Fresh start... how to update your make-up bag

The Baseline

BB Creams have had their day in the sun. Winter skin demands a heavier-duty coverage but you don’t have to sacrifice all the benefits of a beauty balm in the process. Thanks to last month’s launch of Yves Saint Laurent’s famed Touche Éclat in foundation form, this is the season of multi-tasking miracle bases — all of which boast illuminating, anti-ageing and moisturising properties. Shiseido’s new Radiance Lifting Foundation (£37, houseoffraser.co.uk) features a double act of reflective light technologies and built-in firming ingredients, while the Maestro Fusion Makeup from Giorgio Armani’s latest beauty line (£36, Selfridges.com) is being hailed as a “complexion perfector” with its new waterless and powder-free composition containing smart pigments.

New season primers have also had a makeover. Guerlain’s innovative Météorites Perles (£42, Selfridges.com) brightens in an instant with its light-diffusing pearls, while the Hyaluronic Hydra Primer from By Terry (£41, spacenk.com) blends a super-moisturising mousse with a rejuvenating protein for a matte complexion with long-term results.

Concealers have got clever, too. The multipurpose Brighten & Correct under-eye base from Stila (£18, Selfridges.com) contains illuminating pigments for a quick fix and Haloxyl to help reduce the appearance of dark circles in the long term, while Benefit’s new Perk Up Artist compact (£22.50, benefitcosmetics.co.uk) offers a redness colour corrector, imperfection cover-up and a brightening undereye concealer in one handy set.

St Tropez’s cult summer rose skin illuminator has had an autumn/winter update with an ultraviolet iridescent sheen (£12.26, st-tropez.com). The subtle purple undertone is more suited to cooler, sun-starved skin and was used to create the shimmering porcelain looks seen at London Fashion Week’s Erdem and Roksanda Ilincic shows. Heavy contouring was also big news on the catwalks. Replace summer’s soft blushed cheeks with a blend of MAC’s new Pro Sculpting Cream (£17.50, maccosmetics.co.uk) underneath cheekbones for razor-sharp definition. A dusting of Bobbi Brown’s new Brightening Finishing Powder (£40, bobbibrown.co.uk) will complete the look. Containing sodium hyaluronate, the compact offers all the staying power of a setting powder while keeping your complexion fresh and dewy.

Two shades are better than one when it comes to lipstick. Layer your lipstick with a slick of Estée Lauder’s Pure Colour Vivid Shine Lipstick Luminizer (£19.50, esteelauder.co.uk) to alter any shade instantly — try Gunmetal for a deeper, darker hue or Foil to add a cool, silvery finish — while the Max Factor’s Colour Effect Flipstick (£6.49, boots.com) features a rich and creamy colour at one end and a bright, iridescent shade at the other for two-tone look-at-me lips.

For an eyeshadow palette that encompasses all the new season colours in one, look to the limited edition New Wave compact from Nars (£39.50, narscosmetics.co.uk). Featuring two of the hottest purple hues against unusual shades of cool chartreuse and bright cobalt blue, this palette finds the ideal balance between experimentation and updated basics.

Fibres, not formulas, are the latest innovation for lashings of lashes. Offering false eyelash extensions in a tube by binding to your natural lashes, the best of the bunch is the Lash Extender from Talika (£17, talika.co.uk). The brand also offers the same formula in an Eyebrow Extender (£22) to give your natural brow shape a fuller and thicker boost in an instant.