Look radiant (when it’s the last thing you feel!)

WeLL, it is a cruel irony that our most social season occurs when we are most over-worked, overcommitted and completely bl**dy exhausted.

This year, despite predictions that we’d be partying like it was 1921 and there would be a national sequin shortage, the lure of the sofa has never felt stronger.

The only way I can eject myself from the house is by pairing my party skirt, heels and big earrings combo with a cashmere roll neck, then piling on slap so incredible I feel compelled to show it off.

Luminous skin is very much the focus. should you have time, a spot of prep repays the effort. A mild chemical exfoliant will unstick dead cells, giving you smoother and more radiant underpinnings.

cult U.s. brand Youth To The People’s new Mandelic Acid + superfood Unity exfoliant (£32, cultbeauty.co.uk) is particularly

effective. Or pick up Nip + Fab’s Glycolic Fix Daily cleansing Pads (£17, sainsburys.co.uk) next time you’re in the supermarket.

In the summer, if I need to de-death-mask myself, I use an ice roller to remove puffiness.

In winter, it’s a slick of facial oil — Neom’s Great Day Glow Face Oil (£42, neomorganics.com), say —

and a massaging device to boost circulation.

I like Nurse Jamie’s Uplift Body Massage Beauty Roller (£125, net-a-porter.com), a Y-shaped vibrating tool that firms — or, in my case, creates — cheekbones and jawline.

AMIRce’s cheap 2-in-1 Face Massager Roller and T-shape Massager set (£19.98, amazon. com) is also a good investment. Five minutes whizzing these vibrating wands about one’s features really does provide a short-term lift.

Next in my pre-bash prep comes Guerlain’s Midnight secret (£26, guerlain.com). A science-obsessed friend scoffed at me the other day for relying on something I’ve used for 25 years when recent innovations abound. All I can say is: it works for me. It plumps the complexion marvellously.

I’ll then deploy an illuminating fluid. The best one of all time was Becca cosmetics’s shimmering skin Perfector Liquid Highlighter, but, sadly, the brand is no more.

charlotte Tilbury’s Brightening Youth Glow Primer (£39, charlotte tilbury.com) is the closest thing on the market.

chanel’s array of illuminators are also top notch. The Iridescent Illuminating Fluid in Or Ivoire (£40, chanel.com) from its christmas collection is a cracker

on warm and cool colourings alike. I’m also enjoying Kevyn Aucoin’s Glass Glow Liquid

Illuminator (£26, spacenk.com).

Play about and see which texture works for you. Recently, I haven’t had time to do any of the above in my lurch soiree-wards. No matter, for I have discovered Pat McGrath’s skin Fetish sublime Perfection Foundation (£61, patmcgrath.com). ‘sublime’ is the right word. Luminous liquid foundations could be my Mastermind specialist subject but, still, this knocked my socks off. sheer-seeming, while giving great coverage, it offers the lightest, most miraculous, second-skinlike, satiny sheen that blends beautifully. And, boy, does it last, even when you take a facedown disco nap. Many women like to use a darker foundation colour to look tanned. A trick I use to appear both better and younger is to err on the paler side. For example, strictly speaking, I’m a cool shade two in charlotte Tilbury’s fantastic Airbrush Flawless Foundation (£34, charlottetilbury.com). However, when I knocked myself down to a not-entirely-unfeasible cool shade one this summer, I found my skin had never received more compliments — at 50! I reckon it’s because infant skins are pale. either way, radiance is a cert.

The modern festive face equals avoiding heavy lipstick (too

finished — besides, a woman’s got to eat, drink and snog), and opting for scintillating eye makeup instead.

It’s a myth that ageing lids can’t take shimmer or glitter. To incentivise myself to leave the house, I went on a quest to my local Mac counter to score some new Dazzleshadows (with their twinkling sheen) and extra Dimension eyeshadows (rich shimmers) (£17.50 each, maccosmetics.co.uk).

I emerged equipped with Try Me On (a mermaidy blue-green), Joie de Glitz (an extraordinary green gold), Discotheque (a metallic silver), Ready to Party (a lambent lilac), Grand Galaxy (a gorgeous sooty violet) and Lunar (a stunning silver blue).

Thus bribed, I am now far more up for a party.