If you don’t have any Earth Hour plans made yet (it’s tomorrow night, 7.30pm, if you don’t already know), why don’t you use this momentous occasion as a perfect excuse to splurge on some lovely scented candles and organise a romantic candle-lit dinner (Nice added bonus: how hot we look by the flickering light of a candle. So many illuminisers have attempted to capture the glow; none comes close to the real thing). My favourite flame of the moment is Aveda’s Light The Way Candle - a limited edition product to celebrate Earth Month, April. A whopping 100% of proceeds from the sale of this lavender-infused soy-wax piece of gorgeousness go to Global Greengrants Fund, which supports environmental groups and clean water projects around the globe. It’s $29.95, while stocks last. Call 1300 300 054 if you need help locating your nearest Aveda stockist.

Clinique released its ‘Truth in Beauty’ global survey to the press yesterday. 10,400 women in 13 countries (including Australia) were polled on their various beauty habits and opinions. Some interesting stats:

In Australia, 84% of women think too much emphasis is placed on the external, whereas in Mexico, only 17% believe so. Must be something good in those nachos after all.

Australians believe women from their own country to be the most beautiful; women from other countries mostly nominated Indians and Italians as the most beautiful. Bless us for flying our own flag so well.

Australian women think that Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Hawkins best represent out type of beauty. Yes they’re beautiful, of course, but isn’t it getting tired to always be typecast so blonde?

Only 33% of Australian women use sunscreen on their face all year round. Tsk tsk …

Foundation is the one makeup item Aussies can’t do without; for skincare, it’s moisturiser.

77% of Russians care about whether or not men like their look; only 37% of Australian women do - by far the lowest score. Sisters, be proud!

44% of Australian women have had or would have cosmetic surgery - the second highest score for this question (Korea came in first).

The average Aussie woman owns seven skincare products (equal top ranking with the Russian women); Indian women own an average of one. Loving you all for being so good with your skincare routines!

You might remember, I spoke about Clarins Expertise 3P Screen Mist recently. Well, it launches next Monday ($59, from department stores). Recap: it was designed to fend off invisible forms of skin-damaging pollution, in particular electromagnetic waves. Clarins’ research found that six hours of exposure to these waves, e.g when you’re sitting in front of a computer, can notably weaken the skin’s natural barrier - meaning skin-ageing-inducing things such as inflammation and dehydration can occur. So, Clarins formulated an anti-pollution complex featuring the antioxidant likes of white tea. Some scientists have scoffed at the concept. Still, many scientists often scoff at the beauty industry. Now, I’m far from a science whiz. I walked out of my school lab in year 7 when we were told we had to cut up a frog and I never returned. So I can’t tell you if I actually think it works in regards to electromagnetic waves. What I can tell you is that I’m a huge believer in antioxidants. I apply a multi-vitamin serum of some sort every morning, before my moisturiser and sunscreen. But I’ve always wondered if I should re-apply antioxidants later in the day. A bit tricky, though, to re-cleanse and re-serum. So a mist makes perfect sense. Keep it on your desk and spritz whenever you need a refresh and your skin needs an antioxidant re-boot - it was specifically designed to work well over makeup and form a skin-shielding layer. Or, you could just take the day off work.

So here I am, all facialed-up and glowing. As I said yesterday, I thought it was perfect timing to get a peel, it being so dark and gloomy and almost-winter. But I also had a bit of a skin issue that I had to deal with. Hope this isn’t TMI, but the entire left side of my face, along jawline and up to the temple, had broken out in weird little red bumps. The 13-or-so spot treatments I had stashed away in my cabinet seemed to do diddly-squat (how I love that word) and it was all about the side-part for a while. Anyway, Dee, my brilliant facialist (she of Clear Skin Clinic, 02 9327 5033), had a good look (you know, under that horrific fluoro-lit magnifying glass) and decided they’re not actually regular pimples. Her analysis: the spots may be caused by my habit of resting my head on my left hand (which I always do at the desk) or by always crooking my phone to the left. Which reminds me of recent research that found that, on average, desks are germier than toilets. Ugh. I guess you can take germphobia too far, but I’ve just found a nice little use for some Clearasil antibacterial wipes I had lying around. My desk and phone have never looked less like a spotty teenager.