In keeping with my Desirable Dozen makeup products, I thought I'd review a dozen beauty tools that I, as a grown-up girl, find useful.

Not every woman needs an arsenal of beauty products, but - just as in the kitchen or sewing room - having a few decent tools makes a job SO much easier and can often be a better use of funds than buying new products.

An important part of your arsenal is brushes, which can be either synthetic or natural hair. With natural hair, the colour 'sinks' into the hair itself, while with synthetic, it tends to sit on top. Which you prefer is largely a matter of choice - I like synthetic eye brushes but natural lip brushes, for instance.

What I don't like, any longer, is foam-tip applicators. I find brushes allow you to blend your makeup far better, which becomes increasingly crucial as you get older and have more facial hair and fine lines to work around. 

Take good care of your tools and they will go on for a long time - I've been using the same lip brush for nearly 30 years.  Wash your brushes weekly with shampoo or liquid soap (trying not to get too much water into the metal bit that holds the bristles). Dry on a towel, then leave hanging over the edge of a shelf or radiator, so nothing distorts the bristles.

Here are my top dozen tools:

1 Tweezerman Slant eyebrow tweezers (above). Don't wase money on other makes - Tweezerman makes tweezers that grab and pull cleanly at the tiniest hairs. If you do one thing, shape your eyebrows - even without makeup, this will give a frame to your face.

2 Eyelash curlers (right). Nothing makes you look more awake and alert. Mine are just from Boots, but they look a lot like these posh Shu Uemura ones. Run them under a warm tap for 20 seconds or so before use and you'll get a better curl.  

3 Eyebrow brush. It should look like a little toothbrush. I use the one on the end of an old Ultima eye pencil. For the best results, brush your eyebrows straight up, then go along the top and gently comb any stray hairs back into place. This Yves Rocher one does double duty with...

...4 Eyelash comb. Great for separating lashes and stopping your mascara from looking clumpy. Again, mine is just an old one from a dead mascara. 

5 Mediwipes. For wiping over your makeup brushes after every use.  You should also wash your brushes once a week to avoid contamination. 

6 Eyeshadow brush. This should be quite big and fluffy, but flat. It's for blending, something that must become your mantra as you get older. All the brushes shown here are from Yves Rocher, which makes good brushes for a reasonable price.

7 Blusher brush (right). Again, this should be wide but flat and angled at the tip, for stroking on colour. The angled tip spreads out in just the right way on your cheekbone. 

8 Powder brush. This should be huge and fluffy, with a rounded end. Dip it into the powder, knock the excess off and use just the smallest amount to set your foundation, dabbing your skin as if you were stippling paint. Then use the brush to lightly stroke your facial hairs in the right direction. 

9 Eyeliner brush (right). You use this sideways - it should be very thin, flat and cut at an angle at the end, with quite stiff bristles. Applying your liner 'sideways' like this makes life a lot easier, as you will know if you've ever tried to apply liquid liner in a straight line. 

10 Lip brush. Shoves your lip colour right into the creases of your lips and gives your makeup real staying power. It should be narrow, with a sharply pointed end. Best in natural hair. After washing your brush each week, wet the brush in your mouth and pull it out through your pursed lips and leave it to dry - your saliva sets the end into a perfect poin (a technique still used on squirrelhair paint brushes).

11 Latex sponge. Soft as a baby's breath, this can be used wet or dry for applying foundation. Alternatively, use a foundation brush, which looks like an eyeshadow brush, only bigger.

12 Cotton buds. Have these ready to hand and dipped in oil-free eye make up remover for correcting any spills or slips as you go. 

13 Pencil sharpener with two slots - one for normal-size pencils and one for big pencils. 

14 Concealer brush, if you don't use Touche Eclate, which has its own brush built-in. This allows you to position your concealer accurately - especially important for dark circles under your eyes. It lookks like an eyeshadow brush, only smaller.

In the interests of not wasting money on crap, here are my Top 12 picks for makeup products.

I favour simple, quick make-up appication, preferably with my fingertips, using reliable products and these are the items I find I use the most in my makeup armoury. Cheap or expensive, they are all worth their money, do the job and stay put. 

1 Smashbox Photofinish skin primer. The most impressive makeup product I've found in years, this colourless silicone-based primer glides on over your skin and provides a fabulous, smooth base for applying makeup. Used alone, it makes your skin look 'finished', but as a make-up base, it's simply wonderful - no more dragging, pulling or tidemarks.

2 Diorskin Airflash foundation. This  spray is extremely light, resulting in a perfect matt but not chalky finish. You're meant to apply half a dozen squirts at a distance of about 15cm, but I find two squirts mixed with one squirt of skin primer mixed on the back of my hand is a better bet, then apply it quickly with the fingertips.

3 Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse makeup. For days when your skin's a bit blotchy, this heavier foundation works very well. It's a little too heavy and matt for my tastes to use every day, but this means it also works as a concealer - to use it this way, I apply it with one of those tiny makeup brushes you get in an eyeshadow palette. 

4 Yves St Laurent Touche Eclate. An all-in-one highlighter and concealer that is like photoshopping your face. Gets rid of thread veins, dark circles, the little draggy bits round your mouth. Fabulous product - never go anywhere without it. 

5 Maybelline Dream Mousse blusher. Incredibly light texture and a natural appearance, with just a tiny hint of sparkle to give you a glow. Also works well as an eyeshadow or under-eye concealer.

6 Dior pressed or loose powder. Loose for use at home, pressed for on the go. Foundation and powder are two areas where quality really shows, and Dior powders are very light and mattefying without ever looking chalky.  Refills are available and the compact closes with an expensive click that is very pleasurable.

7 Couleurs Nature Metalgrow Cream Eyeshadow in gold from Yves Rocher. A fabulous gold liquid eyeshadow that looks great every day. I would also have recommended Avon's creme stick eyeshadows for their nice texture, no drag, and good colours - and, importantly, a low price - but sadly they seem to have discontinued them and nothing in the new range looks remotely as good.

8 Revlon Wet/Dry Eyeliner in Chocolate Bar. Buy it if you find it - it's also been discontinued, due to some idiocy at Revlon's end. This eyeliner was THE choice for professional makeup artists for over a decade and I've been using my one stick (carefully sterilised) for at least 12 years now.

9 Boots No7 Extreme Length mascara. A friend gave me a free sample of this and I can't believe how good it is for the money. I usually spend about 28 euros on a high-end French mascara, but this budget brand gives a bright, clear eye with no clumping or flaking. 

10 Couleurs Nature lip pencil in Rose Poudre, from Yves Rocher. A useful lipliner in a shade just slightly darker than natural, and with a brush at the opposite end. On 'natural' days, I use it as a lipstick also, but as a liner, it goes with any lip colour.

11 Chanel Rouge Hydrabase cream lipsticks. Great colour and staying power, and I just love the click they make when you put the stick back in its case. 

12 Vaseline petroleum jelly. Let's not forget the humble Vaseline, which is a chapstick, lip gloss, eyebrow tamer and moisturiser all in one. I also use it as a night cream and on vicious winter days I wear it as a moisturiser outside. For dry, cracked hands, just rub it in like handcream and go to bed wearing plastic gloves, and if your heels are dry or sore, rub in Vaseline, slip on a pair of plastic bags and then socks and your feet will be transformed by morning. Magic.

As Britain cranks up for a heatwave - something Brits certainly didn't get last year - I thought I'd mention in passing some tips for keeping cool:

First, log on to the NHS Direct site and take a look at the Government's advice. A lot of it is 'well doh', but it would seem that some people just don't have the sense they're born with. You'd think things like staying inside when it's hot, wearing sunblock, avoiding alcohol and drinking lots of water would come naturally, but apparently not.

I met some people today in the supermarket just before noon who had been playing tennis in this heat - they're in their 60s. Frankly, this is something I would just not do - leave it to the superfit likes of Federer. I get my exercise out of the way before 7.00am in this sort of weather.

If you can't get out, or have a relative who can't get out, note that the crucial temperature is 25 degrees - you need to keep vulnerable people in rooms at or below this temperature or you're at risk of heat stroke. Cold food, cold drinks, cold water sponged over the body several times a day, cool baths are all de rigeur. 

Back to fashion... Luckily, my days of commuting on overcrowded buses and the like are long-gone, but when I lived in London, here were the things I'd advise to try to stay cool:

* Never go anywhere without a bottle of water on you. You don't know how long you'll be. Suppose the bus breaks down, or the Tube, or you're stuck in traffic in a car. Always, always carry water. There's a huge variety of water carriers and light flasks nowadays - I favour the tin ones made by Thermos that hold about half a litre. If you don't enjoy drinking water, add a bit of orange juice or cordial to it. But whatever you do, keep drinking. How much? Enough to make your urine run clear. The downside, of course, is that you spend half your life in the bog.

* Carry a water mister, such as Evian, in your handbag. This is fabulous for spraying onto your face, hair or neck.

* Carry a cooling gel such as Witch Vera - again, this cools as it evaporates. 

* Carry cologne tissues or a small spray bottle of cologne. Not only does it cool - again by evaporation - but it also kills bacteria stone dead if either you or anyone around you is sweaty. Just be aware that cologne sensitises your skin to sunlight, so it undoes the good of a sunblock. 

* Carry a fan. I'm serious here. The day we got married was a bit of a scorcher but my maid of honour and I did very well with little cheap fans from a Chinese shop - their batteries don't run out, either. 

* Wear a hat to keep the sun off your head. 

* If you're inside, bare as much skin as is reasonable.

* If you're outside, cover up. My fave look is a big straw hat, shades, big white shirt with cuffs that I can roll down to cover my hands, and either a long linen skirt or loose drawstring trousers. Keeping the sun off your skin is far cooler than letting it hit you, and wearing a long skirt means that a: you can go without underwear if you prefer (which I do) and b: you don't stick to bus seats and car seats etc like chicken on a griddle. 

* Stick to colours like white, cream, pale blue and pastels and you'll look as cool as you feel. Pale colours not only reflect the heat better than dark colours, they actually lower your body temperature slightly just by looking at them. Conversely, avoid hot colours such as red, orange and bright yellows.

* Wear loose clothing - loose shifts, sack dresses etc. Tight clothes such as jeans, t-shirts, pencil skirts and belts can be purgatory in hot weather. Don't tuck your blouse in - let a little air flow - and choose a dropped armhole such as on a shirt sleeve to prevent pit stains.

* In general, choose woven fabrics rather than jersey, stretch or knitted items, which hold heat against your skin. The best is probably linen, but a good cotton also works well, especially something tightly woven such as lawn. Cellulose fabrics like cotton and linen are absorbent, and if you pick a weave like organdie, will also stand away from your skin. Organdie used to be the classic fabric for little girls' dresses exactly for this reason. 

* Favour canvas deck shoes or very comfy sandals such as Footgloves rather than formal shoes, especially if your feet swell in hot weather. If you have to wear formal shoes for work, hopefully you're in an air-conditioned building but think about more casual shoes for the commute. Invest in a pair of mules for summer just in case your heels blister. 

* Carry a biggish scarf, either oblong or square, in something like white organza or cotton. You can tie it to a handbag handle for a chic look, but it's invaluable for covering your neckline/shoulders/back of your neck or anywhere you might catch the sun during the day. 

* If you can take a spare blouse to work, keep it in the office fridge and change at lunchtime. I often used to shower at midday, where possible, or at least have a good wash, including feet, crotch and armpits, and reapply deoderant and talc. Same again if you're going out for the evening.  

* Wear your hair off your neck, pinned up in barettes or pony tail bands. A headband also works, and keeping your fringe off your face helps a lot in hot weather. 

* If you work in an air-conditioned building, dress for the heat, not the cold. Wear thin underlayers and keep a warmer top layer such as a jersey cardigan or pashmina in your desk for when needed. It can be a real shock to emerge from a 19 degree office to a street temperature of 30-odd degrees.

* Keep your makeup light and natural - it will only run off like an oil slick anyway. Body Shop papier poudre sheets are great to carry around to absorb any shine during the day. 

If you have any other tips, please send them in. 

I've been meaning to comment for some time about this article I read in the Guardian a while ago.

I don't know why I bother reading Julie Bindel at all, actually. She's one of those tedious women who think that being lesbian makes them better feminists than the rest of us, and that being feminist makes them better lesbians. The object of her scorn in this article, however, is makeup, and by extension the women who wear it. 

We all know, surely, that makeup isn't necessary to one's happiness, but really it's a bit cheeky to treat anyone who wears it as if they're some sort of unliberated, downtrodden stooge to the patriarchy.This is such an OLD argument now that women really should be yards past it and on to worrying about more serious issues like equal pay or universal free childcare.

Makeup can be fun, especially when you're young. It can create a new identity, cheer you up when you're feeling down, make the change from day to night. In this respect it is no different than clothes. One wonders if Bindel would prefer us all to walk around in black boilersuits - pretty clothes also being entirely 'unnecessary' in the grand scheme of things. However, IMHO, constant drab practicality is hardly what the average woman desires in her life - or the average man, either.

The question about makeup, it seems to me, is balance. If you daren't leave the house without your makeup, you've got issues. But if you think that wearing even a scrap of it makes you a bad feminist, frankly you've also got issues. I never saw Simone de Beauvoir without her slap - or without her haute couture either - and I think her feminist creds are better than Bindel's.

"I became a lesbian aged 15 and therefore have never experienced the 'need' to dress for boys or men" says Bindel proudly. Leaving aside the issue of whether one 'becomes' a lesbian as if it was a lifestyle choice, what makes her think any woman 'needs' to dress for boys or men? Most women who are heterosexual WANT to dress for boys or men. At least when they're on the pull they do. That is what BEING on the pull is actually about, doh. And it is, incidentally, why most women have a different face for home and for work and for going out clubbing, just as they have different clothes for work and for jogging in the park. I would hazard a guess there aren't many women who put on a full face of slap to sit at home on their tod.

"We are so scrutinised by men, and often other women, that it has become unacceptable for us to display naked faces. Every single inch of us is supposed to be plucked, coloured and hidden beneath cosmetics," continues Bindel, living in some sort of dream world that frankly, I don't recognise. Most women I know don't wear make up much, if at all, and never did, even in the gender-bending era of the 1980s. Back then, one of my boyfriends wore more makeup than I did and we regularly borrowed each other's mascara. Quite which streets Bindel is walking down, falling over women who are scared to go out without their inch-thick slap, I don't know.

"I suppose a full face of makeup on a woman helps define the difference between the sexes, making it easier for men to assert their masculinity," she adds, as if this idea has only just occurred to her. But does the corollary ever occur to her? That women do it to assert their femininity? Makeup generally makes your eyes look bigger and darker, and your lips redder - those are both sexual signals, and the larger, darker eyes are also something seen universally in mammalian young - designed to appeal, to engender protection in the viewer. We are, like it or not, programmed to respond to this. 

What bothers me about her statement is this rather snide insinuation that there's something morally wrong in a woman wanting to look attractive to the opposite sex. This is bollocks. Sex is the way the human race reproduces itself. It might be a problem if sex is your only objective in life, but most of us, I feel, enjoy being thought attractive, by the right person(s), at the right time, in the right place. It adds a little savour to the day. The late, great Jill Tweedie hit the nail on the head I think, when she said that it was not that feminists did not want to be sex objects, but that sex objects was not ALL they wanted to be. 

From my mid-40s standpoint, also, I have to confess that my immediate reaction to the Bindel piece also has a weary tinge to it - that of: wait till you're my age, love. There goes someone without thread veins or rosacea or eye bags or jowls, someone whose eyelashes aren't thinning. There goes someone who, when she doesn't wear slap, doesn't get passed by people who say: "Cheer up, love - it might never happen," or is asked repeatedly whether or not she's ill. Someone who's found that in her 40s or 50s, her 'natural' face is sheet-white or blotchy or sun-damaged, or has morphed into the face of someone who looks pissed off or constantly tired. 

Personally, I like to feel that I am not a slave to make-up. In fact I wear it maybe a couple of times a week. But I'm also honest enough to admit that I do know that I look better with it, just as I'm honest enough to admit that Keira Knightly is a lot better looking than I ever will be or was. The sad truth is, I look more vibrant and happier with makeup. I get more compliments, just as I get more compliments when I'm dressed neatly rather than schlepping around in a sack, however comfortable that sack may be.

I wish it were not the case. I wish I had naturally pink lips rather than lips so pale I look like a heart-disease victim. I wish I had naturally dark lashes instead of lashes so pale that when I lose one in my eye, I can't find it. My natural colour is ashen, and if anyone ever says I look healthy you can bet one of two things - either I am wearing blusher (which I find indispensible as I get older), or I am running a temperature.  

And so, when I go to the supermarket, or pop out to see friends, just as I often put on a jacket that I wouldn't wear in the house, I often put on a dab of mascara and a touch of lip gloss. Is that unfeminist of me? Sad? Or just making a bit of an effort?

Whether a woman wants to wear makeup or doesn't, the choice should be hers - after all, from recollection, the last people to actively ban makeup were the Taliban and the Nazi government. Interesting, that, don't you think? 

You can see the vociferous responses to Bindel's nonsense here.