Let me caveat my recommendation for a £92make-up product by explaining that usually, when it comes to cosmetics, I think you can get a lot of bang for your buck on the high street. I don’t think you need to spend more than £20 on a foundation,lipstick ormascara: there are so many excellent options for any budget.

Secondly, if you did want to splash out on some luxury make-up, I wouldn’t usually suggest spending your cash on a make-up palette. Traditional big pans ofeyeshadows with 12 or more eyeshadows feels outdated and geared towards a much younger shopper, in my opinion. Not to mention that there is always a dud colour or two in a palette that you will never use. I always invariably stick to the same one or two colours and wear them on repeat.

Ambient Lighting Edit – Unlocked (£92,Hourglass)

I recently had a clear out at home and departed with a few eyeshadow palettes that hardly saw the light of day. But there was one clear favourite that I will use on repeat, and yes, it’s a palette. I make an exception for the high-end American brand Hourglass. By its very nature this brand is a premium range of cosmetics that you can find in all the best department stores, and it largely is designed forwomen over forty. While the range has excellent tinted moisturisers and eyeliners, the Ambient Lighting Edit – Unlocked features a palette of powders that are the jewel in its cosmetics crown.

These palettes have been around for years, but every season they refresh the shades and packaging. Each palette comes with six ultra-fine milled powders: a translucent powder, a highlighter, two blusher shades and two bronzer shades. They are all genuinely useful for the cheeks and eyes (no extra eyeshadow needed) and each powder imparts a very grown-up sheen on the skin, rather than a sparkle. It’s the sort of product that makes you look like you’ve had a full eight hour’s sleep, adding a brightness and glow to the skin, and not an obvious “powder” look whatsoever.

The pan of six powders come in different shades, too, so depending on whether you have fair, medium or deep skin, you’ll be able to find something to suit you. All you need is a big make-up brush to go with it – I am a fan of the Angled Brush by Real Techniques, which costs £12 and you can buy from Boots or on Amazon. It’s a synthetic brush that does the job perfectly well; it makes easy work of blending and buffing the powders without depositing too much make-up.

The Angled Brush by Real Techniques (£12,Boots)

I was away on holiday last week and packed one of the palettes with a concealer, mascara and lipstick. I used the blush colours on my cheeks as well as my eyes, the bronzer all over and the finishing powder to set it all. The cost-per-wear of this palette is excellent: you don’t need much for a good colour payoff and one palette would easily last you well over a year of daily use. It’s worth every penny.

If you wanted to go a step further and buy something that felt a bit more personal, they have just introduced the Charms edition, which means you can attach a gemstone initial, zodiac sign or talisman to the palette – although this comes at a cost of £128 (available in Selfridges in London).

I wouldn’t bother, unless you were buying it as a really special gift for someone. Instead, I’d suggest one of the beautiful woodland designs from its latest collection; the Fox illustration is especially lovely, with a mix of shades that gives you an unbeatable grown-up, elegantglow on the skin.

Three other luxury make-up products to buy

Solo Shadow Sheen in Glace by Merit

If you’re a fan of Merit’s matte eyeshadow creams, you’ll likely love the new sheen versions, which add a little luminosity to the eye lids. There are a couple of deeper shades but I love this suits-everyone cool rose.

£21 atMerit Beauty

Rouge Hermes Light Matte Lipstick in Rose Épure by Hermes 

With geometric packaging designed by Pierre Hardy and lipstick colours developed by Hermes Beauty creative director Gregoris Pyrpylis, this range of lipsticks are utterly beautiful. This matte pink has timeless appeal.

£66 atHermes

Future Skin Foundation by Chantecaille

This best-selling foundation by French beauty brand Chantecaille has been recently reformulated to offer even more skincare benefits. The foundation is now 58 per cent water-based, which means it feels immediately hydrating and gives a natural looking finish.

 £83 atChantecaille

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