You beauty! Annabel Rivkin's cabinet of wonders

Sometimes, when I have a hangover, I choose to be in an excellent mood. I am grown-up enough to know, when I knock back the cocktails, that there is an inevitability about the morning after. Similarly there is no point bitching about the clocks going back and the nights closing in. And so I choose to embrace the darkness.

Because the glow of night-time throws up all sorts of possibilities. It can be intimidating to go to a summer party dolled up and painted because one is still dealing with the ruthlessness of daylight, which means you can either look winsome and natural until sunset and then vaguely under-made-up later on, or painted and coated for the first part of the evening and appropriate only after dusk. But winter means that you can make up like you mean it and, to me, that can be summed up in one word: glitter. Yay!

Sparkle can be marvellously subtle in a 'Did I just imagine it or is that woman shimmering?' sort of a way. And so, for subtlety, I give you Guerlain - a brand with Parisian refinement and mysterious femininity coursing through its DNA.
Vol de Nuit is a scented glitter held in a beautiful fin de siècle-style bottle and delivered through a diffuser. Which adds drama. The stuff itself smells powdery yet entirely restrained. The smallest atoms twinkle on the skin, disappearing and then throwing themselves into relief as one moves. And it lasts. I pouffed some on to my arms early yesterday evening and I was still a-sparkle at bedtime.

So twinkle, twinkle little stars. And, when the hangover strikes, eat a bacon sandwich and smile.
Guerlain Vol de Nuit scented glitter spray, £49.50 (01932 233 887)