You beauty! Annabel Rivkin's cabinet of wonders

I am clinging to my tan. It's pathetic really, seeing as the fade is inevitable. But I am avoiding exfoliation and slapping on the fake stuff with gay abandon. On it goes. And a bit more for good measure. Fake tan works best when combined with the remnants of real tan but there is a price to pay.

Pores. Best that they remain teeny and unseen and un-thought-about, too. But when you get back from a holiday, your skin usually rebels against the two weeks of suncream application with a mean little break-out. Add to that maniacal fake tan application and the result is dull, blotchy and blackheady.

So how to clean your skin thoroughly without sloughing off the precious traces of summer? You need a decent mineral mask that will whip out nasties without dehydrating the skin or scraping off your tan. Una Brennan, a brilliant Notting Hill skin-brightening facialist who tends to the complexions of Sienna Miller and her ilk, recommends using a clay mask the day after you apply fake tan so that the 'dirt' is sucked out but the pigment remains.

Omorovicza is a Hungarian skincare brand rooted in the healing powers of Budapest's mineral-rich thermal springs. Its Deep Cleansing Mask re-energises with calcium and magnesium, while the clay gathers up pore-clogging muck as the mask dries in a horror-film mummifying way. Leave it on for a good 20 minutes and then, when you can no longer smile without a cracking sensation, wipe it off with a warm flannel and chuck on some serum to help activate the moisturiser that follows. Your skin is left silken and nourished and clean, clean, clean. But do I look pale? Where did I put my fake tan?

Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask, £57, at liberty.co.uk