IT ain't called the silly season for nothing. Christmas is the time of year when all routines go out the window.

IT ain't called the silly season for nothing. Christmas is the time of year when all routines go out the window.

Candles are burned both ends, and you can't see your buzzing alarm clock for last night's mascara residue cementing your eyelids together.

It's a recipe for festive skin disaster - that's definitely more bleary-eyed blunder than glowing goddess from the night before.

But late-night-revellers can rejoice. You can still party all night and rise and shine... with some much-needed beauty help.

If you're wondering how party-mad celebs manage to burn the midnight oil and still look like an oil painting the next day, their make-up artists usually have a lot to answer for.

"Party season means you're going to work hard and play hard, so your skin's going to suffer hard," says Dr Neetu Nirdosh, dermatologist and anti-ageing specialist to the stars. "You need to ensure you have a good skin rescue plan to get you through the festive season."

Besides your stomach and liver, your skin is often the first thing to suffer during the party season, quite simply because skin cells need beauty sleep to recharge and relax.

Use a moisture replenishing cream to pep your skin back to life. Avoid a party-parched complexion with Dior HydrAction Intensive Mask (£25.50) or, for a quick hydration boost, try The Body Shop's Vit E Face Mist (£6).\ Keep dark circles at bay with Origins No Puffery Cooling Mask for Puffy Eyes, £16.50, (www.origins.co.uk). Only in La-La land can you get away with a pair of oversized sunnies to disguise tired eyes.

Make-up artist Gary Bunker recommends Precriptives Site Unseen Skin Brightening Concealer, £16 (0870 034 2566), or Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Concealer, £15 (www.esteelauder.co.uk) to hide dark circles and blotches.

Remember to keep make-up natural-looking, and use an eyelash curler and mascara to make tired peepers full of life.

Even without the stale smoke that was always a dead-giveaway of a night-out, stale from working up a sweat on the dancefloor isn't attractive.

Fake fresh hair with a rescue remedy hair spray. Products like Kevin Murphy Fresh Hair, £10.95 (01282 613413), Phil Smith Be Gorgeous Dry Clean Shampoo, £2.99 at Sainsbury's, or Schwarzkopf Bonacure Styling Treat Refreshing Spray, £7.95 (www.schwarzkopf-professional.

co.uk) can be used the morning-after-the-night-before.

And if your hair has been backcombed within an inch of your life, give your unruly party locks a lift the next day with a deep penetrating mask such as ghd Indulgence Treatment, £14.95 for 7 x 10ml (www.ghdhair.com).

If you've survived the day after a big night on the festive tiles, why not indulge in some serious recovery pampering.

A few drops of Neal's Yard Remedies Revitalise Flower Remedy, £6.50 (nealsyard remedies.com), or Aromatherapy Associates Revive Evening Bath & Shower Oil, £30 (www.aroma therapyassociates.com) in the tub should raise the spirits and bring partied-out limbs back to life.

For recovered skin, leave on Elemis Exotic Cream Moisturising Mask overnight for serious rehydration for the face as you sleep, £28 (www.time tospa.co.uk).

Still feeling down? Martin Crisp, Superdrug pharmacist, has this advice for helping out hungover bods: "Isotonic drinks are a good hangover remedy as they have a very similar carbohydrate electrolyte concentration to the body's own fluids.

"Rehydration sachets are good too for getting the balance of salts right."