Winter Foundations: 10 You NEED To Know About

Move over BBs (CCs and DDs too, while we're at it) because winter is on its way and it calls for something a little more heavy duty. And, boy, do we have the contenders for the job. Make way in your make-up bags for the next generation of power players your skin will thank you for.

Best for: Desk to disco - Guerlain Tenue De Perfection Timeproof Foundation, £37 Leave cakey to Mary Berry as long-lasting coverage no longer means a mask of make-up thanks to three ‘volatile’ oils which evaporate one after the other to leave your complexion velvety smooth and supremely comfortable whilst offering 16-hour hold.

Best for: Shine-prone skin - Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation, £5.99 Shine is for lip gloss, not your face, so go for this feather-light formula containing extra lightweight mattifying powders and next generation gel emulsifiers for a shine-free finish that lasts all day.

Best for: Dry, ageing skin - Yves Saint Laurent Youth Liberator Serum Foundation, £32 Glycobiology has demonstrated the importance of glycans (complex sugars in our skin which tell the cells in our body to produce collagen) for keeping us looking young. But if you’re still thinking ‘glyco-what?’ all you need to know is that enriched with a Glycanactif complex, this savvy complexion smoother is part skincare and part cover-up, increasing radiance, replumping the skin as well as offering 24-hour hydration. Splash out.

Best for: Covering redness - Shiseido Sheer And Perfect Foundation, £29 Redness, dark circles, pores and blackheads – short of putting a paper bag over our heads the best the foundations of yesteryear could offer to cover such bothersome blemishes was a chalky mask of make-up. Until Shiseido stepped in with their ‘Advanced Light Technology’ which selectively ‘cancels your skin’s colour noise’. How? Drawing on the way that light is reflected and refracted, it contains special particles to emit green light to cancel redness, blue light to cancel brown tones and white light to cancel blackness for an ultra-natural, glowing translucency.

Best for: Touch-ups in a jiffy - Diorskin Airflash Matte Touch, £30 Like photoshop in a can, this nifty aerosol delivers a soft, even veil of feather-light powder over the face to set make-up, banish shine and provide a velvety finish in one spritz.

Best for: A youth injection - Clarins Extra-Comfort Foundation SPF15, 35 Step up your anti-ageing ammo with this creamy cocktail of age-defying plant extracts to plump, nourish, firm and smooth whilst delivering 14 hours of long-lasting coverage. And as any anti-ageing aficionado will tell you, youthful skin means protected skin so the added mineral filters and antioxidants mean that your skin is in safe hands all day long.

Best for: Full coverage - Shu Uemura The Lightbulb, £39 Thanks to new expertise in oil technology, the formulation in this high-coverage hero means that your skin will radiate that natural glow in any light with 12-hour moisturisation to boot.

Best for: Staying power - Givenchy Teint Couture Long-Wearing Fluid Foundation, £32 Go the distance thanks to a ‘hydro-magnetic’ complex of active ingredients which have a strong affinity for the skin’s surface for perfect, made-to-measure coverage that lasts up to 15 hours. Never have magnets been so chic.

Best for: Looking picture-perfect - Smashbox Liquid Halo HD Foundation SPF15, £27.50 'This foundation is the result of more than 20 years of getting skin to look flawless on camera under crazy HD technology. It’s all our lighting knowledge in a bottle - full of cool innovation and technology,' says Smashbox Founder Davis Factor, and we’re sold. Using ‘Pure Liquid Light Technology’ this happy snappy foundation is infused with 100 per cent gel-covered pigments that mimic photo filters to blur imperfections for that lit-from-within glow. Let the selfies commence.

Best for: Portable perfection - Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion Compact Make-up, SPF 29, £49 Like the Mr Miyagi of foundations, this multi-purpose, handbag-friendly compact contains an ‘intelligent melting complex’ - aka a blend of oils and waxes - that become one with the skin. Wax on.

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