Beauty is about timing. The line between being ahead of the pack and jumping the gun is a fine one. Fresh-faced beauty is all very well in summer, but try wearing it a few days too late and you'll look like you've just got out of bed. By the same token, step out too soon in full autumn/winter make-up and you'll look over made-up.

At this time of year, you need to be wearing the make-up equivalent of a denim jacket - light enough to still feel summery, but smoothing out your complexion. Your skin will have gone at least a shade darker over the past few months, which will have softened imperfections. But as your tan fades, you need to compensate, either by using a darker powder or a foundation, but don't be heavy-handed.

"Once you've got June, July and August out of the way, you need to step up the coverage a bit," says Jason Rowe, international make-up artist with Prescriptives. "Keep your base relatively sheer: you'll probably need something a bit more corrective than tinted moisturiser, but do it gradually. Don't go straight from being a natural beach babe into full make-up overnight; ween yourself back on to it."

When it comes to eyes, lips and cheeks, the easiest way to do this is to start choosing colours with a little more pigment, but hold off from solid blocks of colour until the days get a bit darker. Adding sheen to colours, making them transparent, will stop them looking too heavy. If you can't face giving up your summer palette just yet, then try layering those shades to give them more depth and an autumnal feel. Keep eyes relatively light: "Maybe move from wearing just mascara to adding a little liner or a liquid wet/dry shadow to even out the colours on your eyelid, but don't pick something that will melt or crease while it's still warm," says Rowe. Annoying as this crossover period is, it's a great time to experiment, and what better way to spend a rainy September afternoon than gliding around beauty halls lit so brightly you could almost pretend it's summer?