A high-tech tinted moisturiser
Charlotte Tilbury’s Unisex Healthy Glow (£35; charlottetilbury.com, available from June 26)
Actually, it’s underselling this to call it a tinted moisturiser. It’s a fantastically cheaty skincare product. It’s for those days when you don’t want to wear make-up, but doing without makes you look like a member of the Addams family. It makes tired skin look beachy, peachy and alive and has become indispensable to me lately. Some extreme science I can’t go into here makes this liquid adapt to any skin colour. It gives you a radiance and warmth that ordinarily comes from happiness or a weekend away. I’m delighted to be able to get this from a tube.
A top-notch mascara with a bendy brush
Givenchy Noir Interdit Mascara (£25.50; debenhams.com from June 19)
It seems to me that someone at Givenchy has decided the company is going to be the boss of all mascaras, because it has launched several “wow” ones in the past couple of years. I hate to use the word “game-changer”, but honestly, this one is like no other I’ve seen. The brush is hinged, which allows you to get every teeny lash – thrilling for those of us with spindly lashes. For an even fuller, fatter effect, there’s a new conditioning base coat you could add called Base Perfecto Mascara £25 (also coming June 19), which I can highly recommend.
Rosy cheeks in a grown-up way
Nars Liquid Blush in Orgasm (£23; narscosmetics.co.uk)
Nars Orgasm blusher is one of those iconic products in the world of slap. As the name indicates, it’s designed to achieve a sexily flushed look, but I don’t think I’ve ever thought, “You know what, I just want to look on heat all day,” when applying make-up. I do, however, adore this colour – particularly now it’s introduced a liquid version. It’s a subtle pink to pop on the apples of your cheeks. Your face will just look perkier – and Orgasm suits all skin tones.
Some in-shower body lotion
Sanctuary Spa Wet Skin Moisture Miracle (£8; boots.com)
Regular readers will know I feel we should all try to make time for body lotions. The busier you are, the more you owe yourself 50 seconds for a quick massage from neck to toe. Of course, here on Planet Earth with kids hammering at the bathroom door and trains to be late for, few of us have the time. This clever product may be the solution. It’s a moisturiser you slap onto soaking wet skin the second the shower is turned off. Then you pat your skin dry and go hell for leather at the rest of your day as usual.
A cool new scent
London, by Gallivant (£65; roullierwhite.com)
This new British brand is launching with four terribly chic scents for globetrotters (and those of us who fancy ourselves as jetset). They’re all named after fashionable locations – Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Brooklyn – but my favourite is London, a cocktail of cucumber violet leaf and a rose notes. They come in 30ml bottles – handy for frequent flyers.
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Foolproof fake tan for the face
Anne Semonin Glow Instant Radiance Essence (£49; annesemonin.com)
I think only the brave use fake tan on the face – it’s neither quick nor easy to deal with the inevitable mistakes. This product from French brand Anne Semonin is a dream solution. Pat the liquid on with a cotton wool pad for a subtle glowy tan. Go for another layer if you want to look like you’ve been on holiday. I am addicted as it also hydrates with apricot and tomato seed oil. Although the manufacturer makes no claim on this, it also seems to tighten my skin. Imagine a really watered-down gravy browning that’s very good for midlife skin. It’s a bit like that – which I consider a result.
An easy-to-wear bold lip colour…
Trish McEvoy Veil Lip Colour Lipstick (£27; harveynichols.com)
I am currently managing a creeping addiction to this make-up brand. McEvoy, a top make-up artist for more than 40 years, seems to know exactly how we all want our slap to perform. Her latest creation is a small collection of lipsticks that properly stain your lips with pigment, but don’t dry them out. I love the look of a strong lip, but I don’t love that feeling of a weight on my lips that usually accompanies the look. These three pinkish lip colours are heavily pigmented, but have a “no lipstick” feel. I’m wearing the Wild Rose shade, which is a bold orangey-pinky red.
... and a very natural, nude lip colour
Dior Lip Tattoo (£25; dior.com)
When is a lipstick not a lipstick? When it’s long-wear coloured tint, of course! This paint-on liquid stain seems to embed itself rather than sit on top of your lips. I’m using the new Natural Beige shade. I don’t look like I am wearing lipstick. It just looks as if I am blessed with an excellent lip colour. Which I am – thank you, Dior!
Lacquered brown legs all summer long
St Tropez Instant Tan Finishing Gloss (£12; sttropeztan.co.uk)
Why settle merely for brown legs when your legs can be gleaming as well as bronzed? This wash-off, easy-to-apply tan gives your legs that “evenings on holiday” look that we should be entitled to from now to October.
Some multitasking skincare
Frances Prescott Tri-Balm (£36; francesprescott.com)
This wonderful plant-based cleansing balm invented by a make-up artist performs many other tasks – operating in addition as an exfoliant, a moisturiser or a wipe-off face mask. Slap it on sparingly or generously (you can use a lot as a mask). Or splash water on after application and it will emulsify as a cleanser and rinse off.
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A waterproof bronzer
Guerlain Terracotta Sun Tonic Bronzing Powder (£36.50; houseoffraser.co.uk)
Guerlain’s bronzer is one of a handful of make-up products that we are allowed to call iconic. I have tried many, but more often than not I return to this compact when I want to apply an on-holiday face. This summer, the formula has been much improved by making it waterproof. No swimming pool, no sea, no light sweat will remove your carefully enhanced cheekbones. Hoorah!
Some JLo-type radiance
Marc Jacobs Dew Drops Coconut Gel Highlighter (£32; johnlewis.com)
A make-up artist told me that Jennifer Lopez – a veritable beacon of midlife luminosity – loves this product so much she likes to spread it all over her body. It is a liquid highlighter, which, while not totally subtle, is suitable for grown-ups. You can tap a little on the top of cheekbones for serious emphasis, or it works beautifully if you mix it with moisturiser. If you’re baring shoulders or clavicles of a summer evening, blend it with your body lotion.
Some serious (very serious) hair conditioner
Rahua Colour Full Hair Mask (£52; net-a-porter.com)
This is expensive for a hair product, but it will protect the investment you have with your highlights. The sun will always compromise your colour, but this super-rich mask with strengthening rahua oil will lock in the shade for colour-treated hair and keep it looking glossy. I’d recommend weekly use. It’s one of the best products around for fighting colour fade and hair damage. It’s a bonus that its scent – from extracts of lavender and gardenia – is divine.
A truly useful make-up palette
Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess The Summer Look Palette (£45; houseoffraser.co.uk)
How many times have you bought a make-up palette and only used 40 per cent of the shades? There are always a few dud colours. But you need not accept this. This cleverly curated colour collection has three non-threatening nudey silky powders you can use to shade and highlight eyes and cheeks, plus one slither of high-fashion drama: a peacock blue for eyes.
Peach-coloured nails
Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Coquillage (£20; chanel.com)
I’m over the whole “fun” nail colour thing. Most of the blue/silver/green/yellow nail shades are not so flattering on non-teenage hands. I am attached to this new sunny, Eighties-looking peach colour from Chanel, though. It’s a step away from overly chic nudes and pinks, but still doesn’t scream effortfully unconventional.
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A sunscreen that won’t make me spotty
La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo SPF30 (£16.50; boots.com)
I recommend the Effaclar line from this brilliant French pharmacy brand to anyone with zit-prone skin. Sunscreen is essential for helping the zit aftermath heal well and not leave a lasting mark – but many spf products are so viscous, they clog pores and create more problems. This moisturiser soothes, fades scars, fights spots and doesn’t block the pores.
A cheap yet luxurious body scrub
Soaper Duper Zesty Lemon Foaming Body Scrub (£7.50; tesco.com)
Exfoliation is such a bore, but I feel it can’t be avoided in the summer. If you’re going to all the trouble of flashing flesh, it may as well be sloughed and shiny. This scrubby shower gel from the inexpensive but top-quality brand Soaper Duper provides a fast, uplifting way to be the grim reaper of dying, crispy skin cells.
A cooling face mask
Perricone MD Elemental Energy Firming Foam Mask (£48; perriconemd.co.uk)
This is a lightweight but hard-working mask that hydrates parched skin very quickly – you need only leave it on for five minutes. It comes as a gel; after a few seconds it starts to turn into something that looks like shaving foam. Afterwards, just rinse off. It cools the skin down as it foams up and removes redness as well as quenching and firming.
A face-quenching spray
Elizabeth Arden Eight-hour Miracle Hydrating Mist (£18.90; debenhams.com)
You’re either one of those people who carries a small skin-hydration spray onto a plane or you’re not. Obviously I am an in-flight spritzer – especially if I am travelling with the kids and using up their airside liquids allowance. What sort of beauty expert would I be if I did not? This is the best I’ve tried and performs well under or over make-up.
A romantic Mediterranean scent
Tom Ford Sole Di Positano (£155; johnlewis.com)
Ah! That delicious scent of the hot, sexy mini-break on the Amalfi Coast with my Italian lover! The one that’s only happening in my mind…