Carola Long: 'Lightening up your base is key to looking fresh

Beauty Queen

Wearing a full face of foundation on a hot summer's day is akin to sporting a duffel coat on the beach; it looks and feels too heavy. There's no need to jettison every product you used in winter in favour of an array of beachy products befitting Jennifer Aniston or Cameron Diaz, but lightening up your base is key to looking fresh.

Tanning is a complicating factor in summer, whether real or fake. Even the slightest hint of colour can render foundation the wrong colour, and according to Adam de Cruz, the make-up artist on 'The X Factor' and a man who has seen a fair few orange complexions in his time, fake tan reduces the skin's natural radiance and gives it a dull appearance.

So, instead of masking the skin further, plump for a sheer base or tinted moisturiser that enhances radiance. I recently discovered Light-Expert by By Terry (spacenk.com, £39), a skin brightener that contains hyaluronic acid to plump out the skin, and enough light-diffusing colour to give a soft focus effect. I slapped this on after a 10-hour flight, and although I was so tired that I managed to go out for dinner wearing a top back to front (and only noticed it halfway through the meal), it "woke up" my complexion, as they say in beauty land.

As it doesn't contain any sun protection, Light-Expert should be worn over a moisturiser which contains an SPF, but Chantecaille's Just Ski (£52 at Space NK), which protects against free radicals, sun and pollution and which has an SPF 15, can be worn without; as can Jemma Kidd's excellent Mineral Skin Nourishing Tint (£27.50, Space NK). One of my all-time favourite tinted moisturisers is Becca's Luminous Skin Colour, which has an SPF 25 and contains anti-oxidant vitamins (£33, 020-7225 2501). It gives an imperceptible finish and yet has good coverage. The one problem with these products is that they don't prevent shine as effectively as foundation – so use a primer on the t-zone or blot regularly with blotting sheets rather than re-powdering excessively. The Marie Antoinette look is rather de trop for summer.E