Confessions of an Eco-Shopper was featured in a double-page spread in the Daily Mail today (Lifestyle, pp48-49).

Under the headline, ‘Dying to be beautiful’, the standfirst asks: ‘Are your beauty products killing you? In a new book, Kate Lock reveals what’s really in the bottles’.

The article, which condenses some of my writing, takes up the themes explored in Aisles 5 and 6 (Healthy Challenges 5 & 6) that look at toxins in beauty products and personal care products such as antiperspirants.

Of all the subjects in the book, I personally found this one the most compelling to research. I’ve always been a big consumer of beauty products and the things I discovered about the hormone-disrupting potential of phthalates and the possible link between breast cancer and parabens were especially disturbing.

The use of phthalates is more regulated than it used to be, at least in the EU, though one, DEP, is still widely used throughout the cosmetics industry. The problem with phthalates, as with parabens (synthetic chemicals used as preservatives) is that, because we use so many different products in our beauty regimes, no-one knows what the cumulative effect of applying this cocktail of chemicals – which can amount to a substantial internal dose – is likely to be.

It is really hard to find a moisturiser without parabens, because preservatives are needed when you formulate products containing water to prevent them going 'off'. Having said that, I did discover some. Green People do an excellent range and Tesco's bnatural range has no parabens, perfume or mineral oils and is really good value. I also use a range called A’Kin, which makes body washes and shampoos as well as moisturisers, though since it comes from Australia I’m trying to wean myself off it because it’s difficult to justify the hair miles . . .

What I do now is to make my own moisturisers, using beeswax, oils such as almond, wheatgerm, avocado and jojoba, cocoa butter and essential oils, following recipes from Josephine Fairley's Ultimate Natural Beauty Book. There's one with Frankincense and vitamin E that’s brilliant for mature skin. I’ve made a couple of batches now, adapting it a bit, and given them out to the mums in the school playground to test for me. They all absolutely love it.

As well as making my own moisturisers, I’ve branched out into making skin toners, cleansers, scrubs and masks, bath products and even an eye gel (though you have to be careful with the latter, and they don’t have much of a shelf life).

Actually, the eye gel was inspired by Preparation H, which is based on witch hazel. Given its toning and decongesting properties (my version also contained aloe vera gel, vegetable glycerine, cypress oil and geranium oil and tincture of benzoin – a natural preservative – as well as the witch hazel) I thought it might work as an under-eye treatment.

Applied around (but not in, obviously) the eye area it works excellently at reducing early-morning puffiness and does a good job of hydrating and toning the skin. But I wouldn’t use it anywhere else, unless you’re a masochist. It stings like crazy . . .