Not going away? Do your ‘holiday face’ at home!

I’M NOT travelling this month. However, just because I’m stuck at home doesn’t mean my make-up can’t go on holiday. Given the choice, I’d be in Sicily — and that’s precisely where my face has headed care of a pouty, eye-flicky Dolce & Gabbana makeover in Harrods Beauty Hall.

There’s also a D&G counter in Milton Keynes as part of H Beauty by Harrods, which has stores across the UK including in Bristol, Gateshead, Edinburgh and Essex.

I never normally get in- store makeovers; I don’t like being told what to do by some school-leaver likely to strip me of my slap in public, then make me look like an airline hostess.

But a change is as good as a rest, and it’s vital for old dogs to learn new tricks, or we’ll look like we need putting down.

Happily, make-up artist Fajar Hassan is a genius and my new oracle.

Novelty number one: a different style of base. Dolce & Gabbana’s new Velvetskin Perfect Matte Foundation (£49, lookfantastic. com) has customers going gaga, especially those with oily skins and/ or occupying sweltering Sicilian-style conditions (pretty much all of us these days). I’m not big on matte, yet this is soft, luminous and second-skin-like.

Don’t want to stretch to D&G? Beauty Pie’s Everyday Great Skin Foundation (£13.50, beautypie. com) also creates a long-lasting radiant matte effect.

Fajar tells me most women want to go a fraction darker than their

natural complexion. However, she approves of my decision to aim for marginally paler, confirming that this does, indeed, make a face look spring chicken-ish.

Next, she teaches me a fabulous flicky eye trick. Instead of starting your cat-eye kohl on your upper lid, take a straight- edge brush and draw upward from the underneath corner. I’m obsessed — it’s far more flattering on those of us who won’t see 30 again.

USE eyeshadow instead of liner. Felineyes Intense Eyeshadow Quad in Volcano Stromboli (£55, lookfantastic. com), includes a sparkling white to offset it.

You could try Zara’s excellent Eye Shadow Duo in 802 Thunder and 211 Delta (£11.99, zara.com) for a similar set-up. The effect is softly fetching rather than that harsh quick-to-smudge flick that can look prematurely ageing.

For the lips, we custom-blend a shade between The only one Lipstick in Passionate Dahlia and Bright Amethyst (£ 42 each, dolcegabbanabeauty. com) — sumptuous colour in a silkily lightweight guise. And I fall for Dolcissimo Liquid Lipcolour in Purple (£36), a smoulderingly intense liquid lip.

Kiko is another excellent place to lose yourself in lips, if you’re looking for bargain takes (from £1.25, kikocosmetics.com). We don’t quite find the pinky blusher I crave. However, this again pushes me out of my comfort zone towards a more terracotta hue; & other Stories Burnt Cinnamon Cheek and Lip Tint (£17, stories.com) is worth a look on this front.

A flutter of D&G’s gorgeously inky Passioneyes Mascara (£37, lookfantastic.com) — try Bourjois Twist- Up The Volume Mascara (£11.99, superdrug.com) for a cheaper option — a speedy dye of the eyebrows and a slick of oil in my hair, and I feel quite the southern temptress: fabulously foreign and one sexy signora.

‘You look different,’ cries the world and his wife. ‘ Have you been away?’

‘Yes,’ I reply airily, ‘to Sicily.’ Follow: @HannahJBetts