I keep seeing this cropping up in various ‘backstage beauty secret’ articles so I thought I’d give it a whirl. You know how I like my balms! First point to note: this says it’s a cream, but it’s most definitely a balm. Anything that is almost solid but then melts down to an oily consistency is, in my opinion, a balm. If something is creamy, then it’s a cream. These days oils are serums and balms are creams, creams are lotions, glosses are balms – it’s all terribly, terribly confusing!

So, Egyptian Magic, backstage beauty secret. Used on the dry patches of all of the world’s runway models – a fact that I have just semi-made-up and one that I can’t verify, not being a runway model. I’ll ask around.

Some at home uses: scaly shins, dry hands, brittle cuticles, chapped lips, grazed skin. It’s quite a basic formula with an olive oil and beeswax base, but there’s added bee pollen, Royal Jelly and honey and it’s free from added fragrances and colourings. It’s a good option for those wanting a very plain balm, but at £22.95 I would expect the packaging to be a little more sophisticated! I suppose that this type of design does have its charms, but it feels a little bit ‘drugstore’ or ‘wholesale warehouse’ for my liking. I’d quite like it to be in a heavy gold and black pyramid pot! (Egyptian Magic – if you’d like to collaborate on this re-design, you can contact me any day! Can we have it play a tune when the lid comes off? Walk like an Egyptian perhaps?)

I’m working through lots of balms at the moment – quite literally ’embalming’ myself, so I’m getting quite au fait with the various textures and blends. This one is one of the simplest so far, but for many people that’ll be a bonus – lots of people are sensitive to essential oils and added fragrances, and Egyptian Magic has neither of these in the formula. I have been using it all week as a base for my matte lipstick – it absorbs just enough to allow for good lipstick application but it still provides quite long-lasting moisture. Used as a lip balm, this pot would last into the next millennium!

You can buy Egyptian Magic at Beauty Bay here for £22.95