Skin cream sales boom

Sales of anti-ageing skin treatments have reached a new high as British women try to stay as youthful-looking as their favourite celebrities, research shows.

While women in their thirties and forties now spend an average £200 a year each on products to keep the wrinkles at bay - almost treble the £75 a head spent three years ago - some admit to spending more than £500.

Beauty-industry experts say they are trying to copy stars who seem impervious to the ravages of time, like Madonna, who is 45, Nicole Kidman, 37, and Kim Cattrall, 46.

The research, based on a survey of 2,000 women by beauty company Olay, also revealed that single women spend half as much as those who are or have been married, or those in a long-term relationship.

Newby Hands, Harpers& Queen magazine beauty director, said: "There is a lot of pressure on women to look good. Compared with 15 years ago, some of these products do work, and quickly."

Philip Hodson, a fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, said: "People nowadays don't realise that you can be and look old, and be happy."