Pippa Watt looked in the mirror and decided to face facts. MAXINE GORDON reports on this aromatherapist's answer to ageing.

LIKE many women approaching 40, Pippa Watt decided it was time to face facts: her skin wasn't getting any younger. It was time to start using an anti-ageing cream, she decided.

But instead of heading to the high street to try the latest 'wonder products' on the market, Pippa, a trained aromatherapist from Newton-on-Ouse, decided to make her own. The result is Duo-Derm, which consists of an oil and a cream, containing lavender and frankincense.

"I developed it for myself," explains Pippa, who runs the York School of Complementary Medicine and writes a regular column for the Evening Press. "People used to ask me what I used on my skin and I ended up making it for them, and then for their friends."

And so it continued until Pippa decided to market Duo-Derm to a wider audience as part of her Natural Healthcare range of aromatherapy products.

Duo-Derm, says Pippa, makes the skin glow and radiate. "It consists of Dermis Oil which you put on your face and neck at night and Dermis cream which is applied every morning. It's a bit like a deep conditioner for your face.

"Duo-Derm Oil contains essential oils of lavender and frankincense which are powerful skin regenerators. Frankincense was used by the Egyptians to preserve skin tissue in the mummies, and if you burn yourself and use lavender then you don't get a scar. I find that most people who buy it re-order."

Duo-Derm is the latest launch from the Natural Healthcare range. Another new collection is the aromatherapy gift boxes, which include The Relaxing Box, aimed at those with busy lives, The Office Box, which seeks to revive and protect you at work, The Sensual Box, for a night of pampering and The Invigorating Box, for those needing a spot of reviving.

There are sports and travel gift boxes too, and Pippa says she can tailor-make a box to suit personal requirements.

She added: "My products are not mass produced. Everything is individually made by people who have great respect for the therapeutic property of essential oils."

The products are only available by mail order from Pippa's Natural Healthcare Clinic. Gift box prices start at £20. The Duo-Derm package of 100ml oil and 25ml cream costs £30, but Evening Press readers can claim £5 off Duo-Derm if they order by the end of July 2001.

For a brochure, contact Pippa

on 01347 848107.