Making-up is hard to do

Let me say straight off that I don't wear much make-up, I always seem to make a mess of it and end up looking more like a dog's dinner than the femme fatale I can see in my mind's eye.

So the invitation to have some slap professionally applied at the new Guerlain stand in Paris Gallery prompted mixed emotions.

Interest to see what Hala Helal, the brand's promotional make-up artist for the whole of the Middle East, would make of me and concern as I had been unable to satisfy myself that the stuff going in my eyes had not first been in those of some poor rabbit or guinea pig.

But hey ho, the things we do for work eh?

First Hala told me about the new concept 'Black and Gold' under which the brand has been relaunched in the kingdom.

It's all about quality, from the clean lines of the architect-designed shop fittings to the custom-made perfume table and luxury packaging.

Efficient design allows everything from the extensive range of skin care products to make-ups for eyes, skin and lips, to be easily perused and accessed in one space.

And the new stand is the ideal platform to launch the brand's latest collection which is inspired by nature with the colours of the sea, sky, sand and earth running through eyes, face and lips.

Hala started my make-over with the application a pale base on my eye-lids designed to stop the eye shadow sliding off or creasing.

Next she dabbed on a bright, almost turquoise, blue to my outer lids followed by pale pearl grey to my inner lids.

A few dabs of white beneath my eyes was just the thing to disguise my tiredness but then she applied kohl along the inners of my lower lids which was a really unpleasant sensation.

I have to admit, it looked great on Hala and her colleague but on me all it did was made my eyes bloodshot and left me half blind for the next hour or so.

She finished off with water-proof mascara which comes in a double-ended wand with one end housing a tiny brush for those hard-to-reach shorter lashes.

And I have to say girls, if you're going swimming this is definitely the one - it took me ages to get it off even with two different types of make-up remover.

Next it was the turn of my face which Hala dabbed with Meteorites perles, a 'light diffusing perfecting primer' followed by terracotta blush and a lush shiny lipstick.

I have to say, by the end of it all I felt very peculiar and a glance in the mirror revealed something of a cross between Aunt Sally from Wurzel Gummidge and Abba, circa 1974 but then I suspect that has far more to do with my attitude to make-up than anything that was actually put on my face.