Marks and Spencer Advanced Formula Peptides Firm & Lift Beauty Balm

Yes, I do realise that my most overused phrase on the blog at the moment is 'they had me at X, Y or Z'.

So hey, lets have it once more, with feeling.

When I saw the word 'peptide' in the subject line of an email from Marks and Spencer PR, I opened it immediately. Because, yes, they had me at etc.

I LOVE peptides, me. Peptides for breakfast! Peptides for dinner! Peptides for tea! And peptides for supper! It's called the P Plan diet, girls!

Ok, I'll quit with the pop cultural refs now and tell you about this instead:  Advanced Formula Peptides Firm and Lift Beauty Balm is a newbie from Marks and Spencer which they're claiming can reduce lines and wrinkles, plus firm and smooth skin in just four weeks. That's based on consumer trials conducted over four weeks on 109 women, 81% of whom said they thought the beauty balm left their skin revitalised and rejuvenated with 75% reporting an improvement in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

The magic ingredients are hexapeptides (Luv U) which can plump out skin -  and that alone has the effect of smoothing wrinkles up and out. There's also Siberian ginseng which helps lift and tighten the skin. I dunno about the latter, but my skin stands up and claps when it's faced with a peptide and as an ingredient it seems to really do the trick for me.

Problem is, many creams containing these ingredients (and the whole mania for snake venom moisturisers is naught but a mania for peptides, which are proteins) are wildly expensive because it's a pretty buzz-wordy ingredient. Think €100-plus and you wouldn't be too far off the money.

So the even better news on Advanced Formula Peptides Firm and Lift Beauty Balm is that it costs just €13. Yes. Thirteen Euro.

Form an orderly queue, ladies, cos this could get messy.