Cheat your way to the perfect complexion

My first impression of Terry de Gunzburg's latest magic potion — a oneshade-fits-all radiance-boosting treatment — wasn't great. I slathered it on keenly, grabbed the hand mirror on my desk (I need one, with this job) and sighed.

Far too pink. I typed a few sentences, reached for the wipes and the mirror but then did a double-take. In just a few seconds, my skin had been transformed, and looked brighter and, well, just the right colour. But how?

COLOUR-CHANGE PIGMENTS
This sort of sorcery with colouradaptive pigments, which reflect up to the surface the colour of the underlying material (your skin) have become hugely popular. As I found to my amazement, By Terry's Eclat Opulent (£85, www.spacenk.co.uk) is stuffed with radiance boosters and micro-prisms that kick back the light and can also adapt to match any skin tone for a result that's little short of miraculous. New id-cosmetics uses similar technology in its clever, clickpen, i-perfect foundation (£26.50, www.newidcosmetics.com) as does Revlon's Beyond Natural Skin Matching Makeup (£9.99 at Boots) and Max Factor's Colour Adapt Foundation (£11.70 at Superdrug).

MORE THAN MOISTURISER
Another innovation that has beauty writers all a-twitter is Dior Capture Totale Multi-Perfection Radiance Enhancer (£97, 020 7216 0216). It doesn't give much coverage unless you mix a blob of foundation in with it, but provides such an astonishing lift to skin that you hardly need any.

While you're reeling at the price of that, let me quickly mention the brilliant new Complete Care Touch of Foundation from Olay, which wraps up skin-pampering vitamins, an SPF15 and a touch of foundation in one bargain package (£9.78 at Boots) and gives an excellent result. Again, Omorovicza's Complexion Enhancer (£71.50, www.cultbeauty.co.uk) isn't quite a foundation but it's more complex than a tinted moisturiser and gives a gorgeous, velvety result, while Sue Devitt's Hydrating Minerals SPF20 (£28 at Harvey Nichols) moisturises, provides just enough colour to make a difference, and offers the skin-health benefits of its mineral base.

BARELY-THERE FOUNDATION
Then there are the products that, though called foundation, are so light that they could pass for skinperfectors The Japanese brand Suqqu has a brilliant water-based liquid foundation called Aqua (£38 at Selfridges). It's ultra-runny and gives ultra-light cover yet a near-flawless result; Bobbi Brown's Skin Foundation SPF15 (£26, www.bobbibrown.co.uk) offers sheer coverage despite its lighter-than-light formulation, and Dr Hauschka's Translucent Makeup (£18, 01386 792642) leaves skin subtly but definitely improved.

COLOUR-ADAPTING EYES AND LIPS
It shouldn't really be so disconcerting that make-up can change colour after application, yet Daniel Sandler's lipsticks, which "warm up" once they're in place, always take me by surprise. Try them out at the Urban Retreat in Harrods before you commit to one of the chameleon shades. And then there's the sheer fun of Too Faced's Mood Swing range and its "emotionally activated" lip gloss (£12, House of Fraser).

Not unlike those celluloid fish from party crackers that curl up in the heat from your palm, this formula reacts to the heat from your lips, which can turn from clear, through pastel to a naughty deep pink. Perfect for your inner teen.