London - One of the first things Nicola McWilliams does every morning is reach into her American-style fridge.
But rather than getting the milk for her first coffee, she removes her Elemis eye gel and face serum.
“I’ve been keeping my face creams in the fridge for the past year,” she says. “I think it keeps them in good condition and the cool sensation wakes me up first thing.”
Rather than being a bit of an oddity or overly precious about her possessions, Nicola, 46, who owns her own company and lives in Essex with her partner, is at the forefront of a nationwide trend.
Last week, it was reported that the uber-wealthy are asking for cosmetics fridges to be incorporated into their homes, either in the kitchen or the bathroom.
At the new development Rathbone Square, in Fitzrovia, central London, the penthouse suites starting at £4.475-million have a small cosmetic fridge hidden beneath a storage unit.
A recent report from Samsung and the online retailer ao.com discovered that three million British women keep their make-up in the fridge.
The average fridge apparently also contains as many bottles of nail varnish as beer.
So have we nothing better to do than mollycoddle our beauty products?
“I started when I was staying in Majorca last year,” says Nicola. “All my creams separated in the high temperatures, and Elemis isn’t cheap.
“In desperation, I put them in the fridge. After a few hours they had returned to normal.”
Prabh Lalli, 35, a mother-of-two living in Glasgow with her event organiser husband, tells a similar tale.
“I started storing my Lancome creams and MAC make-up in the fridge when I lived in Hong Kong. I loved the cool feeling on my skin,” she says.
“I moved to Glasgow six years ago and am trying to persuade all my Scottish friends that it’s a good idea.”
And there is a good scientific premise for the trend.
Cosmetic dermatologist Dr Philippa Lowe says: “Natural or fresh organic products may well benefit from refrigeration. These don’t have high levels of preservatives, so they probably won’t be negatively affected by the cold.”
Other beauty products that may be best served chilled are those which reduce inflammation. “Eye gels not only feel more refreshing when cold, but the lower temperature causes vaso-constriction: shrinking the blood vessels and, therefore, helping with redness and puffiness,” says Dr Lowe.
She says that a product always kept in the fridges at her central London treatments rooms is Simple Kind To Skin Micellar Cleansing Water.
“We use it to cleanse skin after almost every single treatment because it’s cool and soothing.”
And beauty expert and TV presenter Nadine Baggott says: “I find a cooling eye mask, such as my favourite patches from Institute Esthederm, works best when kept in the fridge and then applied straight to my puffy eyes.”
Rowena Bird, co-founder of Lush, agrees.
“Our fresh face masks need to be kept in the fridge. Fresh beauty products have a longer shelf life if kept cool,” she says.
As should Udo’s Choice Ultimate Oil Blend to maintain the blend of omegas 3,6 and 9, which degrade with heat. The Body Shop also says its Vitamin E Face Mist is more refreshing cooled.
But not all creams need to go in the fridge.
“Most of the commercially available face creams contain preservatives and have been stringently tested to be stored and used at room temperature,” says Dr Lowe.
“Certain ingredients, such as oils, may become thicker in the fridge, which you then have to return to room temperature. Exposing a cream to such extremes of temperature may affect the active ingredients.”
She says certain active ingredients will penetrate skin better at room temperature. “If vitamin C and retinol become cold, they may not be as effective. Keep them out of the cold.”
And Lynne Sanders, founder of Cosmetics a la Carte, goes further: “The whole concept is ludicrous. Foundations and mascaras are designed to operate at room temperature while a cold lipstick is hard to apply.
“But if you want to sharpen an eye pencil, a few minutes in the fridge may make it easier.”
Nicola keeps her perfume in the fridge, but experts warn against this as well.
“It’s true that light and heat are the biggest enemies of perfume,” says Lawrence White, of luxury perfume store Roullier White. “I’d store it a few degrees below room temperature if possible in a dark cupboard.
“But perfume is so fragile that the molecules of essential oil will be disrupted by extreme cold as well as heat.”
It’s the same with nail varnish. “I would never store nail polish in the fridge. It may cause it to separate, making application more difficult,” says nail technician Emma Myers.
But let’s not forget another interested party: long-suffering husbands and partners.
“My husband was thoroughly confused at first, but now he is used to it,” says Prabh.
“Mine thinks it’s bonkers, but has stopped moving my creams out of the way,” says Nicola.
So until they buy a purpose-built cooler, it appears some of us will remain determined to keep cosmetics beside the carrots.
Daily Mail