Throw out your ten-step skin routine, everything you need for flawless skin is under your kitchen sink. At least, it is if we're to follow Nigella Lawson's advice. The TV-chef and all around beacon of beauty has revealed she uses her Marigold washing up gloves to exfoliate her face, yes seriously. Don't get too excited though, because skincare secret isn't exactly being well received by experts, who fear she's actually damaging her skin more than helping it.
Speaking at a Q&A session in London this weekend, Nigella was asked about everything from anxiety to her guilty pleasures (rhubarb and custard sweets) during which she wisely said 'you should not have any guilt about pleasure. You should only ever feel guilt if you don't take pleasure' . But it was when asked about how she keeps her skin looking so youthful and flawless at age 58 that fans took note. Revealing that she uses her dishwashing marigolds - which can be bought online for less than £10 - to keep her complexion crystal clear, everyone was shook by her cheap and cheerful guide to perfect skin.
'I am the sucker who buys things,' she said, 'I recently bought some washing up gloves with silicone bits on the palm for scrubbing. I exfoliate with them. I like them.' The type of gloves she's referring to, pictured below, are being sold online for just £5.99, meaning you can supposedly get Nigella's flawless face for less than the price of your lunch today.
Sold as a combination of glove and sponge for easy dish-washing, the gloves contain silicon ridges on the palms that make getting off dirt (from hardware like plates and crockery, not your face) that much easier. Of course, just looking at them you can see they would be quite harsh on the sensitive skin of our faces, which has led one skin expert to warn against Nigella's technique.
Celebrity cosmetic doctor, Vincent Wong, told The Sun: 'It’s such a bad idea to use Marigold gloves to exfoliate. The texture of the gloves are quite rough and it can be really damaging to over stress your skin. She’s doing the complete opposite to helping her skin.'
Well, this is awkward.
Of course, it's unsurprising really, the trend towards less is more in skincare has been approved by many skincare professionals, urging people not to over-cleanse or over-exfoliate for fear of stripping the skin of it's natural oils and causing mini-abrasions that will overall worsen your complexion.
Although, since every ones skin is unique to them, perhaps Nigella has miracle, strong skin that can withstand even the harshest of exfoliations? Alas, not all of us are so lucky, so we might be steering clear of this beauty trick. We'll take her advice about not feeling guilt when gorging on sweets instead...