Between dealing with the kids' home schooling, recording podcasts and literally being on Zoom all day, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more exhausted in my life. It sounds dramatic but this period of lockdown has been worse than having a newborn. So, while my can’t-live-without product may sound a little shallow, it is one that I really rely on so that I can just get on with my job without worrying about what I look like.

There was that time during the first lockdown when we were all getting used to Zoom and I found myself just looking at the screen and thinking, ‘Oh God!’. I’m sure it’s made us all devastatingly vain but anything that helps you not to focus on that stuff is a big win for me – I don’t want to have to care what I look like.

Previously, if I was interviewing someone, I might be lucky enough to have a makeup artist on hand or the room would at least be appropriately lit but for the past year I’ve just been at home on an unflattering laptop and I’m interviewing some pretty gorgeous people a lot of the time. That moment when I first turn on Zoom or switch the camera on my phone around for an Instagram live can be a total shocker, especially when I’ve had a whole day of homeschooling. Having to then see myself on screen next to someone like Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who could not look more perfect… It’s outrageous!

Essentially I just need all the help I can get at the moment and the product that’s made me feel more confident to do my job and face the world is Charlotte Tilbury’s Magic Away Liquid Concealer which I’ve only discovered recently. 

I’ve tried a few other products and am definitely open to trying new ones in the future, but I was already a massive Charlotte Tilbury fan. I’ve got a bunch of her stuff in my bag such as her Pillow Talk lipstick, but I’ve really been enjoying this concealer because it literally does magic everything away. I just add a bit of mascara and I’m done.

As you get older bits of your face start to look a bit grey or too pink – I’ve also got a sun spot that I hate – but I mainly use this product to cover my eye bags which I never gave a thought to before the pandemic but have been feeling more insecure about since being on screen all the time. I don’t think I really appreciated how plump and gorgeous that under-eye area is in your twenties but now that I’m about to turn 40 all I see is how sunken it looks. Especially under my left eye which is worse than the right for some reason and sometimes looks as though someone has gone in there with black paint!

Before I discovered this wonder wand I was trowelling on under-eye stuff in the hope that it would get rid of my bags but it actually seemed to make them worse. When you get to a certain age, it’s all about trying to avoid that cakey thing you get with some makeup products – because I’m expressive I find that after talking for a couple of hours I get these lines where it’s all creased and clumped together. The Magic Away Concealer doesn’t seem to do that.

Anything that can help me feel more confident and disguise the fact that I’ve been homeschooling by day and sat in front of a screen all night is my kind of product!