Too many grooming gifts are aimed at a man I've never met in my life. For example, all that faux-traditional shaving garb (razor and brush styled to look Victorian, with ye olde English font and pretendy ivory) is really annoying and outrageously expensive. See also: fragrance houses that take cliché "male" labels (Porsche, James Bond, Pirelli and the like) and lazily plaster them on to a generic aftershave, like something created for a branding task on The Apprentice. Neither is as far from a joke willy-grooming kit than they'd like to imagine.

The best course is to bypass "gifts" altogether and just choose great everyday grooming products that could become the recipient's friend for life. Tom Ford's new range (pictured, from £20) is a banker for any serious grooming obsessive, while the men's offerings from Clarins and Elemis are so good they'll please anyone with a Y chromosome. A barbershop shave appointment (complete with hot towels and cut-throat razor) is a reliable hit, as are Chanel fragrances (I also like Old Spice, I feel no shame). And something efficacious to the point of grotesque is always good, such as Footner Exfoliating Socks (£14.99). My partner saw me in mine and has lusted after them ever since.

Yes, those are my nails dressed like Noel Edmonds, and I make no apologies. They're Elegant Touch falsies in fetching Reindeer (£7.10), and they make me smile, as all good stocking fillers should. If your budget is small, it's often best to buy one tiny luxury item, such as a single vial of bath oil from Aromatherapy Associates (£10). Or you could go off-piste with something frivolous and kitsch, such as these. On this tip is Vaseline's limited-edition Paint The Town red lip tint(£3.49). I've been wearing it smudged over sharp red lip liner to give a bright, festive mouth, and someone always asks what it is. The tin is lovely, too.

Almost as iconic is Dr Bronner's liquid soap. I love this product (which can be used on babies, adults, clothes, even makeup brushes) and the three-pack makes a lovely and satisfying stocking filler for only £7. Models Own is one of my favourite budget brands and its £10 neon five-piece brush set is one of the best cheap gifts around.

The thing about being a single mum is that when your children are little, there's no one around to engineer the pantomime of Mother's Day by buying a present or helping them make a card. I feel this is ample justification for a spot of self-gifting. I often choose hand cream, since most of the year is spent grabbing some generic supermarket moisturiser that lives next to the J-cloths and Fairy Liquid.

Jointly sharing the top of this year's list are Roger & Gallet Bois D'Orange (£6), for my handbag, and Aromatherapy Associates Renewing Rose (£23), for next to my bed. Both smell delicious, cosset dry skin and even out ruddiness. Also containing rose are Aerin's easy-peasy, good-on-every-woman Rose Balm Lipsticks (£25). Somewhere between balm and classic lipstick, they're rich in moisture, subtle in colour and the packaging is impressive.

This past year has seen countless "makeup-free" selfies posted by celebrities on Twitter, culminating grandly this month in Vogue's cover featuring Nigella Lawson wearing "just a touch of blush and mascara".

Of course, in almost all cases, "makeup-free" celebrities are wearing plenty (last catwalk season, a makeup artist told me the "look" was "about real skin" before demonstrating how he'd achieved it with no fewer than a dozen products). I'm not entirely convinced this matters. It's dishonest and somewhat vain, yes, but I don't believe anyone buys these claims any more than they think the roast chicken pictured on the packaging became golden without a stylist first brushing it with Ronseal. When our culture has so few ideals of physical beauty, anything different is a start.

When Sam Farmer went to buy deodorant for his teenage daughter Emily, he was appalled by what he found. "Rows of pink, phallic cans, sickly sweet and called things like Entice, Tease and Sinful. Some even featuring the Playboy bunny," he says. His son, meanwhile, was offered macho grey bottles of "Total Control" and "Team Force". So infuriated was Farmer by the shameless sexual stereotyping, cheap scents and highly chemical formulas that he decided to design his own unisex products for young people.

A two-year course in cosmetics science later (and having teamed up with former bigwigs at Ren and Kiehl's), he's launched Sam Farmer the brand. The products make no elaborate, unsubstantiated claims. They're neither organic nor unscented (they smell subtly of white tea, which proved equally popular with boys and girls), and don't attempt to be down with the kids. I've had a teen boy and girl testing for the past month, and both are demanding top-ups. It's all fairly priced, from £4 for the very good, low-aluminium deodorant to £8 for a lovely, sulphate-free face wash.

The British are experts at mid-price luxury Whistles, Jigsaw, Reiss but only recently has this extended to the bathroom. For years, mine contained a mix of high-end luxury bath brands (Clarins, Elemis, Laura Mercier) and supermarket shower bargains (Neutrogena, Dove, Palmolive), but now a third strand has emerged between the two.

Sanctuary has upped its game hugely with beautiful bath products from only a fiver. Perhaps most impressive is Mandara Spa, a mid-price bath and bodycare range at Sainsbury's, by the people behind Elemis and Bliss Spa. The formulas are skin-softening and scented like something much spendier. They contain no parabens, sulphates or mineral oils, and the prices, from £4-£10, make them a treaty but not guilt-inducing extravagance. I adore Bali Santi shower cream, smelling of warm flowers and coconut milk.

I love a stick. Fat, solid, twist-up makeup like something Larry Olivier might have smeared on before playing Coriolanus. Sticks are cylindrical like a bingo marker, so don't take up too much makeup bag real estate (and don't require brushes that get caught in the zip) and, crucially, can't smash to recreate a Jackson Pollock.

There are brilliant new sticks for spring. Bobbi Brown has reformulated her groundbreaking 1992 stick foundation. Renamed Skin Foundation Stick (£29), it lasts longer, looks natural, comes in a characteristically inclusive shade range, and is suitable for all skins. I love it for hastily ramping up a sheer base for an unexpected night out. Another icon in transition is Nars Multiple. The classic lip and cheek sticks are joined by matte versions (£30, and portions are enormous). I like them even better, especially on the lips (shimmery lips get a no from me). Anguilla (pictured here) is a fantastically useful shade for casual days or for balancing smoky eyes.

The joy of my job is that I get to recommend brilliantly effective and useful products that might otherwise be ignored. Occasionally, this occurs to me as I'm using something on which I am so dependent that even I have begun to take it for granted. Muji nail clippers (£3.95) are a perfect example: I've used them for more than 10 years and won't let any other sharp implement near my nail tips (I even take them to nail bars). Why? They are so sharp, strong and precise that I never need to use a nail file afterwards (I'm convinced that regular filing, even when done professionally, damages nails). The Muji clippers leave a perfectly smooth surface and are in a different league from common or garden clippers. There's a (bigger) toenail version, too.

Other bargain tools that cannot be bettered include the Wet Brush (£9.99), which makes detangling wet hair a fast, painless and frizz-free job I use it daily on my children as well as on myself and the Tweezerman Deluxe Cosmetic Sharpener (£5.50), which accommodates any cosmetic pencil from slim liner to fat, chunky crayon, thanks to an adjustable aperture. You will never need another sharpener.

Iam traditionally unkeen on fruity floral scents. There was a huge move towards them in the early 2000s as hundreds hit the shelves, all chirpy and bland. Neither sexually confident enough to be blowsy and potent, nor classy enough to be crisp and aromatic, they are the olfactory equivalent of the nice, boring partner you take home from school to meet your parents before meeting someone more interesting and filthy at university. There are exceptions Jo Malone's Blackberry & Bay, for one (wet mossiness gives it zap), and some cherry perfumes. In all cases, a slight sourness is the key.

A legendary makeup artist turned perfumer reminded me of this with her own take. Mary Greenwell's Cherry (£95) blends unsickly, sour cherry notes, blackberries and sharp bergamot, then stops the whole thing smelling like a fruit salad with heady patchouli and slightly dirty musk. The outcome is a gorgeous scent for this clement weather.

Iam asked about facial sunblocks so often, I believe they're most women's beauty bugbear. Inevitably, this reaches critical mass in spring, when it's time to up the ante from our usual SPF15 and seek out a sunblock that isn't a nuisance.

The fear seems to be of breakouts (chemical sunscreens irritate some), chalkiness (non-chemicals can turn you a sickly shade of Parma Violet), gunkiness (possibly not a word, but the dissatisfied will understand) and expense. And good facial sunscreens can be pricey.

Despite my moaning, I recognise that BB creams have answered the calls of many women for a light spring/summer base that doesn't feel like makeup, and can be smeared on in a relatively slapdash manner. But there are alternatives that give the same sheer colour, sun protection and minor blemish cover without the dull finish.

Perricone MD's No Foundation Foundation(£48) is great. Slap it over serum (if oily) or moisturiser (if not) and it evens inconsistent tone, making you look more "done". Stupidly, it ignores dark skins, but Sleek's superb CC range (£8.99) doesn't: it's one of the best colour-correcting creams I've tried, despite being a fraction of the price of many. It gives glow without cakiness, and the shade range is suitably inclusive. Clarins' reformulated HydraQuench tinted moisturizer(£29) also fits the bill. It feels wonderfully moist (even I can skip day cream), but it seems to be pot luck as to whether your shade is covered. Personally, I've opted to spend summer wearing Becca's Luminous Skin Colour(£32) this Australian brand is back after withdrawing from the UK a few years ago, streamlining to what it does best: natural, lovely-looking skin.

An entirely new makeup brand is rare. Skincare ranges pop up weekly (organic skincare seems to be the new artisan baby food, in terms of downshifting middle-class start-ups), but makeup is prohibitively expensive, owing to the large number of colours and components. Charlotte Tilbury is the notable brand of the past few years (wonderful, pricey) but Makeup Revolution, a vast new range priced mostly between a quid and a fiver, is seriously impressive.

The quality may be variable the eyeshadow pigment isn't strong enough, the packaging a tad fragile (one palette lid cracked as I opened it) but what Makeup Revolution does brilliantly is make experimenting with colour and technique affordable. The range of shades is superb and well chosen, especially in the huge £4 palettes and the lipsticks, which are very good and a mere £1 a tube (I'm wearing Luscious). The mascara and concealer are extremely decent for £1.50, the blushers and bronzers are silky and flattering; the Awesome Eye Foil and Baked Shadows are less successful. Makeup Revolution is dirt-cheap, intelligently conceived and far better on the face than you'd ever expect.

I've spent the past month travelling the country, answering women's beauty questions. I've discovered they're more scared of bronzer than of wrinkles. Too many orange faces papped for celebrity magazines, too many good intentions manifesting in muddy stripes and a hasty rub down with a wet wipe. It's inhibiting.

There are bronzer tutorials on theguardian.com, but it's perhaps time for the curious but resistant to look at alternatives. Bronzy glow can also be added with By Terry's Cellularose Brightening CC Lumi-Serum, £59. Apricot Glow is perfect for giving pale skins a boost, while Sunny Flash is for the darker or more willingly tanned. It's so sheer that it's impossible to get wrong and looks pretty with light makeup. Bronze needn't go all over a flash can mimic the effect of a day in the sun.

The buzz term in modern beauty is hybrid technology that is, products that take good skincare ingredients and add them to makeup for a comfortable, healthy-looking finish. Its advent has resulted in practically every makeup brand releasing liquid lipsticks at the same time. These are paints that look and last like proper lipstick, but feel as comfy as gloss and come in the same wand-application tubes. They're ideal if, like me, you associate glosses with teenagers in nightclub toilets.

My favourites of the posh brands are Armani's Lip Maestro (matte, sophisticated, £26.50) and Dior's new Fluid Stick (shinier, but not at all sticky and 1990s, £26) I'm wearing that here in Wonderland. I like the former for night-time and the latter for day, or for when I'm wearing fistfuls of eye makeup. Topshop Lip Creams (£7) are the kind of thing the brand always does well: the pigment is strong, the shades are bold (possibly too bold for some) and the price is fair. I also like L'Oréal Paris' Glam Matte (£7.99), which looks and feels fantastic, and also smells so strongly of pick 'n' mix sweets that I had to wipe it off after an hour before I got toothache.

I love my products, clearly, but in summer I scale back a bit. My handbag is more likely to hold juice cartons, balls, suncream and hats that my children will refuse to wear, which leaves little space for much else. So there's lots to be said for carrying a multipurpose moisturising balm: a little pot or tube of non-specific emollient to be smeared on as a glossy balm for lips, a soother for prickly heat, bites and grazes, a moisturiser for dry patches and sunburn, and as a serviceable handcream. There are hundreds out there so many that I feel bad that my favourite is still Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream (£26): it's been around for so long now, it can't be news to anyone. What you may not know, though, is that it's now available in an unscented formula, so you no longer have to tolerate that signature citronella aroma, which is reminiscent of wood polish.

Eight Hour is different in that it contains beta hydroxy acid, to de-flake lips and calm zits, but there are other balms I love, too. This Works Turbo Balm (£12) is a firm favourite, as is the wonderful Lanolips 101 Ointment (£11.22). All mix perfectly with lipstick to create a sheer, summery wash of colour for mouth and cheeks.

I hate it when great products are discontinued, and am quick to tell brands in the hope they'll reconsider. But I'm still surprised and impressed when this bears fruit. When Smashbox last year withdrew the idiot-proof, non-smudging, you-could-apply-them-while-hanging-from-a-bungee-cord Waterproof Shadow Liners, I was openly cross: these brilliant chubby crayons are staples in my kit. They were missed by so many of you, though, that Smashbox has just imported all remaining stock to sell via the UK website from 5 July (£17, while supplies last). Also just back from the dead is one of my favourite nail polishes, OPI's Chasing Rainbows (previously Rainbow Connection but otherwise identical; £11.95), a clear-based glitter that makes nails look immediately jolly but chic. I've been chasing it on eBay for a year, so I'm delighted to see it back via official stockists. And Suqqu have kept my favourite Cream Foundation (£62) in the UK market, despite removing it elsewhere, because so many of you love it.

Now, if I can just persuade Chanel to resurrect Fuego lipstick and Superdrug to stop constantly constantly mucking about with the availability of the fantastic Simply Pure Hydration Serum, I will consider 2014 to be a major win.

When I was little, I joined a book club. Each month a parcel would arrive at my granny's, addressed to me. Frankly, this was the giddy highlight of an otherwise anticlimactic event. Inside was a cheap book printed on greying paper, some scratchy crayons and a flimsy toy that looked like something from the market. This isn't far off my experience of beauty subscription boxes, the now hugely popular way of buying products.

The idea is that subscribers pay £10-25 a month for a box of branded beauty goodies, mainly (but not all) in mini size. They include some of my favourite brands, including Ren, Laura Mercier, Caudalie and others. The problem is their lucky dip model: you don't get to pick what you receive. Some companies claim to choose them in accordance with your personal beauty profile, but I've rarely seen much evidence of this being done effectively.

In my quest to pare down my summer makeup and head to the park with a bag smaller than a tumble dryer, I've developed a huge crush on lip and cheek sticks. These fat, moist sticks of sheer colour are pretty impossible to mess up. They look (and are) effortless, and offer the more dewy finish women usually like in summer months. For lips, dab straight on, and for glowy cheeks, just stroke on to the fattest part of the cheeks and blend outwards with your middle finger.

Here I'm wearing Charlotte Tilbury's Beach Stick (£30) in Formentera though it's hard to pick a colour when there's no wrong answer within the range. They are limited-edition and so good that I expect them to sell out rapidly. Soap & Glory have done their own, non-limited version called Sexy Mother Blusher (I know, I know, smutty blusher names appear to be endemic these days; £9). It's extremely good. Don't be frightened of the bright hues all fade to a mere wash when blended in. Both will continue to look great beyond summer, when Clinique are launching cheek sticks as an extension of their successful Chubby Sticks range, but I'm not allowed to mention those until September. Oh.

Now that everyone acknowledges that moisturiser is a Good Thing, I'm afraid I'm going to say I don't think the moisturiser you use is terribly important. Don't misunderstand me to moisturise is vital. It gives skin a brighter, softer, smoother texture, makes it more comfortable, provides a better base for makeup and protects it from the elements (though not the sun you still need a sunblock), but if you find a cream that works for you on this superficial level, then buy it, whatever else it claims or doesn't claim to do. Moisturisers are a bit like jeans if the brand that makes your bum look best happens to be Gap rather than Gucci, then you're winning (cheaper moisturisers often contain mineral oil, which can cause breakouts. That is my only word of caution, so do check). If your perfect moisturiser is expensive, then you have my sympathies. It's a lottery.

If money were no object, I'd wear Sisley Hydra Global or Carita Lagoon Cream every day. Seeing as it is for most of us, I'm more likely to recommend Darphin Vitalskin(£39), Body Shop Vitamin C Daily Moisturiser (£12), L'Oreal Youth Code Luminize (£11.99) or Clinique Moisture Surge (£34). All are excellent.