(New) Guerlain Lingerie de Peau

It's always a heart-in-mouth moment when you hear that an excellent product has been 'reformulated' – but we needn't have worried: Guerlain really have improved on what is already a fantastic lightweight foundation. If some foundations are velvet, this is more akin to chiffon, allowing skin's natural beauty to shine through, but smoothing out imperfections. It weaves linen and silk fibres and now delivers a 'stretch' (think of it as foundation with added Lycra!), for comfort.

Brilliantly, there are now 18 shades from palest ivory through to something for much darker skins. That's partly also the result of in-depth research into the ‘undertones’ present in different skintones, which can influence how good a match you get from a particular shade. Are you ‘Cool/Rosé’, ‘Natural/Neutre’ or ‘Warm/Doré’? A consultant at any Guerlain counter will be able to pinpoint for you which of 18 different shades is a perfect match. (NB There are a couple of reasonably good darker shades in the collection, we’re pleased to see.)

There's now also an Applicator Brush available, for the smoothest finish – but what has us really quite excited is the Multi-Perfecting Concealer, with a line-blurring effect. Great for shadows; it doesn't completely erase them – which in our experience can give a mask-like and rather unreal appearance – but they're way, way less obvious with this. The concealer's applied via a teensy nozzle, and after a couple of tries you'll know how much is right for your particular shadow challenges.

And as far as the luxury factor goes, think of this as Agent Provocateur-style lingerie rather than Bridget Jones knickers – but with the comfort factor of the latter.

Guerlain Lingerie de Peau Natural Perfection Foundation/£38.50 for 30 ml at johnlewis.com

Guerlain Lingerie de Peau The Applicator Brush/£30 at johnlewis.com

Guerlain Multi-perfecting Concealer/£25 for 12 ml at at johnlewis.com