I'm a 53-year-old beauty expert: This is why you should NEVER use your fingers to apply foundation and EXACTLY how often to wash your make-up brushes

You may have spent a lifetime living without them, but believe me when I say make-up brushes are your beauty kit’s secret weapons and here’s my guide to which ones you need. Women in their 40s and beyond were not schooled watching videos on how to wield brushes; meaning that – beyond a big, bald, ancient bronzer brush – many don’t possess them. But brushes are the senior slap lover’s super arsenal.

Fingers daub, brushes blend and blending is more important on wrinkled and/or parched faces. Fusing skin and slap is what creates a natural effect. This will never have felt more vital than as we age. A twentysomething may just about be able to get away with a crude, mask-like make-up, but on a fiftysomething, forget your fingers – an artist needs tools.

What are my own brush must-haves? Jones Road Blush Brush (£36, libertylondon.com) changed my cream rouge application from hopeless to heroic. While trust Bobbi Brown to make an upward slant of kohl flattering foolproof for the ageing eye in the form of her new Jones Road The Precision Eyeliner Brush (£24).

But, don’t obey tool titles too religiously. Hourglass Ambient Glow Soft Foundation Brush (£52, sephora.co.uk) may have ‘foundation’ in its title, and have been designed to accompany its Ambient Soft Glow Foundation (£57), yet also makes a beautiful blender of cream blush to fit a precise, cheekbone-defining area.

My brush fixation now is make-up artist Lisa Eldridge’s collection of eight Seamless Blend Brushes (from £32-£45, lisaeldridge.com). Why eight? Lisa explains: ‘My edit is tight because it contains the essentials I use over and over. A lot are multi-functional.’.

Hannah Betts says make-up brushes are your beauty kit’s secret weapons. I adore No.1 (£45), her foundation brush, ingeniously engineered to create flawless gleam. Astounded by its ability to meld her Seamless Skin Enhancing Tint (£37) to my features, I posted the result on Instagram and Substack – not something I’m in the habit of.

Lisa’s own favourites is No.9 (£36). No.9 is a tapered, but fluffy number to buff away harsh edges all over the face. ‘It’s also really good for pinpoint powdering,’ she adds. ‘As we age, powder is best used selectively – just at the sides of your nose, centre of the chin, and middle of the forehead. I also rely on my domed No.2 Face Buffing Brush (£45) so everything looks seamless.’.

Lisa prefers brushes to sponges, arguing: ‘Brushes are better because you can apply product with them, but also remove it. A great tip for midlifers is to have a couple of clean brushes to go over make-up at the end to diffuse everything, so it’s all blended in.’.

American cosmetic giant Morphe has just brought out a range of 34 brushes. I am a devoted user of such tools, but even I quake when confronted with such an array. Morphe’s armoury of Reimagined Brushes (from £8-£18, selfridges.com) is built to withstand hardcore use, and formulated with antibacterial silver-ion tech. Head of education at Morphe, Amber Jones, describes this collection as ‘streamlined’. She says: ‘After testing more than 660 designs, this is the definitive line-up. It truly is a capsule collection.’.

I demand a capsule-within-a-capsule for the middle-aged beginner, and she proposes the best-selling Best of Blends (£40): ‘Eight face and eye brushes with all you need for a polished look, from foundation to eyeliner.’ I’ve put them to the test and they’re a terrific value option.

Finally, Lisa, like me, insists we clean brushes weekly: ‘Swirl the brush in warm water using shampoo or brush soap, angling hairs downwards until all traces of make-up have been removed,’ she says. ‘Rinse, then tease the bristles into shape. Place brushes on a towel with the bristles over the edge of the table so they dry evenly.’ I’ve also invested in MAC Brush Cleanser (£15, maccosmetics.co.uk) to keep my brushes pristine.

£24.99, boostlabco.com. Boost Lab is the best-selling skincare brand at Priceline in Australia, the equivalent to Boots. Just arrived here, it promises 40-plus women results at an accessible price. One Boost Lab Edelweiss Neck Firming Serum sells every minute Down Under. Lifting and smoothing sagging skin, it boasts impressive before and after images.

Scarlett Johansson at SNL50: The Anniversary Special last week. The  star, 40, will be facing awards season with her radiance secret, The Outset Firming Vegan Collagen Prep Serum (£46, cultbeauty.co.uk) from the brand she co-founded. She has said: ‘I wish I knew about dermaplaning sooner. I do it with a Tweezerman Facial Razor (£18) and my skin feels so soft after.’ She loves Molton Brown body washes (£25).

£79, drowsysleepco.com. I have long been addicted to Drowsy’s sleek, stylish and slumber-guaranteeing masks, refusing to hit the sack without one. Now, by popular demand, the brand brings us Drowsy Midnight Blue Eyelash Protecting Mask. This delivers all the brilliance we expect from Drowsy – wrap-around light-blocking and sound-muffling, plus comforting, cloud-like padding. At the same time, its contoured, silk-lined, 1.5cm eye cups mean it won’t bend lashes, applying zero pressure to lids, leaving my fiftysomething eye area more open, brighter and bigger come morning.