Beauty Clinic: I feel bad about my neck!

Q. I am 49 and the skin on my face and body are fine but my neck is really ageing quickly. Can you recommend a good product to start using now to slow down the ageing process as I have only ever used a day and night cream on this area? I also live in Spain so need something with a high SPF. A. Necks are a big woe with many ageing women because the skin there is so much thinner and thus more easily damaged. So, the good news: you will find a list of Award Winning Neck Creams in the latest edition of our bestseller The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible, which you can find at www.victoriahealth.com and on Amazon. (Each trialled, as usual, on 10 women, over a period of months.)

The top-scoring product is Clarins Super Restorative Decolleté and Neck Concentrate, with an average of 8.89/10. We have always thought this was a superlative product and are delighted that our tester panels agree. Comments include: ‘Absolutely huge improvements: I have tried other (expensive) brands but I can now see benefits as never before’ and ‘my neck really does look tighter and younger, décolleté firmer and a little lifted: I am very impressed. Much better than just using my day or night creams.’

Runners-up include Guerlain Abeille Royal Neck & Decolleté Cream SPF15, with 8.57/10 average score and a more affordable Liz Earle Superskin Concentrate, with 8.5/10, which lasts for ages.

You could use the Clarins or Liz Earle at night and the Guerlain in the daytime because of its SPF. However, while using a daytime product with an SPF may help somewhat, we never recommend relying on an SPF moisturiser to protect your skin day-long.

There is only one product we know of - Ultrasun Face 30 (and also 50) - which comes in an anti-ageing formula, combining a moisturiser and high factor sun protection that will last all day. Either use this right down to your décolleté during the day, or for a real double whammy, apply a neck cream too.