For someone who generally avoids gold jewellery, I’m oddly drawn in my relative dotage to gold-toned makeup. There’s something extremely flattering about its soft yellowy sparkle against any skin – and besides, it looks sunny and casually sexy in summer.
I’ve recently been using Sun Beam, £19.50, a wonderful surprise from Benefit, a brand I sometimes presume isn’t for me. It’s a little bottle of molten gold-like liquid that works as a pretty highlighter on dark skin and as bronzer on those, like me, who are unlikely to convince anyone with a true tan shade. Just stroke the liquid directly on to cheekbones and dab in with fingertips. Unlike others in the same range (Benetint, Posie, Lolli and Chacha) this glides over even dry skin, giving plenty of “playtime” before settling for the day.
For a darker, glimmer-free glow, try Benefit’s Dew The Hoola, £22.50, a similarly silky bronzer that seems to elicit frequent compliments on my apparent wellness, despite the fact that my complexion hasn’t been allowed to tan in about 28 years.
If you have uneven texture in your skin (like rosacea or acne scars), it’s better to confine gold to the eyes. You’d be hard pushed to do this more easily than with Burberry Beauty’s Eye Colour Cream in Nude Gold, £25, my new favourite thing. This is a cool, muted, antique sort of gold, rather than some gauche, flashy affair, and looks appropriate and elegant on eyes of any age. It’s an absolute cinch to apply (dab over lids to just beyond the socket, using your ring finger), and looks as soft and pretty on very white skin as it does on very black.
If you prefer the control of a crayon or pencil, No7 Stay Perfect Shade And Define crayon in Glistening Ray, £8, is a cracker. It’s chubby enough to apply with neither skill nor precision, but thin enough to stay firmly where desirable – along the upper and lower lashlines, and in the inner corners of the eyes. One needn’t go the whole hog: a shot of gold through an otherwise mundane brown can be just enough to catch the light and lift a whole look.
Liz Earle’s Eye Pencil in Golden Bronze, £11, and Zoeva’s Rose Golden Palette, £18 (bargainous for 10 eyeshadows) are everyday neutrals that offer subtle gilding for the spangle-averse.
