As you know already (probably), I don’t wear a lot of lipgloss. I find it difficult to pair lipgloss with my lifestyle (now and then I actually drink, eat and also go outside where the wind sometimes blows) and it doesn’t sit very well with my intolerant nature. The slightest inkling that one of my hairs has been glued up in my lipgloss and I feel instantly murderous. An overreaction, I know, but for me it’s as bad as putting gloves on with jam on your hands.

Despite the jam/hands wind/glue issues, lipgloss is incredibly handy stuff. It smoothes out every line and crease and blurs over, with a thick and gloopy mirror of shine, those flakes of skin and areas of redness that we all get, especially during the winter months. It’s like real-life retouching for the mouth and – providing you pick your shade well – it can be quite dramatically anti-ageing. I’ll re-stress that proviso though: you must choose your shade well. If you’re over the age of five   looking for a sophisticated-yet-youthful kind of look, then avoid anything too pale, too glittery or too “holographic”. You know the glosses I mean! Yes, we all love a bit of pink sparkle to look at but it’s not necessarily the best shade for making our lips look fantastic.

I’m quite into bright pops of colour, don’t get me wrong, but for an everyday chic look I really like a darkish neutral. Nothing too pale and “nude” – warm, pinky beiges that are pretty much the same shade as your actual lips but just give a glossy glaze and a hint of shine. I’ve been wearing Chanel’s Levres Scintillantes in Mystery and it’s pretty much perfect. It looks too pink in the bottom of the picture above; here it is again without any filter:

 Nice. I really, really like it. The formula is absolutely spot-on, too – not sticky, not heavy, but enough glue to stick about for a while without needing twice-hourly touch-ups. I’ve been wearing it for filming because my lips have been a little chapped and I’ve needed to smooth them out and make them look fabulous! What do you reckon?

Mystery is a limited edition shade that Chanel brought out for Christmas but it looks as though they still have a few on Boots.com – they cost £21.