Whilst in Birmingham shooting for the new Pavilions campaign, I popped into one of my favourite beauty stores, l’Occitane. I have a bit of a strange obsession with l’Occitane that started on my first ever proper modelling trip abroad, which was a shoot with Marie-Claire in the south of France. (In 2001, just in case you were wondering). I loved the huge blocks of ‘Savon’ that were on display, and the products that had been scented with Orange Flower, and I’ve been buying little ‘reminders’ of that trip ever since.

But back to Birmingham: look at what caught my eye! Is it just me, or is the packaging for the Almond Apple range absolutely gorgeous? I loved it on first sight – and then, lo and behold, it just happened to be l’Occitane’s ‘first signs of ageing’ range! With my ‘first signs’ obsession, it would have been utterly rude not to give the range a try…

The moisturisers in the range contain almond milk to soften skin, almond proteins to help firm skin and smoothe out fine lines, and then apple vinegar to help tighten up pores. There’s an incredible smelling toner that’s an absolute joy to use, and a light, liquidy cleansing oil, a de-puffing eye gel and a facial peel.

My ‘pick of the bunch’ would be the Velvet Concentrate, which is a luxurious – but surprisingly light – cream that has an instant beautifying effect, and the lighter textured Velvet Fluid, which feels refreshing on tired skin. The apple smell is really uplifting first thing in the morning, and they really do leave a ‘velvet’ finish – especially the concentrate. I’m wearing the concentrate in the video, with just a touch of bronzer – take a look and see what you think!

Apple Almond Velvet Concentrate, £29 for 50ml, Toning Cider, £13 for 200ml and Velvet Fluid, £23 for 30ml, all from l’Occitane.