In the words of Shania Twain, ‘Looks Like We Made It’. Whether you love or loathe Christmas, it's behind us and all we have left is a Tupperware full of shreds of drying turkey, the mountain of paper and glass recycling – plus the accompanying walk of shame as you try not to let the many, many bottles clink too much – and the Gaviscon that will be by your bedside until mid-January. But, it's not all over, we still get to enjoy our Christmas presents.

This year I asked my husband for little luxuries, things I wanted to replace but would never justify the cost. For me ‘little luxuries’ means make-up.

This is how my husband became intimately acquainted with the website MakeupAlley as he searched through reviews for primers and eyebrow gels, like a new traveller navigating a foreign land, occasionally looking up from light of his computer screen with a look of bewilderment, ‘Do you know how much mascara costs?!’ I’m actually very low maintenance – I recently lost my hairbrush for two weeks and didn’t give a care – but I have always loved make-up.

I remember the first time I ever wore a full face. I was 13 and we were rummaging through my friend’s sister’s make-up bag in her Wishaw flat.

READ MORE: Kerry Hudson: Elves, Santas and the true meaning of Christmas

My friend Kim, and her sister, were half-Spanish, so the dark beige pancake stick I smeared over my face made me glow like an out of season pumpkin, but it didn't matter, I........

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