If by some quirk of fate I were ever selected to be on Mastermind, I’d feel like I ought to choose something historical or intellectual as my specialist subject, such as ‘Bridges of Victorian Britain’. However, I’m pretty sure I’d end up sitting in the chair answering questions on ‘Palettes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries’, nodding sagely as John Humphries asks how many matte shades there were in 2015’s Smashbox releases. In the same way that people buy themselves and their kids new PJs for Christmas, it’s now apparently become my one woman tradition to buy myself a palette to add to the collection. Here’s what was in the mix this year.

Bobbi Brown are the masters of the Christmas palette – every year they release a selection of eye and lip palettes in special Christmas packaging and they’re always a good selection of shades and textures (going full sparkle is lovely for Christmas, but when you’re getting ready to go to the bus stop in February you’re probably going to want at least one matte to work with). If I were picking a really great general purpose palette from the Christmas selection then I’d choose the Cool Dusk Eye Palette, £37.50, with a light matte base shade, two darker matte shades for crease and lining, and two shimmer / sparkle shades. Absolutely no filler here – I think you’d use them all. I didn’t get this one this year, because in a new...