I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ‘B’. Or rather lots of things. Because like it or not, brown was the colour of the day at Milan Fashion Week (only a week or so since we noted an similarly earthy vibe in New York). On paper, perhaps not a shade that we instantly reach for to achieve a flattering effect. But before you run for the hills and make a dash for your red lipstick, consider a brown that’s soft and buttery – like suede in a beauty product – that caresses the skin then glides decadently onto the lips. The result, in make-up artist Lucia Pieroni’s words, is ‘natural, glowy, gorgeous’. And here are three reasons why you’re bound to be converted too.

At Ports 1961, Tom Pecheux declared his favourite product of the season to be Dandelion Compact Blush (out later this year). A sludgy shade of flush that looks unremarkable in the pot – then delivers a transparent wash of post-holiday health to skin. Pecheux’s impeccable Birkin-esque beauty needed only the hint of eyeliner to accessorize the perfection of her skin – and suddenly we were sold on brown.

‘Peter Lindbergh skin’ was how Lucia Pieroni described the dustily glowing complexions at Moschino. With their urchin haircuts and jutting cheekbones, there was also the hint of Linda Evangelista boyishness to models - skin was polished with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium Deep before MAC's classic Groundwork Paint Pot added definition to the eyes to complete the tonal brown story. In this case, two browns definitely make a right.

Like a little pot of caramel, MAC’s Bone Beige Sculpting Powder melted into the hollows of cheeks at Costume National to create an all but invisible contour that made a razor-sharp bone structure seem utterly effortless. Paired with those dark, chocolatey brows, straightened almost to the point of grumpiness, this was a look so enviously cool, adding any other colour but brown would merely have seemed de trop.

I lost count of the number of cocoa bullets of MAC’s Myself and Mocha Latte Lipsticks I saw in serried ranks on the stations of make-up artists backstage. Oozing warmth and a kind of molten opulence, pat these shades on (no mirror necessary) and suddenly one looks better – but understatedly so. Reader, meet brown – your new make-up best friend.