped, pliable and less dry.
The two key oil ingredients are glycerin and lanolin.
Glycerin is the common element in all fats and has been an integral part of the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries since the 18th century. Lanolin is a wool wax secreted by the sebaceous glands of sheep and used for centuries by sheep farmers to ease chapped hands.
Experts are right behind this minimalist, back to basics concept. ‘ We don’t need overpriced, expensive creams,’ says Dr Ross Perry, a cosmetic consultant at national skin clinic Cosmedics. ‘The thinking is — and it’s a fair, but incorrect, assumption — that the more expensive a cream, the better it will be.’ This is, he says, rubbish.
‘Ageing is 95 per cent down to your genetics and lifestyle. Moisturisers play a part, but that’s all,’ he adds. ‘You need a barrier cream, to stop moisture evaporating from skin, and hydration provided by soaking into the skin.’
The better effects come from heavier, greasier products, he points out. ‘There is no such thing as a very good “light” moisturiser. In order for it to work, it must be greasy.’
Other creams with such qualities include Sudocrem, Doublebase and Epaderm — none of which you’re likely to find in the fragrant make-up halls of department stores.
In addition, Dr Perry advises being highly sceptical of anything that claims much more than basic moisturising or sun protection. ‘Creams advertising their contents including stem cells, gold and diamonds are not clinically proven to be of benefit. I’d be dubious that the concentrations in the creams could make any possible difference.’ So Astral — priced from 99p for 50ml and up to £7.99 for 500ml — with its two basic ingredients, falls firmly into the inexpensive and effective skincare bracket. Skin may look and feel dry when the water content in the top layer of the epidermis, the stratum corneum, falls from around 15 per cent to less than 10 per cent. Glycerin is what’s known as a humectant, which means that it can attract water into the epidermis, increasing its water content. Lanolin is a thick, natural oil from a sheep’s fleece. It is extracted after the sheep has been shorn. It holds up to 400 times its weight in water, locking in moisture and making it very effective at hydration. Some people have an allergy to lanolin, although Kirsten Carriol, creator of Lano, a lanolin-based brand, points out it is always thoroughly cleansed. ‘Lanolin is used in hospitals after surgery and by breastfeeding mothers.’
Perhaps you are feeling hoodwinked. Doesn’t every cream need to have some magic? Well, according to the youthful fans of Astral, it does.
Take book editor Judy Hanson, 58, who lives in East Yorkshire. She has the dewy skin of a woman two decades younger and fully credits Astral for her youthful visage.
‘My mother has always been an advocate of Astral. Now in her 80s, she looks amazing for her age. Aged 18, in 1981, I developed very dry skin, so I borrowed my mother’s face cream. The difference was near instant and started a life-long love affair.’ JUDY adds: ‘A big part of the appeal is that it’s incredibly cheap. I buy one big pot and save up my little pots, so I can have one in the bathroom, one in my bedroom, one in my handbag and one to take travelling.’
Her younger sister, Beverley, 53, has more disposable income. ‘But we look the same age — and she buys the expensive creams,’ says Judy.
The sole problem for Astral is its image. But the company is working on this with its Kick-Astral campaign targeting millenials.
Hester Grainger is only 38, and started using Astral two years ago. ‘I’ve always had very dry skin and tried everything from Clinique and Elemis to Superdrug and Boots’ own creams.’ She admits that the fuddy- duddy image initially put her off.
‘I did think of Astral as being old-fashioned, as my mother used to use it.’ Hester, who works in communications in Reading and is married with two children, noticed an immediate difference, though admits that colleagues find it amusing.
‘ When I admit it, they’re horrified. If I were younger and bothered about people’s opinions of my anti- ageing products, I’d probably steer clear. As it is, I’m a devoted fan.’
Given that this is the response of most users, it appears that Astral has at least another 60 years of popularity left.