OK – so I confess, this isn’t at all the image I had in mind when I set foot into the studio with a bottle of nail varnish and a lippie.

I’d intended a better quality one of these…taken when I was new to this game. I’d always admired Jeanne’s shots of make-up, which she once said were partly at least inspired by my lippie shot and had never thought about doing another one until today. (She seems to have taken the shots I'm thinking of down.)

Anyway, I was suddenly inspired with a need for a lippie shot and had concocted a story about going away and pampering myself to go with it (who said I couldn’t contrive a story if I wanted).

So, I took a few shots and suddenly realised my ‘secret weapon’ was in the blotted tissue that had the lips on it.

I deliberately ‘camped it up’ with over exposure and contrast but it’s almost entirely done in camera with only a slight adjustment done in photoshop later.

It’s minimalistic and quite unlike me but do you know what? I really like it!

Last year I was feeling blue - this 'birthday blues' that I always get was exascerbated by the move.