The Liner, The Clutch and The Wardrobe

While Jean Paul Gaultier opted for striking blood red lips, and Chanel worked sultry, smoky eyes, Givency went for a more natural look at the Autumn-Winter 2008/9 couture show last week.

Luigi Mureno smoothed models hair back into what he described to WWD as an immaculate, fine textured 'ponytail de luxe', which revealed pale peachy skin and barely there make up.

Now all of us must have spent hours trying to cultivate the 'natural' look with masses of make up no doubt, but I would say that the key is in using only a few carefully chosen products.

• First of all, prep skin with a good quality tinted moisturiser such as Laura Mercier's classic one, then focus on making individual features look flawless.

• Illuminate eyes with a highlighting pencil such as Benefit's Eye Bright which will give the same definition to the eyes as an eyeshadow whilst maintaining a natural look. A simple slick of mascara will add the final touch to your 'naturally beautiful' eyes.
  

• Frame your face by keeping eyebrows groomed and defined. I am a huge fan of Urban Decay's Brow Box which comes with brow colour as well as finishing wax to keep brows extra slick.

• Finally, add a natural, rosy glow to lips and cheeks with Benefit's rose tinted Benetint Lip Balm.

Sometimes in the morning when I apply moisturiser, illuminator, sunscreen and foundation, I am left feeling that perhaps my beauty ritual has become somewhat excessive, let alone time consuming. But then all of the above are essential for achieving a naturally dewy, red patch free complexion.

It looks like adding a luminescent glow could get a whole lot easier with the forthcoming launch of Laura Mercier's Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser. The formula is the same as that of the legendary Laura Mercier tinted moisturisers, but with the addition of micronised pearls (all together now.. 'oooooh') which catch the light and leave your face all dewy and glowing without creating any unwanted shine. The product also contains SPF 20, which in my opinion should be mandatory in all skin care products, so that's one more step you can avoid when applying make-up.

Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser is not available just yet, but I promise to keep you posted!

Beauty has so far been bold at this week's couture shows, and John Paul Gaultier's Autumn/Winter show was no different.

Models wore their hair piled high, but what was most striking were their vibrant red lips. Bright colours have been huge this Spring /Summer, so just-bitten, cherry red makes the transition to Autumn perfectly.

The key to getting this look right is to use a good quality, highly pigmented red lipstick, and to line lips especially carefully to create a cleanly framed pout. Chanel's Le Crayon Levres in Roux gives a perfectly precise finish and comes with a handy brush to help blend the colour into your lips. When it comes to a good red lipstick, I have never found anything better than MAC's Russian Red, which provides incredibly intense, long lasting colour without drying out your lips.

While the Credit Crunch may be taking its toll on the actual collections at the couture shows this week, bad economy doesn't need to have an effect on beauty. The pieces shown at Chanel were perhaps a little more subdued than we are used to at a couture show but the hair and make up was really up to standard. Models wore sleek, helmet-like bobs, and sexy smoky eyes, both of which created a dramatic and glamorous look.

The presence of these styles at the Chanel show is further confirmation that we can expect beauty looks this Autumn that are far more striking than the whimsical, loose plaited, rosy cheeked look we have all been embracing this summer.

MAC's new Cult of Cherry collection with its deep, earthy tones, will be perfect for creating a gorgeous smoky eye look with a touch of colour. Similarly, the rich chocolate tones of the Nars Autumn/Winter collection will allow you to embrace the sultry eyed look with a little more subtlety for daytime.

I am not normally a huge fan of Vaseline Lip Therapy as I find it to dry out my lips a little, but if anything is going to change my mind, it will be their new Lip Therapy: Rosy Lips.

I absolutely LOVE Rose scented products and Rosy Lips is perfect for adding a touch of subtle pink to lips and even cheeks. I have had a long time love affair with Benefit's Benetint Lip Balm for adding a rosy glow, but since I have never really found that to be any more moisturising than cheaper lip balms such as Carmex, the £14.50 price tag may seem a bit steep compared to the mere £1.49 Rosy Lips will set you back.

The addition of rose and almond oil also make it more nourishing than the original formula so you will probably find that it dries lips out far less.

Rosy Lips is a definite cult product in the making, and will be available at Boots, Superdrug etc next month.

Don't you just love it when you have a bath with a Lush Bath Ballistic, and the whole house fills with the wonderful scent of Lush? The only problem is I am increasingly rarely getting time for baths, and the aromatherapy qualities of shower gel just don't cut it.

Lush however, genius as ever, have come up with the Emotibomb, which fizzes in the bottom of your shower and fills the bathroom with a cloud of vapour so that you can get an aromatherapy fix even when you're in a rush.

The Emotibomb is available in four varieties including, 'Too Drunk', to breath away a hangover, Lavender scented 'Up the Wooden Hill' to help ease you into sleep, 'Up you Get', which provides an awakening citrus blast, and the bluntly titled 'Sex in the Shower', for, you know.

I tried Up you Get for myself this morning, and it didn't half make the bathroom smell citrussy, and did indeed leave me feeling slightly more awakened than normal. My only complaint is that because you throw it on the shower floor to work its magic, you're not left with the scent on your skin as you are with a Bath Ballistic. But hey, you can't have everything!

The acronym ASOS has developed such a name for itself in online shopping, that I often forget it stands for As Seen on Screen. The screen it would seem though has a huge impact on what people are buying after it was reported today that ASOS have seen a 95% profit increase since the release of the Sex and the City movie back in May. There might be a credit crunch on, but I guess we all just had to get our hands on a studded waist belt like the one Carrie wore for most of the film!

Now that the SATC cash cow has all but dried up and passed out, ASOS are showing us how to look as vintage and whimsical and Kiera Knightly and Sienna Miller in The Edge of Love. The floral tea dresses and vintage lace blouses, not to mention the festival friendly wellies that the pair wore in the film are perfectly on trend for summer, so what better excuse could we have to emulate everyone's favourite English beauties?

I love the bow-backed pleated trench they are recommending, and I will definitely be getting myself a Sienna-esque straw trilby for my holidays! ASOS even have screen beauty covered with a wealth of recommendations for achieveing the glamorous 1940's look seen in the film.