Make sure you trust who you buy from, skincare as an afterthought? A rant.

So Tom Ford has been around for a while now - I don't have the same obsession for him as some of my fellow bloggers - ultimately because my obsession is skincare - not colour. So when he launched his skincare recently I thought 'YES! Finally I can share the Tom obsession.' Except I can get no information about his skincare in detail - anywhere. The e-tailers that are selling it say 'it's loaded with anti-oxidants!' and list no ingredients. Five visits to his counters - where I was approached by his own people - his OWN counters - FIVE - this is the best I got: 'Hi, can you tell me a little about the skincare please?' 'Yes madam (they are nothing if not polite), they are LOADED with antioxidants.' Maybe this is enough for some people with money to burn. 'Ok - do you know what the active ingredients are?' *smiles* 'Of course!' *Passes the £185.00 box of 'Intensive Infusion Concentrate Extreme' to me* I read the ingredients list - couldn't see anything ground-breaking and asked again (very politely - I wasn't even TRYING): 'What are the key ingredients in this?' 'Oh it's loaded with anti-oxidants!' *eyebrow* I resisted the urge to say 'SO IS AN ORANGE!' and simply handed it back and said 'Thank you very much.' At which point every single Sales Assistant immediately offered me either a spray of fragrance/swatch of colour. At least they tried to save the sale. They are clearly more comfortable in the smelly/lippie zone. Tom Ford does not strike me as someone who does things by halves - fellow bloggers rave about the quality of his lipsticks/foundations etc and my husband and I have spent a small fortune on his aftershaves/perfumes over the recent years. Black Orchid is in my all-time favourites. So my question is: Why can no-one tell me what's in his skincare? Maybe I'm being over the top but I don't think it's too much to expect a fair run-down of something you are asking £185.00 for. If you are serious about your skincare Tom you need to train your staff correctly so that even if they are not skin specialists they can talk knowledgeably about key benefits and ingredients. Or hire me to do it. You are losing money. Which brings me back to my basic retail buying guide: Buy your foundation/concealer from a makeup artist. Buy your colour and fragrance from a couture house/perfumer. And buy your skincare from a specialist house/doctor/facialist and you can't go far wrong. Sadly my experience at TF has not done anything to change my mind.

• Facialist Brands
• Skincare