Equipment

It is important you spend a little money at the beginning investing in a few pieces of quality manicure equipment, as this will last you well and help you to get the best results. Having a good selection of buffing and shaping equipment can also help to prevent you from damaging your nails, as harsh over buffing can weaken the nail causing it to become weak and split. Nail technicians use handheld nail buffers, which have three or four sides with different grades of emery and smoothing boards on them. These are ideal as they give you more control over how much you buff, smooth and shape your nails. A good quality basecoat is also essential as this can be applied on its own to provide a glossy, clear protective coat to your nails, or it can be used under nail polish to prevent the polish from staining your nails. You should also invest in an intensive cuticle cream and orange stick, which will help you to safely push back cuticles and create a better shape for your nail.

You can also buy manicure kits all in one, and these will contain everything you need to give yourself a complete home manicure.

Preparing the Hands

You will need to prepare your hands before you start your manicure by soaking them for a few minutes in warm water and then washing them thoroughly, taking care to get all of the dirt out from under the nails. Now smooth over a little cuticle cream, let it soak in for a few moments and gently push the cuticles back using an orange stick. Rub over some hand cream and leave it to settle in for a few minutes before you start the manicure.

Buffing

Buffing is an essential stage of the home manicure process, but this must be done correctly to avoid damaging the nail. Start with the roughest side of your handheld nail buffer, and gentle buff each nail all over for just a few seconds using a gentle side-to-side motion. This will help to smooth out any obvious ridges. Now turn the nail buffer over and use the smoother side to go over the nails again, gently buffing them for a bit longer this time (no more than 10-20 seconds on each). Now you can go over each nail quickly with the shiner side of the nail buffer, which will bring the nail up with a nice glossy finish.

Keep Well Hydrated
Fluid retention can be a key trigger in the build up of cellulite, and this can be caused by poor bodily hydration so make sure you drink at least six to eight glasses of water every day, and this can be made up of a mixture of straight water, herbal teas, fruit juice and squash. Try to avoid drinking too much caffeine as this can actually cause dehydration.

Reduce Smoking and Drinking
Research has revealed that smoking can negatively affect the elasticity of the skin, which can increase the chances of developing cellulite and also make it much more difficult to get rid of it as well. Smoking is also bad for the overall condition of the skin as it floods your body with toxins and free radicals and causes premature aging and wrinkles.

Improve Circulation
Your skin is actually a part of your body’s waste disposal system, and when your liver and digestive tract are stressed your body can use the skin to help eliminate unwanted toxins. Therefore it is important that you take time to brush your skin with a soft body brush, as not only will this help to remove dead skin and give your skin a healthy glow, but it will also help improve overall circulation and boost lymphatic flow, which can help prevent fat deposits from building up and causing cellulite.

Moisturise
Dry, undernourished skin can make cellulite look worse than ever, so make sure you moisturise your whole body at least once a day with a light body moisturisers, and if you have any very dry areas such as on your legs or the tops or your arms then keep them protected with a special intensive moisturiser.

Exercise and Diet
One key way in which you can help to prevent cellulite from forming is to eat a healthy balanced diet that is low in heavy saturated fats, and high in fresh fruit and vegetables and fibre. This will boost your overall health and give you plenty of energy, and this combined with regular cardiovascular exercise will help to control your weight and prevent fat deposits from forming.

Coping With Infidelity
People can cheat on their partners for a number of reasons, and the circumstances can differ from a one night stand through to a whole relationship being carried out on the side, so it is important that if you discover that your partner has been unfaithful that you take some time to stop and think, and don’t make any hasty decisions whilst you are still in the grip of hurt and shock. Think very carefully about how your relationship has been working, and whether there have been any other cracks appearing recently that may have led your partner to seek intimacy with another person. Consider whether there have been any particular stresses or pressures on your relationship, and if you have in fact been gradually drifting apart. Basically you need to reassess your whole relationship and work out whether infidelity is the only problem, and whether or not the foundations of your relationship are strong enough to work through all of the problems your future together may be facing.

If you have found out that your partner has been cheating on you, then you need to let them know how you feel as soon as soon as you have calmed down a bit. Choose a quiet, private environment for this confrontation and try and keep your cool, as if you get angry and start shouting straight away you will not give your partner a chance to explain themselves. Keep this confrontation short, and don’t slug it out until you are both mentally and emotional exhausted, and spend some time on your own afterwards so that you can have a really careful think about what has been said for at least a few hours. It is only natural that you will be angry and hurt, but don’t keep bringing the subject up every time you speak to your partner and constantly blaming and picking at them, as this will not be helpful and will make them defensive and angry too – they may well feel that their infidelity had something to do with the way the relationship had been working, and are looking for you to understand them at least, even if you cannot forgive them.

Move Forward
If you do find you are able to work through infidelity and give your relationship another shot then it is important that you move on from your place of anger and hurt. You may need to see a counsellor to help you to do this, especially if you find yourself becoming fixated on the infidelity and thinking about it constantly. If you decide you cannot forgive the infidelity, or realise that your relationship is not strong enough to work through it, then it is also important that you both make a decision to move on, so that you can start building yourselves new lives separately, away from the pain and hurt of these experiences.

• Ephelides – the name comes from the Greek word for freckle ‘ephelis’ and is a light brown or red skin marking that appears in summer and tends to fade and disappear again in the winter.
• Lentigines – this name comes from the Latin word for lentil ‘lens’, and these are more permanent skin markings that do not disappear in winter. These types of freckles commonly appear in childhood and can fade slightly with age, but they can also develop in later life as well and they are referred to then as ‘liver spots’ or ‘age spots’.

Freckles are not an unattractive feature and are in most cases totally harmless, but some people may feel that they would like prominent freckles removed. This may be because they wish to have smoother, more evenly toned skin (some freckles can be quite bumpy and unevenly shaped) or maybe because they are worried that the freckle could develop into a more harmful kind of spot, a melanoma. Freckles can indeed be a precursor to melanomas, which can become cancerous and therefore harmful to be body, but you should be able to spot those freckles which could be a problem as they will change in some way such as suddenly becoming very sore or growing in size, and then it is time to go and see your doctor to get it checked out.

Freckle Removal
There are several ways in which freckles can be removed safely, but the most common procedure these days is to use surgical lasers, which can remove the freckle precisely without damaging the surrounding tissues. This type of minor surgery can be carried out under local anaesthetic in just a few minutes, and as the wound is quite small it should heal quickly and easily on its own, with very little aftercare needed.

Cryosurgery can also be used to remove freckles and this involves using liquid nitrogen to freeze the freckle so that it can be easily removed, however this does involve some damage to the surrounding tissues and a slightly bigger wound, and so it not often used these days as lasers are so much more accurate.

Freckle Prevention
One of the best ways to avoid freckles is to keep out of intense sunlight, and always use a high factor sun cream during the summer when you are out of doors, even if it is just for 10 minutes or so. This will help to prevent ephelides from forming, and can also help to reduce the risks of freckles developing into more harmful spots.

If your family has a history of skin cancer and melanomas then it is a good idea to have a check up once a year with a
dermatologist to ensure all of your freckles are healthy and safe.

Equipment
All you will need to shape your eyebrows is a good pair of tweezers, an eyebrow brush and an eyebrow pencil. If you have very fair eyebrows but dark hair (or very dark eyebrows and light hair), you may want to dye your eyebrows just a few shades so that they match your overall hair colour and are also a bit more (or a bit less) prominent, and you can buy kits to do this at home or visit a salon to make sure you get the most natural look.

Shaping
The easiest way to work out what shape your eyebrows will look best in is to look at the overall shape of your face and the natural shape of your eyebrows, and follow the golden rule that professional beauticians use which is:

• Length – eyebrows should start just above the tear duct on your eye and reach out to at least the outside corner of your eye.
• Arch – the perfect eyebrow will have a gentle arch on the underside (never pluck hairs from the top side of your eyebrows as this looks unnatural), which should begin at the start of your iris (as you are looking straight ahead), and gently taper upwards moving out to then end of the brow.

If you are shaping your eyebrows for the first time just do a few hairs at a time, and it can be a good idea to draw a faint guideline on with an eyebrow pencil so that you don’t over pluck them before you realise. If you are very nervous about shaping your eyebrows then get a beautician to do them for you first, and then all you will have to do is tease out the hairs as they are growing back in, rather than having to shape the whole eyebrow from scratch.

Waxing and Threading
If you have very thick eyebrows it can take a long time to tweezer out each hair, so you may prefer to get them waxed or threaded, and then just tidy the shape up a little with a tweezers afterwards. Be careful with waxing though as it can be difficult to get an accurate shape, so just take out most of the hairs this way, and then use tweezers to shape the eyebrow properly afterwards.

Myth 1 – Only Overweight People Get Cellulite
If you are overweight you are more likely to get cellulite, but it can affect anyone of any size and is difficult to shift even with diet and exercise. Cellulite is a type of fat deposit that has become malformed, as it has burst through the first subcutaneous layer to become trapped in the fibrous, mesh like tissues of the lower dermis. This is what gives it the distinctive ‘orange peel’ appearance and also what makes it difficult to shift, and it is commonly found on the hips, thighs, bum, stomach and tops of the arms.

Myth 2 – Only Women Get Cellulite
Statistics clearly show that women are the most susceptible to cellulite, but men can also suffer from this condition, and in particular cellulite on the thighs can occur in both men and women to the same percentage.

Myth 3 – Only Adults Get Cellulite
Research has shown that over 90% of post pubescent women get cellulite, and that effects worsen with age, but it can affect children and teenagers as well, especially if they are overweight and do not take regular exercise.

Myth 4 – Exercise and Dieting Can Eradicate Cellulite
Unfortunately once you have cellulite it can be very difficult to get rid of it, and although dieting and exercise can lessen the appearance of the cellulite and stop it from getting worse, in most cases this will not be enough to completely eradicate it. This is because the fat deposits have become trapped in the fibrous tissues of the lower dermis away from the first subcutaneous layer, which means the body can no longer burn these fat cells off in the usual manner.

Myth 5 – Cellulite Creams can Eradicate Cellulite
Cellulite creams work by attempting to penetrate the skin deeply and dissolve those fat cells that have become trapped, and they can be effective at reducing the appearance of cellulite. However these creams and lotions cannot completely get rid of fat deposits or prevent new ones from forming and so they cannot completely eradicate cellulite on their own. In order for them to be most successful cellulite creams need to be combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Colour Palette
Smoky eyes are all about creating a sense of mystery and subtle glamour so opt for darker, earthier tones such as blacks, browns, greys, purples and greens. Red, blue, yellow and metallic tones can be much too bold for this look, creating drama instead of mystery and you should be thinking in terms of veiling the eyes in a blend of colours, rather than highlighting them with bright tones so that they stand out starkly.

Make Up
You will need a number of basic items of make up to create your smoky eyes look and this will include:
* Eye shadow Base – this is should be neutral, earthy tone and will act as a background to the blend of colours you will use to create the smoky look.
* Eye Shadow Colour Palette – this should be in a minimum of 2 complimentary shades, starting dark and gradually getting lighter which will be used to create the smoky effect.
* Eye Liner – a soft, dark kohl pencil is best for this effect as it can be blended in easily with the eye shadow. Liquid eyeliner can be a bit stark and difficult to blend.
* Mascara – choose a nice dark, thick volumising mascara for the sexy evening look, and a dark but more lightweight mascara for the refined day look.

Smoky Eyes Step by Step

Step 1 -Prepare the Base
When you are ready to apply your make up gently pat the lids with some cotton wool to remove any excess oil and then sweep a layer of eye shadow base over the entire lid. This will help prevent the rest of the eye shadow from creasing.

Step 2 – Eyeliner
Apply eye liner across the upper lash line and the outer corner of the lower lash line, and then blend slightly with your fingers.

Step 3 – Eye Shadow
Apply the darker shadow across the lower part of your lid near the lash line, and then apply the lighter colour directly above. Then apply another line of the darker colour in the crease of your eye socket and the lightest colour up to your eyebrows. Smudge all of the colours together lightly so that they blend together. You can also add a touch of the darker colour to the outer corners and lower lash line to emphasis the eyeliner you applied earlier.

Step 4 – Mascara
Use an eyelash curler and then apply of few coats of dark mascara, and you are done!

Lip Liner
Lip liner is usually in a pencil form, and is used to define the outer edges of the lips and create a border edge for any other lip colours you want to apply. You can also use lip liner on its own, blending it across the lips for a subtle sweep of colour, but this can be quite drying so it not suitable if you do have dry lips that are prone to cracking or peeling. You do not need to use lip liner every time you apply lipstick or lip gloss, but it is useful for creating a nice, even shape to lips and here are a few tips for applying:

• Choose a neutral colour lip liner that is the same colour or a few shades lighter than your lipstick. This is so that it doesn’t show through your lipstick colour, especially as it starts to fade throughout the day.
• Before you apply your lip liner smooth on a light coat of foundation, as this can help to set the lipstick and improve its staying power. This can also be drying though, so don’t use this technique too often if you already have dry lips, and make sure you use a creamy lipstick/lip gloss to counteract the dryness.
• Always use a sharp pencil when you are defining the outer edges of the lips, and try to follow your natural lip shape, as it will look very obvious if you try and draw a fake outline to make you lips look bigger or a completely different shape. If you are finding it difficult to sharpen the pencil then leave it in the freezer for a few minutes (don’t forget to take it out!) and it should be firmer and much easier to sharpen.

Lipstick
You can use lipstick without any other products such as lip liner, but without any preparation normal lipsticks will soon wear off and you will need to reapply them regularly. By spending a little time creating a base for the lipstick you can make it last a lot longer, so for special occasions a coat of lip liner and foundation and this will help prepare the lips and improve the staying power of your lipstick. Also don’t forget to apply a layer of lipstick, blot and then apply another layer, as this will also help it too last longer. Always apply lipstick from the middle of your lips sweeping out, as this will help to prevent it from ‘bleeding’ through at the edges and corners, and don’t apply too much as then it will be easily smudged out of shape and could get on your teeth.

However the skin does respond well to a bit of pampering and there are plenty of ways in which you can support your skin and boost your overall skin health, creating a more natural radiant appearance.

Exfoliation
The skin has a complex structure made up of many different layers, and to help your skin shed efficiently you need to exfoliate at least 2 to 3 times a week. Exfoliating doesn’t mean scrubbing the skin until it is red raw, but instead gently brushing the skin with either a slightly abrasive paste (you can buy special body scrubs in supermarkets and chemists) or a natural loafer or brush, which will help to remove any stubborn dirt and grime and also help to loosen any dry or dead skin. You can make your own body scrub at home by mixing up a paste of two handfuls of fine oatmeal, a tablespoon of fresh milk and a teaspoon of caster sugar. Mix this up in a bowl and then gentle rub all over the body (taking special care to be gentle on the face) and then wash off with warm water thoroughly and pat dry.

Nourishing
It takes a lot of vitamins and minerals to support our skin, and it can be difficult to get all of the nutrients we need from our diet alone, even if we eat healthily. It can be very easy for skin to get dry and dehydrated so make sure you drink plenty of water and spend some time every day nourishing the skin by applying a good moisturiser. Some areas of your skin such as your hands and feet may require a more intensive moisturiser to combat excessive dryness, and it is best to apply these at night before you go to bed so that they don’t rub off before they can get to work. Face masks are also a good way to cleanse and deeply moisturise the face, and if you have dry skin you can make up a natural face mask of a teaspoon of honey and half a fresh mashed avocado, which you can mix together to form a slightly sticky paste, which you can then apply to your face (avoiding the sensitive eye, nose and mouth areas) for 5 minutes before washing off in plenty of warm water.