How to: Grow Envy-Inducing Long Hair

Basically, I want lovely long hair like Zooey Deschanel's. Sadly, in reality I'm about one year down the line from having a chin-length Louise Brookes bob, so it's only just grazing my collar bones. But a girl has got to have goals! So here's what I'm doing in attempt to make my follicles' growth akin to that of weeds, and keep it healthy for when it gets to Zooey-esque lengths.

• Man up and go to the hairdressers before you start growing in earnest. It may make you weep to see inches of your precious locks fall to the floor, but if you don't do this important step all you'll have is lacklustre long split ends. After that initial cull, going to the hairdressers every 3 months or so should be proficient.

• Stimulating your scalp encourages hair to grow, so treat yourself to one of these bad boys and use it as often as you can remember! When you try it out, you will understand why these are sometimes sold in gadget shops under the slightly seedy name of 'The Orgasmatron'! Also, having a decent hairbrush not only stimulates your scalp, but it distributes your natural oils down the length of your hair. Speaking of which... 

• You probably don't need to wash your hair every single day. I wash mine every other day, sometimes even with an extra day on top of that. If you think about it, every time you wash your hair you strip away those all-important oils that are so good for your hair! So it can't hurt - in fact, the opposite - to leave it a couple of extra days to stew in it's own juices (nice!) You can leave it until it either looks stringy or develops that glamorous unwashed hair smell, and even then - hi, dry shampoo! Trust me, it's good for you.  

• Once a week, use an intensive conditioner, and leave it on as long as possible. You can make it work even harder by wrapping it in clingfilm then a towel, which acts as a little greenhouse for your head. Or you can let it dry in your hair, sleep in it, then wash it out the next day. Some decent conditioners I've liked include Ojon's Dry Recovery - crazy expensive, but smells delicious like custard - £28 and at the opposite end of the price spectrum, you can't go wrong with a L'Oreal Elvive tub, £5.20. 

• I've recently added Moroccan Oil to my hair product roster, and so far I am a big fan. I can't say what it does to your hair in the long term from personal experience, but I've heard from friends that it makes your hair grow like nobodies business. But I can say that it makes your hair feel lovely and soft, it smells like vanilla/ chocolate/ heaven, and all those oils must be doing your hair some good! 

• Last but not least, the obvious things that really work but nobody wants to hear - eat better and torture your hair less. Fish, nuts, seeds, and eggs are all ridiculously good for your hair (not to mention skin) so it's worth upping your protein consumption if you're serious about this. And adding a cod liver oil capsule to your morning vitamins will help tenfold. It goes without saying that using less heat appliances on your hair will prevent those attractive split ends, but unless you're a genetically blessed supermodel with natural frizz-free waves, sometimes that's not an option. So instead try and leave your hair until it's at least 80% dry before you attack it with a dryer, and go for a pretty bun or ponytail some days instead of straightening or curling it.

This Week's Nails...

Basically, I just wanted to show off the rather pretty combo of colours my nails are currently sporting! I used the same technique that I wrote about in this post, except rather than starting on bare nails, I did a coat of metallic nail varnish first (this would also be a sneaky way of extending the life of a just-starting-to-chip-round-the-edges manicure!) The polishes I've used here are Rimmel's Aqua Cool and Revlon's Gold Coin.

Pretty In Pink

When I go out on a night, I always opt for the same beauty look - liquid eyeliner + red/ coral/ plum lipstick = very formulaic. But when browsing Who What Wear Daily, I came across the above picture of actress Jaime King, and I was immediately smitten. Light gold eyes and petal pink lips? That's a stroke of summery genius! I need to give this a whirl. 

Topshop Crayon in 'Sunshower', £7.50

To begin with, smudge this golden eyeshadow creme all over your lids, slightly past your brow bone and underneath your bottom lashes. Now, you can either add even more for a full-on foil effect, or blend it out with your fingers for a more subtle, shimmery look. Since you won't be using eyeliner for this look, let your eyebrows add definition to your face, by applying Rimmel's Eyebrow pencil in black/brown. Oh, and it goes without saying, liberal quantities of mascara are always welcome.  

Revlon Matte Lipstick in 'Pink Pout', £7.49

Last but not least, use your finger to pat on a chalky pink lipstick. This gives it a less harsh effect than applying it straight from the tube, allowing it to blend with your natural lip colour, as seen on Jaime. And that's it! Halo braid and perfect bone structure optional. 

Hot Cloth Cleansing

In an ideal world, we would all wake up looking like this:

Sadly, for most of us, this is not the case. If your skin is clear, you'll always look good. If you don't have spots, you can get away with less makeup. Basically, if you have lovely skin, you win at life. 

Whilst I can by no means claim to have perfect skin (I'd need to eat less cakes for that..) my skin has improved significantly since I discovered the wonder that is hot cloth cleansing. The clue to how it works is in the title - simply put, you use a hot muslin cloth to wipe away cleanser. Done every night before bed, it makes your skin look and feel a lot smoother, and in my experience, is one of the only things that has any real effect on stubborn blackheads. 

How you can do it at home:

1) Remove your eye makeup. The cleanser can technically get rid of it, but for the sake of your cloth's longevity I'd take it off first.

2) Slather the cream all over your face. You don't have to, but I like to brush my teeth in between this step and the next, to allow the ingredients to properly dissolve any makeup/ grime the day has coated your face in (nice!)

3) Now, wet your muslin cloth with water as hot as you can comfortably touch. Wring it out, place it over your face and hold it for a moment - this will open all your pores. Then use the cloth to gently scrub all over your face, targeting dry skin or problem areas. Repeat this step. 

4) Finally, rinse your cloth under boiling hot water then hang up to dry (you can re-use this cloth for a week or so before washing it) and splash your face with cold water. And you're done!

As for what products to buy, well, I really can't recommend this one enough:

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish, £14.25 for a starter kit, including 2 muslin cloths

I know, it's not cheap, but it is worth it - if you're using it once a day, it should last you about 3 months. It smells ridiculously good, it works the best, and it's made from natural ingredients, if you're bothered about that sort of thing (we probably should be.)

Other notable mentions include: 

- No 7 Radiance Boosting Cleanser, £10, Boots. This one's very good value, as you get twice as much (200ml) and if you buy it with the very regular £5 off vouchers, it's half price. 

- Lush Ultrabland, £6.45. A product so natural, you could eat it (please note I say could, not should.) Unless you have very dry skin, be prepared to use a toner afterwards, as it's slightly greasier than the others. 

The Lady Is A Vamp

At the recent Met Gala, all the best-dressed ladies were sporting deep red wine lips with panache! It does seem somewhat peverse that such a dark colour would become popular when we're nearly in Summer, when in theory we should be wearing pastel colours and neons like it's going out of style - but hey, the heart wants what it wants. As seen on Lana Del Rey, Kate Bosworth and Camilla Belle, the look tends to work best with glowy skin, bold eyebrows but lightly-defined eye-makeup. This means definately no smokey eyes, unless you're out to scare small children.. in which case, go for it. 

To try it for yourself, treat yourself to one of these lovely hues: 

Mac Cremesheen in 'Hang Up', £13.50

Topshop Lips in 'Beguiled', £8

Chanel Rouge Coco in 'Rivoli', £23

P.s. For extra points, don't forget the matching nails!

How to do: Half-Moon Nails

Hello! For my first post, I'm going to show you how to do this lovely old-fashioned manicure. I first came across the idea in Dita Von Teese's beautiful book, 'Burlesque and the Art of the Teese'. Look at any picture of Dita, and you'll see she always wears this nail look - it's become something of a signature for her. I think it looks so elegant, adding a bit of jazziness to your nails without looking tacky, like some nail art can.

So without further ado, here's how to recreate the look yourself...

You will need:

- Some paper hole reinforcement stickers, which you can buy at any old stationary shop (but you probably already have some lurking around in your house). I used clear ones, but the white ones would probably be even easier.

- Any nail varnish colour. I opted for Missguided's 'Splash', a lovely bright orange colour, as a more Summery variation on the classic red often used for this look.

- A clear nail varnish, to prevent staining and chipping.

1) First of all, I started with a base coat, because my nails stain like a bitch (looking at my nails, you'd imagine I have a 40-a-day smoking habit, but in reality it's more of a twice-weekly nail painting addiction.) Once they're completely dry, you can stick down the hole reinforcements. For an even width amongst all your nails, aim to have the inside hole in line with your cuticles.

2) Before you go in for the kill, quickly check they're all pressed down on your nails with no gaps, or you'll end up with leaks (not good!) Then go ahead and paint your nails. Don't worry about overlapping onto the reinforcements a little bit, because this will just give you a crisp edge.

3) Once you've finish all your nails, go back to the first one you painted and peel off the sticker, taking care not the ruin your other nails in the process! If you're very fussy, you can use a pair of tweezers or a cocktail stick for this. For some reason, it works best if you don't wait for your nails to be bone-dry before you remove the stickers - I've left it ages before, and it actually peeled away some of the colour. Finally, add some top coat to seal the deal. It can't hurt. And viola! Prepare for admiring glances a-plenty.