7:00am Saturday 11th October 2008
Stylist Hannah Sandling reveals how to do beauty routines the lazy way.
Forget the paparazzi flash bulbs of the fame game, if there's one part of our lives we could swap with A-listers, it would surely be their beauty entourages.
Wherever celebrities like Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham and Mariah Carey go, you can bet their team of hair stylists, make-up artists and facialists won't be far behind.
But back to our reality... wobbly mascara applications on the bus, unruly hair scraped into a Croydon facelift and hairy legs covered up with opaques.
Fancy bucking up your beauty ideas? In her new book, The Lazy Goddess, celebrity stylist Hannah Sandling reveals how to cut corners and still look gorgeous.
:: THE LAZY GODDESS "I spent the best part of five years living and looking like a trog!" admits Hannah, saying she spent so much time styling celebrities that she neglected herself.
"My life was so busy that I was sacrificing all those lovely little essential things that make you feel so good and special - girly lunches, exercise, pedicures, facials and good old retail therapy."
With speedy solutions collected from celeb friends and family - she counts Sienna Miller as one of her buddies - Hannah learnt some shortcuts to beauty.
"Most of the answers to your beauty problems are already lurking somewhere at the back of your fridge or kitchen cupboards, which means they're quick and easy to solve," she says. "Even better, they're dirt cheap too."
Here Hannah reveals how to become a gorgeous goddess the lazy way.
QUICK-FIX HAIR TRICKS Tresses need some SOS? Try Hannah's advice for a red carpet-ready glossy mane.
:: Mayonnaise is amazing for re-hydrating dry and damaged locks. Simply massage into your hair, wrap your head in a plastic carrier bag, leave for 20 minutes and then wash as normal. Apply a light amount of conditioner afterwards, then rinse out.
:: Make sure you wash your brush and comb with hair shampoo every two weeks so you don't pass on old grease to fresh yummy-smelling locks.
:: If your hair has gone AWOL and you don't have any serum, tame it down by smoothing a mini blob of hand cream over the surface instead.
:: Give your hair a real pampering session: rub a mixture of warm water, a touch of salt and two teaspoons of vinegar into it and leave for a couple of hours. Rinse with cold water to keep oiliness at bay.
SPEEDY MAKE-UP MASTERCLASS Beauty routine need a lift? Hannah reveals how to get "lovely luscious lips and a killer stare".
:: Get plumped-up and fuller lips by using two different shades of lipstick. Apply the darker one in the corners and the lighter one to the more fleshy part in the middle of your lips.
:: To get the perfect eyebrow arch, spray a little hairspray onto your fingers and quickly apply to your eyebrows. Brush them into shape using a dry toothbrush and leave them to set.
:: If you're going for a vampy vixen look and want to create smoky eyes, pop your eye pencil under the hot water tap or onto a light bulb for a few seconds before you apply it. You'll notice how much thicker and minxier it goes on.
:: Baby oil works a treat as a cheap and gentle eye make-up remover.
CHEAT BODY BLUFFS Get a goddess body in an instant. Hannah show us how: :: To make your skin cuddly and soft, put three tablespoons of powdered milk into your hot bath, then lie back and relax. This helps to get rid of dead skin cells.
:: Before you go down the plastic surgery route to get your boobs enlarged, try shading in a pair! All you have to do is put some bronzer onto your bronzing brush and swish it down your chest where you would normally see a cleavage shadow.
:: To make your legs look thinner and longer, rub a little shimmer cream down the centre of your calves and shins to highlight them.
:: Get rid of bloating by eating watermelon - it helps prevent water retention.
:: TRIED & TESTED LASIK eye surgery, The London Vision Clinic (0800 587 4705), £4600.
In the name of no more glasses, I put my eyeballs on the line and signed up for LASIK eye surgery. It sounds scarier than it is - my surgeon dealt me with from day one, and the barrage of tests left me feeling really safe. Just 20 minutes after going into the procedure room shaking with nerves, I found myself relaxing in the recovery room, pain free, spectacles-free and looking forward to a whole new world. I find I can apply my eye make-up better all of a sudden, and other people notice it too, no longer hidden behind frames. Definitely worth the expense.
:: BUY IT NOW Work of art or make-up palette? We can't decide! Snap up MAC's Manish Arora limited edition make-up range during October, exclusive to www.maccosmetics.co.uk.
BEAUTY BULLETIN :: DIARY DATE Do your bit for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Estee Lauder is supporting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation with a new Pink Ribbon Diary for 2009 - perfect for noting down all those up-and-coming beauty launches for the year ahead. The diary, £45 (70 Euros), is available at selected Estee Lauder counters nationwide and online at www.esteelauder.co.uk from October 6. A whopping £25 (35 Euros) from each purchase will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
:: DRAGON'S SCENT Seems the Dragon's Den moguls didn't breathe fire on the intriguing Scents of Time idea. Stars of the BBC Two entrepreneur show, Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis, backed perfumer David Pybus' range of scents, which recreate lost perfumes from the past. The four fragrances, Nenufar, Pyxis, Ankh, and Maya will be available from £45 at www.johnlewis.com. For more information visit www.scentsoftime.co.uk.
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