I haven’t started the January ‘detox’ (involves drinking less and eating less, nothing particularly difficult about it!) but I wanted to show you a picture of my face pre-Christmas. Glowy, healthy, radiant… I can assure you that this effect was mostly achieved with makeup – without the maquillage my face looked as though it had been scrubbed with a cheese-grater. Such are the effects of the winter wind…

So. Products. The ever-amazing Sheer-Expert from By Terry. Simply fabulous. I layered that over my Sisley ‘Radiant Immediate Lift‘, which is heart-stoppingly expensive but very effective – instant lift and glow. You can use it without makeup and just conceal your imperfections if you prefer that approach, but on this particular day I really did need double help! It wasn’t that I was spotty, just that my skin looked dull and lacklustre. Maybe I’m somewhat of a skin perfectionist, but I like it to be glowing and full of life all of the time. I’d rather have great-looking skin than defined eyes or sculpted cheekbones, so I do tend to spend the most amount of time (and money) on skin.

Blush is my new love, Light Glow 01 (Russet) from Burberry. It’s not actually that light at all (you have to shake off the excess from the brush or else it’s really quite dark) but the shade is perfect for me. I broke the lid off almost immediately after getting it, which is quite annoying, but it has been one of my most-used blushes this winter. (Though I am still delving into my Bronze Goddess Sea Star bronzer from Estee Lauder!)

Eyes have been very, very lightly highlighted (and defined) using the shades in Tom Ford’s Cognac Sable Quad. To be fair, for all of the effect that I’ve built up, you could use any pale-ish gold shade and a bronze shadow to define, but the photo doesn’t really show the eyes close up… I find the Tom Ford shadows a joy to use, but they are extremely pricey. I know I’m always going on about the Boots 17 Trio in ‘enraged’ but it is a very good little staple for looks like these…

Lips? A shimmery gloss from YSL in ‘White Gold‘. Catch it if you can. I could also recommend (HIGHLY!) the shade ‘Pago Pago‘ from NARS which has a hint of shimmer giving a similar, juicy effect.

So there – a few little ‘cheat’ ingredients for faking a glow. Who needs two litres of water a day and total alcohol abstinence when there are products like this available? Hahaha……