We're delighted to share with you our absolute personal favourite seasonal 'finds' – here's what's made Sarah's shortlist for autumn... Kevin Aucoin The Etherealist Skin Illuminating Foundation

If you can stretch your budget for one item, it is always worth buying the best foundation you can find: after all, you are probably going to wear it every day. This serum foundation – above – which comes in 16 shades (I am No7 for now, but will need No6 as my skin gets paler with winter), is super-impressive. It gives medium coverage, so camouflages small imperfections – you need concealer for therest, see below – and leaves your complexion looking soft, even, dewy, a bit luminous but not shiny. I popped into SpaceNK in Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, on a day when I looked a bit of a wreck, had a quick spruce up from Geraldo, the Kevin Aucoin make-up supremo there, and emerged looking really quite presentable.

Kevin Aucoin The Etherealist Skin Illuminating Foundation/£50 at spacenk.com

 

Charlotte Tilbury The Retoucher Conceal and Treat

Another make-up SOS sent me scurrying to my favourite Charlotte Tilbury counter at Fenwick of Bond Street – this time when Marcia Kilgore emailed to say I had to come ‘selfie-ready’ to her launch party for her new bath and body line Soaper Duper at Liberty. I squawked that I never do selfies – too scary – but you don't say no to MK. So … a Totally Charming French Girl (TCFG) whipped out her – and my – favourite Charlotte concealer, applied it over the top of my existing foundation (I was in a bit of a hurry) and abracadabra! my selfie face began to take shape. So – you can use The Retoucher over foundation to touch up, banish the dark bits (lots round my eyes), soften nose to lip lines, or pinpoint specific blemishes and pat in. TCFG used 2 Fair, and also 3 Medium, mixed in her hand to get the right shade. Reader, I bought them instantly! (And the selfies looked pretty damn good, for once …)

Charlotte Tilbury The Retoucher Conceal and Treat/£25 at houseoffraser.com

 

Clarins Beauty Flash Balm

This comes under the heading of ‘oldie-but-very-very-goodie’. Or more elegantly, iconic cosmetic classic… Whatever – Beauty Flash Balm still totally does the business for tired skin. So you basically look as if you have had a good night’s sleep (even when the truth is you tossed and turned all night). And with party season coming up – and all that organising and running around that the festive season inevitably involves – you need it. Or at least I definitely do. I put it on over moisturiser and it makes a perfect base for foundation – pretty much living up to the claim to moisturise, brighten and tighten facial contours, smooth the skin’s surface and diffuse the look of lines. Note to self: perfect Christmas present.

Clarins Beauty Flash Balm/£30 for 50ml at clarins.co.uk

 

Bobbi Brown Party to Go Lip & Eye Palette

This neat compact, with a BIG mirror in the lid, is a treat for all brown-eyed girls (like me!). With everything you need for a warm, rose-gold eye, this gives you two slightly shimmery shades of pale and deeper gold, a perfect pink-y taupe to sweep over your whole lid and a mocha brown liner; all you need is a lipstick– and there it is in True Rose, a soft flattering brown-y pink. NB No brushes so you will need brushes for the shadows unless you are really deft with your fingers – andyou definitely need an Eye Liner Brush.

Bobbi Brown Party to Go Lip & Eye Palette/£29.50 at bobbibrown.co.uk

 

Lipstick Queen Medieval Lipstick

I am a very lazy Beauty Editor. I basically want one thing that works in every category. (I do try lots and lots, promise, but the things that make it into my make up bag are few.) This suits everybody and everything shade came from Lipstick Queen founder Poppy King’s obsession with rooting colours in art. More a stain than a matte shade, it’s the colour of medieval saint’s lips (the women I guess tho’ I never asked…). It is simply the most flattering lipstick I have ever found. Alone. Or sometimes I layer it with another shade for fun. But it always works. Always. (Poppy swears it works for everyone and I believe her.)

Lipstick Queen Medieval Lipstick/£22 at johnlewis.com