So you have an anti-wrinkle cream that smells like a garden in bloom, strawberry scrubs for a fresher you and lotions that erase the tracery of age? Fact: few, if any, work. Eye takes a hard look.

Manisha Malhotra’s dressing table is littered with creams, lotions and gels. There are under eye creams, anti wrinkle serums, creams to remove stretch marks, and sun blocks. She can’t resist buying goodies for her skin, the 35 year old says. “I don’t spend on make up,” she insists, “Because good skin is the best makeup.”