The Chemimart Group of companies is spectacularly successful and the name has become a household word and is synonymous with quality and reliability. According to Wheels of Fortune: The Gasan Story the Gasan Group has a 50-per-cent shareholding in it.

 Mr Reggie Fava CEO of Chemimart is also a director and board member of the Gasan Group of Companies. A man of vision after graduating in Pharmacy from the University of Malta in 1955 he followed postgraduate studies in Pharmacy and Biochemistry at the Chelsea School of Pharmacy.  He noticed that some of his fellow students had a set of notes on Pharmaceutics, the most important subject in pharmacy and discovered that they had obtained them from Boots of Nottingham, on condition that they work for the company for at least two years after their graduation. Mr Fava wanted to be registered in the UK which would make his employment prospects more interesting. Boots sent him the coveted notes and when he returned to Malta discovered that the local distributor for Boots was none other than the Gasan Group. Mr Gasan had a company called Kemimport which he had set up with two pharmacists as partners and was distributing Boots products on a small scale. Mr Fava joined the business by buying the shares held by the two pharmacists. The rest is a story of enormous success which is evident all over Malta where Chemimart operates.

A group of us were invited at the Palace in Sliema for the launch of the Diego Della Palma Spring/Summer 2016 Make-up collection. This brand is exclusively distributed in Malta by Chemimart. Now Gianluca Oddi the brand's makeup artist and representative has come to Malta several times over the years using his magical brushes to demonstrate his skill at improving our looks. To him make-up is nothing short of an art and watching him at work on Petra Fava it is obvious that he is a consummate artist. Which of us would not like to have Gianluca in our pocket, ready to transform our looks any time we needed it, which is all the time unless you are sitting all day in splendid isolation in the country? I know very few women of any age, who are disinterested in make-up as a means of improving their looks.

That morning he spoke about this latest collection in which vibrant colours are used - bright pink and blue stardust which stand out and are unusual in a spring collection. The Kajal is rich and creamy and multi-purpose. It can be used to enhance or highlight various facial features and the lip gloss is long lasting, he told us as he showed us how to handle them.

He thinks no woman should be without a red lipstick - à la Paloma Picasso - in this collection No 31. He also recommended the studio concealer and the mascara.

Now Petra Fava is a good looking girl however, when Gianluca had finished the makeup session she was transformed into a glamorous young lady. He used loose powder over the foundation which gave Petra a more polished look and which seals the makeup and adds longevity.

I wish I had the time to follow up all these useful tips. I often make myself up in the car, on the way somewhere as I am invariably late. I sometimes end up with one eye covered in blue eyeshadow and the other brown. Let us say nothing of nail polish. My steering wheel is full of dabs of different shades of red nail polish. And no, I am not going to a nail technician. I simply do not have the patience.

***************

Once upon a time I was never quite sure whether my face was round, square or heart-shaped. I am still not sure. Heart-shaped it isn't. Square neither. It must be round. "Like a hamster," as my brother has told me, time and again.

Before hitting the Sliema front in my late teenage years, my dressing table was like Studio 54: eyelash curlers, cosmetic sponges, every colour of lipstick I was able to afford - but mostly wore that pale pink which was all the rage. Eye shadow came in all the flower shades imaginable. My mother wore a little more than Ponds cold cream and Ponds loose powder. I was vain. I still am. She had little time to be vain with five children running around her.

Why is it that since those days my armoury of shimmering highlighters and smoky shades have dwindled to very little? I kept them for years, out of sheer nostalgia,  in a small case and once I moved abroad had to ditch them. I've pared my cosmetic act down to a few swift strokes: loose powder, a slick of eye shadow - always brown ­- and a lick of lipstick. Seeing Gianluca at work I have decided to revise these habits at least a little but making sure that I will not look like mutton dressed up as lamb.

We were invited to a delicious buffet lunch at The Tabloid after the launch where discussions were lively and everyone seemed to be in good humour. I sat next to Mrs Fava senior, Aurora, with her still lovely green eyes. I like her calmness and poise and she always speaks kindly of everyone. This makes a change from all the unkindess being hurled around on the blogs and columns.

Easter Uprising event at National Library

I went to take a look and listen to some experts give a talk on the 1916 Rising in Ireland organized by the Embassy of Ireland at the National Library of Malta. My old friend and inveterate collector, David Elyan had donated many of the documents on display to the University of Malta Library. I have always been a great admirer of the rebel Countess Markievicz who did so much for the cause of Ireland. It is a pity that these exhibitions which require so much work are run but for a short time. There was talk of it going to the University Library but I have no idea if this has happened. More's the pity if it hasn't.