I first discovered Pro-Collagen about five years ago whilst killing time in House of Fraser. I often have lots of time to kill in town (by town I mean the West-End and Oxford Street) because castings are rarely scheduled in a neat, coherent order. There always seems to be an hour’s gap here, or two hours there; too short a time to nip back home and have a sandwich. My favourite places to kill time are the beauty halls, obviously, followed by Topshop, Pret a Manger (various locations) and the cafe on the ground floor of my gym. I spend more time in the cafe at my gym than actually doing any exercise – I pay for a permanent locker to store my trainers and shampoo, but I reckon that bats would fly out of it if I opened it today!

Where was I? House of Fraser! Five years ago, during one of my time-wasting sessions, I started poking about on the Elemis counter, opening jars and sniffing the contents, dropping things and generally annoying the Elemis Ladies. They gave me a few samples – mainly, I think, to get rid of me – and off I trotted with quite a hefty 15ml tube of Pro-Collagen Marine Cream. I am ashamed to say that since that day I have very often gone to Elemis counters to ‘enquire’ about the Marine Cream and obtain a sample, but this is because I find the sample tubes to be invaluable for travel, not because I’m a cheap-skate!

I loved the Marine Cream from the moment it touched my skin. I had thought that it might be too rich, too heavy, because of the ‘anti-ageing’ nature of the product, but in fact it was light and non-oily and it absorbed instantly into my skin. If you – like me – want a lighter anti-ageing cream that won’t overload your skin, then this one is gorgeous. I especially like the smell – it’s quite powerfully fragranced, but the scent is totally natural, and it makes me feel as though I’m giving myself a bit of a treat.

I have been using my Marine Cream loads recently – since the ‘cold snap’ I’ve had the central heating cranked up and have been trying to counteract the drying effect! I keep it on my desk (a sure-fire way to ensure that I use something!) and apply it first thing as I’m waiting for my computer to turn on. It’s perfect to use underneath makeup as it doesn’t leave a residue – just perfectly smooth and hydrated skin. If you are going past an Elemis counter, then see if they have any samples (they will kill me for saying this!) and give this cream a whirl – it’s a great beauty staple if you want a powerful-but-lightweight cream. It’s quite expensive – as pretty much everything seems to be these days! – so try and buy it when Elemis are running a ‘gift with purchase’, when you can add a few luxury-sized samples into the deal!

The Pro-Collagen Marine Cream is a bit of a cult product; it’s an all-singing. all-suiting moisturiser that isn’t too rich but still packs a powerful punch, and for that I think that it deserves maximum beauty respect.

Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream is £75 for 50ml, available from TimetoSpa, House of Fraser or Debenhams.