Classic beauty – the very words evoke to me the totally beautiful Grace Kelly (my all-time favourite movie is High Society) and Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Classic beauty is timeless, elegant and simple.

I know I am biased, but I put my own mother in that same category. She has that timeless look and has religiously taken care of her skin over the years, done nothing to it and used the simplest of routines. She tells me how her father used to steep chamomile flowers in hot water overnight and make her drink the infusion first thing in the morning – he was clearly a man ahead of his time. A self-confessed health and fitness nut, he managed to really set my mother in great stead. To this day, she still drinks hot water with lemon juice every morning. I remain in awe of how she still takes care of her skin, doesn’t sit in the sun (and is never even tempted, unlike that rest of us), is never going to join the Botox or surgery crowd and, as a result, has an amazing complexion. I have to say to me she looks as beautiful today as she did in her youth.

My mother always taught me from an early age, to take off any make-up, never go to bed with anything on my skin and to really take care of it. Something that teenagers, as a rule, tend to overlook. As a result, I have been really lucky with my skin and thus far so has my daughter – that passing on of advice really does work!!

What is interesting regarding my mother is that the Hollywood era of movies and actresses was all about huge glamour, false eyelashes put on daily, cat eyes with heavy eyeliner and pan stick foundation. There wasn’t the array of skincare available now and make-up was pronounced, obvious and rarely not worn. Regarding skincare, the products available were just things like good old Pond’s Cold Cream (which has made a resurgence through Kylie, who says even she swears by it!).

I remember my sister buying me a whole Clinique daily skincare routine of products for my sixteenth birthday. I genuinely thought I was the coolest thing ever and religiously did my cleansing, toning and moisturising and thus started my product obsession! I am a marketing dream. I go into department stores and am lured by everything – every piece of packaging, every promise that is mad or new smell that is being wafted by me. And perhaps we should take stock and go back to some of older, but tried and tested brands and products that have stood the test of time …

• Elizabeth Arden is a total classic. Their widely available Eight Hour Cream (£23, online at boots.com) is my most essential item – each tube lasts forever and seems to do everything you want it to do! An old fashioned fragrance and great for lips, nails, chapped hands, you name it – and it’s their eightieth anniversary of the product. They’ve also put it in a Body Treatment and Hand Cream (also £23 each, at boots.com), so you can now enjoy the entire range.
• Nivea – the smell evokes so many childhood remedies for me. The old fashioned blue tin with the tin foil that peeled back and, today, it’s so comforting that you can always buy it in any shape or form anywhere in the world. Even in a tiny supermrket in the middle of nowhere, a friendly pot of Nivea will turn up!! I relish the small electric blue tins. Nivea’s now extensive range covers every type of skin – I am a fan of the Nivea Visage Refreshing Facial Cleansing Wipes (£2.99) and Nivea Lip Care Essential (£1.35) lip balm (all available at boots.com).
• Oil of Olay – or when was it Ulay? Why did it change?! Regardless, it remains a timeless classic range of products that although moving with the times also has the core range of original items, which must prove that they are still a winner (the entire line-up, including the original Olay Classic Care range, is available at boots.com).
• Barefoot Botanicals – a very simple but lovely range, not complicated, gentle smells with a rose scent. My favourite is Rosa Fina – a gorgeous face and decolletage oil (£26.95, available at barefoot-botanicals.com). The smell is quite old fashioned, but the results up to the minute!!
• Vaseline – not sure how long this brand has been going, but again, for me it’s a comfort cream. Sort of great for everything from sunburn to chapped lips and, recently, I saw a top skin doctor recommend it as an extra moisturiser post being in the sun. I love to collect it from various destinations abroad, too, and wish I could find again the baby powder-smelling one that they made which I once bought on a trip to the States – heaven. As with Nivea and Olay, the full Vaseline range now includes, for example, Vaseline Intensive Rescue and Aloe Fresh products, and I love the little, retro-style Lip Therapy in their brightly coloured little tins (from £1.29 each, all available at boots.com).

Let’s not forget classic fragrances …

• Chanel No 5. Chanel packaging remains, for me, just the most superior in terms of its total simplicity. Chic, classy and just, frankly, a must-have item. In fact, whether you are a fan of No 5, Cristalle or any of the other fragrances, they stand the test of time (all available online at boots.com).
• Miss Dior. Again, I remember my first bottle of perfume being given to me by a friend of my parents – a bottle of Miss Dior. I didn’t get rid of it for years – actually, think it had gone off by the time I got rid of it – but it remains a gorgeous, classic floral fragrance that evokes memories of time gone by (£68 for a 100 ml Eau de Toilette spray, at boots.com).
• Guerlain – either Samsara (£24.99, 50 ml Eau de Toilette spray) or Shalimar (£34.99, 30 ml Eau de Parfum Natural Spray), Samsara being one of my favourites and also my mother’s. Shalimar, though, has been going since 1925 and was one of the first examples of an “Oriental” fragrance.

and, finally …

• Givenchy L’Interdit – a fragrance that was in fact created especially for Audrey Hepburn and was, originally, ‘forbidden’ to be sold as it had been created for her as a tribute. It’s now exclusive to Harrods (£65, 100 ml Eau de Toilette at harrods.com) and is as classic a fragrance as she was a beauty. Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey met during the filming of Sabrina (another of my favourite movies) and he went on to design almost all of her wardrobes in movies and then a fragrance. In light of the endless celebrity perfumes we are bombarded with, now many of them so mass-market, I rather like the idea of a ‘secret’ classic fragrance. And with Givenchy, it’s the perfect match with the likes of such an icon as Audrey.

As for classic fashion, well it doesn’t get much more classic than Jaeger.

Over the years, Jaeger – now 126 years old – has stood the test of time and has gone from being a fashion store you thought only your granny and mother would visit to now being a serious contender on the high street. Classic navy coats, black trousers, crisp white shirts are all trademarks – I always remember my mother getting fabulous winter coats from them, and recently I bought my mother-in-law a top to toe outfit for a wedding from there. Last year, they went back to some of their more classic vintage designs. I bought a divine Broderie Anglaise dress in white – very Grace Kelly – that was much admired from that range.

Now they have gone one step further – the new Jaeger Boutique collection launches this month via a pop-up shop. The boutique itself is in the iconic Carnaby Street, at 10 Fouberts Place, London W1, and features a bespoke shop fit showcasing the whole Autumn/winter 2010 collection. It also has all sorts of other accessories that will lure you there, from vintage brooches to hand-picked classic albums, quirky books and stationery – have to say I will be first in line.

A less expensive, but very funky, up to the minute range of clothes will also be on sale – personally am loving the black shorts and black sequin baggy sweater. Competitive prices, up to the minute, but slightly retro Sixties feel, a touch of rock ‘n’ roll – but still you can use the word ‘classic’ with Jaeger. They are very clever. Classic but with a twist – that thing we often want to achieve but can’t. They are clever to entice the younger crowd in – as with Burberry, they are now making themselves a destination to suit all ages.

The new Boutique range is also now available in selected Jaeger stores from and online at boutiquebyjaeger.co.uk – have a look and see what you think.