New in my beauty bag

A few of my must-have make-up neccessities at the moment....

Maybelline Falsies Mascara, gives the impression of subtle eyelashes, ideal for adding thickness and volume without the clumps.

Boots 17 Oil Control Pressed Powder. Ideal for banishing the midday shine or for those with an oily T-zone. Light and perfect for setting dewy foundation first thing in the morning.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, SPF 15. This long-lasting foundation gives fantastic coverage and is great for correcting uneven skintone, hiding pigmentation and improving the texture of your skin without clogging the pores.

Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat - need we say why? This miracle cover up stick should be an essential in everyone's make-up kit - for disgusing the morning after the night before and giving the bright-eyed and breezy look. It's a tool no woman should live without. After a few weeks on the road, travelling and late nights this has been a real saver recently!

Rimmel Glameyes - Black. Easy to use, easy to apply and long lasting, this liquid eyeliner from Rimmel is a must-have whether you're creating the dark, smokey eyed smouldering look or simply love the lined flick on a daily basis. One small tube can last months!

Something fishy

                                 "Nervous? I'm not nervous, do I look nervous? Eeeek!"

At first I just thought it was a bit of a 'fad' - the idea of fish eating away at dead skin on your tired feet seemed more of a novel idea than an actual solution to worn out footsies! Well, that, and the fact that I am petrified of fish. It's a strange but rather real phobia that put me off the garra fish pedicure's that are hitting the high streets at the moment. As I'm rarely without a pair of heels and always neglecting my poor feet I thought it was time to take the plunge (excuse the pun) and see what all the fuss was about. I headed to Heavenly Feet, a new salon in Chester that, for the moment, exclusively offers the highly-sought after garra fish pedicure's for just 10 pounds for 15 minutes. The fish, dubbed 'doctor fish', have been used for centuries in open-water spas in Turkey and the middle east but only really became popular in the beauty industry when their healing benefits reached Japan and these 'express tanks' became available. Ideal for the treatment of skin conditions such as psoriasis these tiny garra rufa fish nibble away at hardened keratinsed skin that has formed a layer on the epidermis.

It took a good few minutes of coaxing by my good friend Vicky and after the initially bizarre sensation of the hungry critters nibbling away at your worn out heels and tired toes I actually began to enjoy it! I couldn't look at my pedicure therapists in the tank and likened the sensation to that of gentle jacuzzi bubbles. The fish aren't as aggresive as you'd think despite their initial hungry rush to your toes (I've seen the film Piranha!) and after a few minutes the 'pedicure' becomes relatively relaxing (if it isn't for the scores of tourists who like to gather at the window and watch you squirm as you first dip your feet in) After your initial session of 15 minutes your feet are removed from the tank and gently cleansed. My feet felt really smooth on the surface and some of the dead cuticles around my toenails had been removed but my heels were still quite hard and rough, but I was told this was because of the amount of time I had left my feet in and was advised to come back once a week for hourly treatments.

I was surprised to see an elderly gentleman next to me having the same treatment and he told me he'd been coming for these pedicures twice a week for about two months and his cracked heels had all but gone! He told me he did a lot of walking and wasn't really looking after his feet and his wife had booked him in for an appointment and he'd been a convert ever since. Another friend and dedicated fish-pedicure convert also told me that in order to get the best result you'd need to book your appointment first thing in the morning as this is when the fish have a bigger appetite....lovely image isn't it? I think, for now, I'll stick to my softening Scholl creams and pumice sticks!

Overall conclusion: Three out of five stars: a relaxing and unusual treatment but not a dramatic enough result to warrant frequent visits. Worth a try and ideal to maintain healthy feet but not an option for tried and worn out toes that need work!

Colour me....beautiful?

ColourB4, available from Boots and Superdrug RRP 10.20

Like most of us, I don't actually remember what my natural hair colour shade is. Since I decided to stripe my way to popularity with some horrendous home-styled highlights at the age of 16 I've dyed my hair regularly. I've been brunette, bottle bleach blonde, dark purple, plum and even red (although this was another DIY disaster and completely unintentionally) and have damaged it in the process. After several restoring keratin treatments and emergency trips to the hairdressers (I must not dye my own hair, I must not dye my own hair, I must not...) I finally reached a colour I was happy with although gone are the days of my natural dark blonde locks....or so I thought.

ColourB4, created by colour expert and stylist Scott Cornwall, promises to 'undo home hair colour mistakes' and after a few sceptical glances of the box in Boots last week (I found it hard to believe a product with NO ammonia or bleach would be able to successfully strip your hair of colour) I decided to give it a try. You apply all over the hair, much in the same way you would with hair dye kits at home, and leave on the hair for twenty minutes. The product aims to shrink the artificial dye molecules that are contained within the hair.

Although my hair was still darker than usual (I used my passport picture circa late 90s to gage what my natural shade was!) I noticed an immediate difference. My hair was stripped of the aggresive dark build up from my ends and the roots were visibily more lighter. It provides an ideal base to re-colour too so your next colour is even in shade and tone. I re-dyed my hair to a luscious plum colour the next day and was made up with the results - after years of damage and colouring fresh colour always looked uneven and there was a build up of dark colour on the ends but after using ColourB4 the new colour was even and glossy.

OVERALL CONCLUSION: Four stars out of five - I shall definitely be keeping a box of this in my ever-expanding beauty cupboard for those DIY colour disasters in the future, although it did dry my hair out a little so be sure to use a rich moisturiser afterwards to keep your hair silky soft!