Base your look on firm foundations

Beauty starts with radiant, fresh-looking skin, whatever your age – and the foundation market has really upped the stakes recently, offering some truly amazing products that can transform your face.

It's a good idea to get the advice of an experienced beauty therapist, who can assess your skin.

For in-depth analysis, there's a new hi-tech Skin Experts service at Lancme, where something called a Diagnos Express wand is passed over your face while you watch the results, sun damage and all, on a little monitor. Two cameras and three sensors measure pores, blemishes and wrinkle depth. It's free, although you might like to buy skincare and foundations recommended (Lancme's Teint Renegie Lift RARE SPF 20, Ultra Lifting Firming Radiance foundation, pictured, firms immediately and helps to reduce wrinkles – it costs 33.50). The Lancme Diagnos Express Service is available at House of Fraser in Leeds.

For those who hate heavy foundation, Max Factor Second Skin Foundation has been developed to work in sync with your skin to give a base that enhances rather than masks. Thanks to a combination of modern beauty technology, magazine retouching, high definition TV and the rise in cosmetic and dermatological procedures, looking naturally perfect has become the holy grail of the modern beauty world, says Max Factor's make-up artist Caroline Barnes.

Second Skin mirrors the multi-pigmented colours of real skin and contains up to 60 per cent water – close to the skin's natural water content. Available in five – Creamy Ivory, Warm Almond, Natural, Golden and Bronze at 13.99, on the Max Factor counters now.

Rimmel Stay Matte has become a cult beauty product among teens and young women, adored for the perfect coverage it gives while looking natural and staying put – and Lily Cole is the perfect face to show it

off.

Idea for shiny T-zones, the Stay Matte range features upgraded formulations with its first natural shine-control complex, with cotton, chamomile and cucumber to soothe and clarify the complexion while absorbing excess oil.

Stay Matte Foundation Liquid Makeup is 5.99, Stay Matte Mousse is 6.99 and the Pressed Powder is 3.99. On the Rimmel shelves now.

One for more mature skins now. New on the Este Lauder counters this week comes Resilence Lift Extreme Radiant Lifting Makeup SPF15, a powerful new anti-ageing foundation that evens skin tone, hydrates with hyaluronic acid and lifts with the help of peptides. All in a handy pump dispenser, it costs 28 for 30ml, on the Este Lauder counters.

STOP PRESS

Figures released this week show a rise in the non-surgical cosmetic surgery market for 2009, with dermal fillers and chemical peels driving this increase, up 26 per cent and 306 per cent respectively. According to The Harley Medical Group, market analysts say the boom follows the burgeoning US non-surgical market where chemical peels top the list of popular anti-ageing treatments.