The presenter who casts celebrities away to island retreats is always composed and groomed. If she was next to brave the waves, which beauty products would she stow away?
GTG Kirsty Young, you are probably best known as the voice of Desert Island Discs, the face of BBC One's Crimewatch, and the erstwhile siren of Channel 5 News, but you are also married with two children and obviously rushed off your Manolos/Scholls. What is your essential fail-safe, cover all, quick, hide-all the sins tip?
Kirsty If time's an issue, hair in a smart ponytail and sunglasses. If it isn't throw money at the problem and book a blow dry. you can do your make-up in the chair and 40 minutes later you'll be band box fresh.
GTG Right back at the beginning when you were at Stirling High School, do you remember your first encounters with make-up? Did you have a high school horror? A blue eyeliner moment? Were you a goth? A new romantic?
Kirsty Long, long ago before Juicy Tubes and ghd tongs there was Coca-Cola flavoured roll on lip gloss and my mum's Rowenta. Yes, I really did iron my hair. I thought I looked like Debbie Harry. I didn't.
GTG Was there a particular thing that you hankered after? A scent? Something that exuded glamour to you? From The Miss Selfridge range for example? A root perm? (or was that just me?)
Kirsty At 15 I was giddy at the very mention of "Opium". A boyfriend obliged and I spent the next six months smelling like a tart's handbag. 1982 was the year of the perm. Obviously.
GTG As you got into television presenting on Scotland Today, your own show, Kirsty, and then Channel 5 News, you got used to putting “a face” on for the nation - what did you learn that actually works?
Kirsty Spend your last cent on a good cut and colour… surprisingly, primer before base actually works and cheap mascara is better than the pricey stuff. Oh and always, always be nice to the lighting director.
GTG You once put cowboy boots, Britney Spears and “baby on board” stickers into Room 101 - is there anything cosmetic you would like to chuck in there as well?
Kirsty All pink-toned foundation. And let me just be clear – cowboy boots are absolutely fine. If you're a cowboy.
GTG Are you one of the those well-behaved women who always takes their face off at night? Or do you think day-old eyeliner still works?

Kirsty I'm not always a well-behaved woman but I literally cannot sleep if I haven't de-slapped. Emma Hardie Moringa cleanser ( uk.spacenk.com , £34) is incredible and takes everything off in one go (even waterproof mascara) and somehow makes you feel like you've had a mini facial rather than three dirty martinis.
GTG Do you keep a secret something in your glove compartment or your handbag for that caught-short moment?
Kirsty YSL's Radiance-Enhancing powder compact ( yslbeauty.co.uk , £33), some reassuringly expensive Sisley hand cream that claims to "de-age" and actually does and like any woman with a pulse, Touche Eclat ( yslbeauty.co.uk , from £25).
GTG You have two lovely daughters - is there anything in the name of beauty that you might pass on to them?
Kirsty Tilda Swinton is the only woman on earth who looks good with bleached eyebrows. And never, ever pick a spot.
GTG We will give you some tweezers and a working pair of scissors, what else would you take?

Kirsty Cowshed shampoo ( cowshedonline.com , £14) gives a proper glossy shine and no parabens [the preservative in cosmetics that has been linked to breast cancer]. Which is nice.
GTG What would be your luxury?

Kirsty By Terry Gelée de Rose moisturiser ( uk.spacenk.com , £55).
GTG And if a giant wave came along and swept away your make-up bag, what would you save?
Kirsty Civilisation has been marked by significant human triumphs: the consolidation of civil law, Galileo's investigations into Copernican theory, Ernst Chain's contribution towards the mass production of antibiotics... yet very few of our earthly achievements come close to the creation of Givenchy's "Subli'mine Sculpt Light" sheer foundation. The only base in the history of the world that makes one look as though good genes rather than shop-bought fakery has given one a faultless complexion. Had some mutton-headed bozo not decided to discontinue my favourite cosmetic of all time then this is what I would have saved from the waves. As it is I'll make do with a lip gloss.