I do rather like the new Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Colour Sticks; I never really got to grips with the chunkier NARS Multiples, but then I did buy the most ridiculously glimmery shades! NARS’ Multiples were the first cream face-colour sticks I remember seeing – a makeup artist must-have, they would be lined up on the beauty table at almost every shoot and used for everything from highlighting to adding a hint of colour to eyelids and lips. Since first discovering the NARS, almost fifteen years ago, I’ve seen nearly all of the beauty brands do, or have done, some kind of version of the Multiple, with varying success. Some are too greasy, some too hard to blend and with most of them, if used incorrectly, you risk disturbing all of your base makeup and ending up with a muddy mess.

Chanel’s Healthy Glow Sheer Colour Sticks are at the successful end of the scale. Part of the Les Beiges collection, which sells itself as the low-maintenance woman’s answer to perfect, glowing skin, they have a velvet texture that glides on easily and is light enough to blend quickly without ruining whatever’s underneath.

The three Sheer Colour Stick shades are universally flattering – buildable and surprisingly pigmented so that they can be sheered out on paler skin and provide a more vibrant finish on darker. The texture is non-greasy but easy to smooth on, the colour lasts well and the sticks can be dabbed onto lips, beneath or on top of lip balm, as well as onto cheeks.

Here I am wearing shade 22, a punchy coral:

I actually tried this alongside four other cream blushers in a similar shade (I’ll try and write that post up soon) and out of all of them (Clinique, Makeup Forever, Topshop and another I can’t recall) the Chanel had the most pigment and the best staying power. That’s not to say that the others were duds, by any means (though I couldn’t manage to get very much colour pay-off from Clinique’s one!) just that the Healthy Glow Sheer Colour Stick seemed to cling on where the others faded.

In the photograph below I’m wearing shade 20 which is your “classic” kind of creamy bronze – if you like Chanel’s Soleil Tan de Chanel (Bronzing Makeup Base) then you will appreciate the warm, easy-to-buff-in tone of this colour stick. It’s certainly more convenient to carry and use and perhaps a little less orange in hue…

…though you do get over three times the amount of product in the Bronzing Makeup Base for exactly the same price – it’s still one of my must-have summer products because you only really need to buy it once every five years! (Find it online here. To apply, buff into your foundation with a stiff brush – I concentrate on shading beneath my cheekbones and to the temples.)

I’ll get back to you with the Cream Blush comparison post – I just need to take some pictures of my face, so I’m waiting for a moment when I’ve had more than three minutes of sleep and don’t have eyebags hanging down to the floor.

Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Colour Sticks are £32 each at Selfridges.com