Every morning, I wake up and 'put on my face', as my mother used to call it. I even out my freckly skin with foundation, bring my cheeks to life with blusher, and give my blonde eyelashes definition with lots of mascara. On a good day, I'll take a stab at eyeliner and eyeshadow. but to be honest I'm not sure why I bother. Within hours of applying make-up, I am a smudgy mess. I have very oily, sweaty skin, so nothing sticks, despite applying loose and pressed powder throughout the day. Scroll down for video . Made-up: Marianne when the make-up was first applied, left, and 24 hours later . My eyeshadow gathers into shiny, tiny creases, my mascara and eyeliner moves south, and my foundation disappears. I'm often tempted not to bother at all. But now, apparently, there is an answer. When Yves Saint Laurent launched its Fusion Ink Foundation a few weeks ago, nearly 12,000 women clamoured to get on the waiting list. The reason? It claims to use space-age technology that makes it last for 24 hours. The high-tech base contains lipophilic acid, which is so absorbent it's used by Nasa to 'soak up' space dust so that it doesn't affect the outer casings of a rocket. The same substance also, apparently, sucks grease from the face, helping make-up last much longer. And YSL isn't the only one - look in Boots' make-up aisle and you'll find 24-hour lipsticks, mascaras and eyeshadows from a multitude of cheap and cheerful brands. But do any of them actually stay put for an entire day and night? I put some to the test... 6am . Out of the world: YLS's Fusion Ink Foundation has ingredients used by Nasa . I've never applied so much make-up this early. I start with foundation. As well as the space-age ingredients, YSL's Fusion Ink Foundation (Boots, £30.50) contains a 'hydrophilic agent' - a clay-like mix of minerals that the company claim acts like 'an invisible sponge', soaking up moisture from the face. It's surprisingly thin and watery, compared with my usual, creamy foundation, and sinks straight in, leaving a chalky finish. I top it up with Maybelline SuperStay 24-hour Waterproof powder (£6.99), which promises 'flawless coverage and shine control all day long'. Then, the eyes. Maybelline's Color Tattoo 24-Hour Eyeshadow (£4.99, Boots) claims 'up to 24 hours staying-power' and 'innovative pigment technology for a super-saturated colour'. The little pots of gel cream shadow can be applied with fingers or a brush. I use a bronze base with a smokey silver on top. The soft colours go on easily and feel like they're going to stay put. This is topped off with Rimmel Scandal eyes 24-hour gel eyeliner (£6.99, Boots), which promises 'up to 24 hours of rich, intense colour that doesn't flake, smudge, smear or run', and lashings of Clinique's Lash Power Mascara (£18). The mascara wand is tiny, so you have to layer it up, but it vows to 'look pretty for 24 hours without a smudge or smear. Lasts through rain, sweat, humidity, tears’. What more could a girl want? Well, rosy cheeks and a perfect pout, of course! Rimmel's Stay Blushed is a cream blusher, claiming to 'create a long-lasting, natural-looking flush of colour that lasts up to 24 hours' (£4.49, Superdrug). It has a much denser colour than I’m used to, and feels sticky, but it blends in quite well and the colour is pretty. Finally, the lips. I'm a disaster with lipstick, so I usually just go for lipgloss. But Max Factor Lipfinity (Boots, £10.99) sounds perfect. It consists of a lip stain, applied once, and a waxy lip balm, applied throughout the day to keep lips moist. The stain goes on easily, and the colour is strong. But my lips feel dry - you need the balm on top. An hour later, I'm ready to go. 12pm . The powder seems to have fallen at the first post. It really didn't last long - no more than an hour. The foundation seems to be staying put, but, because the powder's given up, I'm now very shiny. The lip colour has done surprisingly well, although it's gone from hot to lukewarm pink. My cheeks have faded in colour, but the eye make-up is immaculate. The liner, mascara and eyeshadow are exactly the same as when I applied them this morning. Very impressive. No need to reapply: Max Factor Lipfinity claims to last 24 hours . 6pm . The shine continues! I feel like there's an oil slick starting in my T-zone and spreading across my face. The cheek colour has gone. The pink of my lips is coming away in patches, but it's largely still there. And though the foundation is very thin, I can feel it sitting on my skin; I feel like my skin can't breathe. The eyes, however, are a miracle! The liner on the bottom lashline has smudged slightly, but the top is immaculate, and there is no creasing with the eye colour. The mascara is perfect. Midnight . It's the end of a long day. The eyeliner has smudged more below my eyes and my eyeshadow is vanishing. After dinner and drinks, my lip colour is barely there - and brushing my teeth doesn't help. I really want to wash my face, too, but I don't. Instead, I go to bed with my space-age foundation and smokey eyes, and worry what the state of my pillows - and my pores - will be in the morning. I get spots easily if I don't keep my skin very clean, so I'm sure I'll wake up with breakouts. 7am . Oh dear! Nobody needs to wake up to this vision in the mirror. I have big smudges under my eyes and the remaining eye colour seems to have gathered in clumps. There is one, lone, pink dot on my lips. But the mascara is immaculate - it hasn't smudged or broken off, and my lashes are perfectly curly. I can still feel the foundation on my skin which, I suppose, is the aim, but I can't wait to get it off. I run to the shower and use my most industrial-strength scrub. VERDICT . Top marks: Marianne was the most impressed with the Maybelline eyeshadow and Clinique mascara . Foundation . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 24 hours . Because the foundation is light and natural-looking, it's hard to tell if it stayed for 24 hours - I think it did. However, the product promises '24 hours of soft-matte perfection', which was not the case for me in terms of shine. Powder . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 1 hour . Very disappointing - within an hour of doing errands on a sunny day, my skin was very shiny. Eyeliner . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 16 hours . It began to smudge underneath by the end of the day, but the top line stayed perfect for 24 hours. Eyeshadow . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 20 hours . The colour started to come off by the end of the day, but there was some left on my lids after 24 hours - it was just clumpy. Impressive. Mascara . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 24 hours . It did not budge. My lashes stayed perfectly curly. A brilliant product. Blusher . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 7 hours . Very disappointing - the colour faded quickly and vanished by the late afternoon. Lips . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 15 hours . I kept a fairly strong colour for most of the day - much more than with a normal lipstick - but this couldn't survive dinner and teeth-brushing.
YSL's Fusion Ink Foundation claims to use space-age technology .
They say it should last for 24 hours .
Cheaper brands also claim to have staying power .
So do they really work?
Every morning, I wake up and 'put on my face', as my mother used to call it. I even out my freckly skin with foundation, bring my cheeks to life with blusher, and give my blonde eyelashes definition with lots of mascara. On a good day, I'll take a stab at eyeliner and eyeshadow. but to be honest I'm not sure why I bother. Within hours of applying make-up, I am a smudgy mess. I have very oily, sweaty skin, so nothing sticks, despite applying loose and pressed powder throughout the day. Scroll down for video . Made-up: Marianne when the make-up was first applied, left, and 24 hours later . My eyeshadow gathers into shiny, tiny creases, my mascara and eyeliner moves south, and my foundation disappears. I'm often tempted not to bother at all. But now, apparently, there is an answer. When Yves Saint Laurent launched its Fusion Ink Foundation a few weeks ago, nearly 12,000 women clamoured to get on the waiting list. The reason? It claims to use space-age technology that makes it last for 24 hours. The high-tech base contains lipophilic acid, which is so absorbent it's used by Nasa to 'soak up' space dust so that it doesn't affect the outer casings of a rocket. The same substance also, apparently, sucks grease from the face, helping make-up last much longer. And YSL isn't the only one - look in Boots' make-up aisle and you'll find 24-hour lipsticks, mascaras and eyeshadows from a multitude of cheap and cheerful brands. But do any of them actually stay put for an entire day and night? I put some to the test... 6am . Out of the world: YLS's Fusion Ink Foundation has ingredients used by Nasa . I've never applied so much make-up this early. I start with foundation. As well as the space-age ingredients, YSL's Fusion Ink Foundation (Boots, £30.50) contains a 'hydrophilic agent' - a clay-like mix of minerals that the company claim acts like 'an invisible sponge', soaking up moisture from the face. It's surprisingly thin and watery, compared with my usual, creamy foundation, and sinks straight in, leaving a chalky finish. I top it up with Maybelline SuperStay 24-hour Waterproof powder (£6.99), which promises 'flawless coverage and shine control all day long'. Then, the eyes. Maybelline's Color Tattoo 24-Hour Eyeshadow (£4.99, Boots) claims 'up to 24 hours staying-power' and 'innovative pigment technology for a super-saturated colour'. The little pots of gel cream shadow can be applied with fingers or a brush. I use a bronze base with a smokey silver on top. The soft colours go on easily and feel like they're going to stay put. This is topped off with Rimmel Scandal eyes 24-hour gel eyeliner (£6.99, Boots), which promises 'up to 24 hours of rich, intense colour that doesn't flake, smudge, smear or run', and lashings of Clinique's Lash Power Mascara (£18). The mascara wand is tiny, so you have to layer it up, but it vows to 'look pretty for 24 hours without a smudge or smear. Lasts through rain, sweat, humidity, tears’. What more could a girl want? Well, rosy cheeks and a perfect pout, of course! Rimmel's Stay Blushed is a cream blusher, claiming to 'create a long-lasting, natural-looking flush of colour that lasts up to 24 hours' (£4.49, Superdrug). It has a much denser colour than I’m used to, and feels sticky, but it blends in quite well and the colour is pretty. Finally, the lips. I'm a disaster with lipstick, so I usually just go for lipgloss. But Max Factor Lipfinity (Boots, £10.99) sounds perfect. It consists of a lip stain, applied once, and a waxy lip balm, applied throughout the day to keep lips moist. The stain goes on easily, and the colour is strong. But my lips feel dry - you need the balm on top. An hour later, I'm ready to go. 12pm . The powder seems to have fallen at the first post. It really didn't last long - no more than an hour. The foundation seems to be staying put, but, because the powder's given up, I'm now very shiny. The lip colour has done surprisingly well, although it's gone from hot to lukewarm pink. My cheeks have faded in colour, but the eye make-up is immaculate. The liner, mascara and eyeshadow are exactly the same as when I applied them this morning. Very impressive. No need to reapply: Max Factor Lipfinity claims to last 24 hours . 6pm . The shine continues! I feel like there's an oil slick starting in my T-zone and spreading across my face. The cheek colour has gone. The pink of my lips is coming away in patches, but it's largely still there. And though the foundation is very thin, I can feel it sitting on my skin; I feel like my skin can't breathe. The eyes, however, are a miracle! The liner on the bottom lashline has smudged slightly, but the top is immaculate, and there is no creasing with the eye colour. The mascara is perfect. Midnight . It's the end of a long day. The eyeliner has smudged more below my eyes and my eyeshadow is vanishing. After dinner and drinks, my lip colour is barely there - and brushing my teeth doesn't help. I really want to wash my face, too, but I don't. Instead, I go to bed with my space-age foundation and smokey eyes, and worry what the state of my pillows - and my pores - will be in the morning. I get spots easily if I don't keep my skin very clean, so I'm sure I'll wake up with breakouts. 7am . Oh dear! Nobody needs to wake up to this vision in the mirror. I have big smudges under my eyes and the remaining eye colour seems to have gathered in clumps. There is one, lone, pink dot on my lips. But the mascara is immaculate - it hasn't smudged or broken off, and my lashes are perfectly curly. I can still feel the foundation on my skin which, I suppose, is the aim, but I can't wait to get it off. I run to the shower and use my most industrial-strength scrub. VERDICT . Top marks: Marianne was the most impressed with the Maybelline eyeshadow and Clinique mascara . Foundation . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 24 hours . Because the foundation is light and natural-looking, it's hard to tell if it stayed for 24 hours - I think it did. However, the product promises '24 hours of soft-matte perfection', which was not the case for me in terms of shine. Powder . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 1 hour . Very disappointing - within an hour of doing errands on a sunny day, my skin was very shiny. Eyeliner . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 16 hours . It began to smudge underneath by the end of the day, but the top line stayed perfect for 24 hours. Eyeshadow . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 20 hours . The colour started to come off by the end of the day, but there was some left on my lids after 24 hours - it was just clumpy. Impressive. Mascara . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 24 hours . It did not budge. My lashes stayed perfectly curly. A brilliant product. Blusher . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 7 hours . Very disappointing - the colour faded quickly and vanished by the late afternoon. Lips . Claim: 24 hours . Reality: 15 hours . I kept a fairly strong colour for most of the day - much more than with a normal lipstick - but this couldn't survive dinner and teeth-brushing.
It claims to use space-age technology that makes it last for 24 hours. The high-tech base contains Fusion Ink Foundation has ingredients used by space-age ingredients, YSL's Fusion Ink