My dear mum recently sent me the following newspaper clipping via WhatsApp with no accompanying text: "Vaginal cream! Not in the place it's made for, though, but smeared on your face. Nadja got this insider tip from her make-up artist." I look in the mirror, confused. Do I look that bad that my ever-worried mum sends me such secret tips? The writing was small and I was tired, so I called her: "Mummy? What are you sending me?"

My mum told me excitedly about what she had read about snail slime. It gets stranger and stranger. Vaginal cream made from snail slime or what? "You didn't finish reading!" was my clever mum's verdict. I've seen through it! If I had finished reading, I would have learnt Nadja's next insider tip - snail mucus creams and gels. But this is not so new to me. I already know that Korean women put all sorts of wild stuff on their faces, like snail slime and snake venom. My mum continues: "They figured it out because men who worked with snails had hands like porcelain." Meanwhile, I squint at the small font of the WhatsApp message. Snail slime helps against acne, scars, spots, skin ageing, raves this Nadja, whoever she is.

I'm about to sit down at the computer. Because of course the question arises - a snail? What does it have that I don't? Well, collagen and elastin, for example. And allantoin, which has a wound-healing and anti-inflammatory effect. Over time, snail mucus improves the elasticity and resilience of the skin. The antioxidant properties of the mucilage combat premature skin ageing and the glycolic acid ensures that excessive sebum production is slowed down, resulting in clearer skin. But that's not all. Snail slime is said to have enough regenerative power to eliminate pigmentation spots and minor redness. Wow. And no snail has to suffer or die for it. Only the mucus is extracted from snails, which was apparently already used in ancient Greece to treat skin inflammation.

Here are the experiences

I can be forgiven for liking to order online, I drive 40 kilometres to get to what you could call a specialist shop and I'm willing to bet that they definitely don't have what I'm looking for. So I chose a Korean brand from the wide range on Amazon. It offers countless products with snail slime. I thought about whether I should order a gel or a cream and decided in favour of the cream.

I use it for the first time in the evening. The next morning, my skin is as soft as velvet. It's not rich enough for some areas and after it's absorbed I put some of my normal face cream on my cheeks, but the consistency is great for the T-zone. I like to layer, if you don't know this, take a look at my Video I explain how it works there. After three days, however, I decided to use my normal cream on top, because this cream is really almost a gel and my skin feels dry, even though it's not. The cream seems to be super moisturising, but it's autumn and the skin needs something richer.

After about a week, I can only say that my face is much less shiny and definitely looks more "porcelain-like". I can hardly describe it any other way, it looks a bit like porcelain, so very beautiful and fresh. My complexion simply looks much better, I need less make-up. This is a great effect, especially now that my skin is pale again and every little redness is visible. Especially as I've only been using the cream for a week. The unsightly shine in the T-zone is gone, I don't need to reapply powder during the day. Small blemishes have really come out in the first few days (no new ones, just the ones that were already there). After removing it, no new ones appear and the skin is nice and clear. It looks like a cleansing reaction to me. But it's only been a week, so I can't say too much yet. I let my two teenagers use the cream because of their spots. I'd rather not tell them what's in it. I'll report back in two months' time.

My sister was a little quicker and has been using her gel for about two weeks. Her problem child is acne scars and acne-prone, very sensitive skin. She has opted for the following gel:

She says: "I am totally thrilled. Nothing I've used so far compares to snail slime. After just two weeks I can see a HUGE difference, the scars are much paler. I apply the gel to clean skin, massage it in, let it absorb and then use my cream. It's a 100% gel, so it's intensive."

Hm. I'm wondering whether I should have used the gel. But my cream contains 92% snail slime, so that will probably do. It's also quite thin and I'll just use something richer on top for now.

And here is the experience of my mum, who opted for the following:

Her dry skin is sometimes prone to small flaky patches and eczema. She currently had a small patch behind her ear where she had been suffering from eczema for ages. "When I was applying the cream, I thought I'd rub it in at the same time. That was in the evening. And you won't believe it - the NEXT DAY the eczema was gone! The next day! Just overnight!" I'm using all the exclamation marks to give you a flavour of the happiness that was in her story...

It looks to me like this cosmetic ingredient can really do something. Thank you, dear snails! And of course I look forward to hearing about your experiences, my dear reader snails!

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One snail slime, please!