What are your NO-NONSENSE style and grooming tips? With products, if poss...

[HildegardVonBingham]

I'll start:

• If you have fine hair it is often best to get it cut shorter. If it's long it can look straggly and wispy. I have accepted my fate, and my hair looks much fuller and healthier now it's all cut to one blunt length.
• The idea that you have to have your nails 'done' all the time is insane and costly. Just keep them clean, filed, and use cuticle oil. In my view a grown-out manicure or acrylics looks bad.
• This is the most hydrating and natural-looking lip tint on the market. It's sooooo good - you can apply it without looking: https://www.clinique.co.uk/product/1605/4772/makeup/lipsticks/almost-lipstick-in-black-honey-pink-honey-and-nude-honey
• If you use a retinol (and you should), use it in conjunction with a serum and moisturiser so that the skin barrier repairs, and you avoid flakey bits of skin round your nose. Naturally wear SPF!!!
• Better to get clothes a size up and have them tailored and taken in. Even a woman with an amazing body looks like a sausage bursting its casing in too-small clothes.
• Colour theory is real. If you have 'high contrast' you can get away with wearing a lot of make-up. I think that a 'full glam' looks amazing on women with darker skin tones, but as I'm pale and blonde I can't really carry a lot of make-up. The 'bold lip' is a massive scam!
• Gradual tan on the body and tanning drops in your moisturiser can make you look slimmer and better-rested with minimal effort if you are pale.
• Your trousers should be almost too long - this makes your legs look longer.

Would be interested to hear any other NO NONSENSE advice you may have.... for instance I would love to know the best exfoliant to use on the body, and how I can avoid getting disgusting calloused hobbit feet from exercise 🤓

The problem is that the things I like get discontinued and there aren't any suitable replacements. I find that this happens with lipstick all the time.

Tell me about it!! I have a box of lipsticks in my fridge* from the long-defunct Prescriptives brand. They're my perfect shade of warm red, & also the perfect satiny texture. I bought a dozen or so of them for very little on eBay after Prescriptives disappeared in 2010 (unused stock from one of the make-up counters), & am now down to about five I think ...

*Note I don't usually keep make-up in the fridge, but these are 15 years old or more!! Still perfect, so it's worked!

That’s happened to me a few times with foundation. What I really meant was getting suckered into thinking about needing new etc. and itching your tried and trusted for something newer.

There is a lip bar in London that will do a bespoke cooour for you - you go in and they find your perfect shade. There was an article in the times about it a few weeks ago … sorry I realise more detail would en helpful!! From memory not extortionate

Thank you - I might have to go down that route when I'm down to the last one ...!!!

Thank for the tip. Thankfully I only drink those dodgy sachets where you don't even add milk. My mate said his Xmas wasn't that fun though. He did manage to get it clear by opening u bend finally.

@BillieWiper Opening the U bend on the kitchen sink is definitely not fun.
The bathroom one isn't either.

All I do is wash in it, but I managed to drop my tweezers. Yuk.

Gawd I've never had to do it thank God. Felt bad for my mate who's Mrs was in france and he was on his own unblocking a U bend on Xmas day!

A plumber came one time with this hoover type thing that sucked it all out without opening it. That was quite cool. But cost a fortune!

What do you mean by 'bonnet'? Ive got coarse wavy/curly hair which looks great until I sleep on it then it's a curly frizzy disaster zone......

@NeededANameChangeAnyway , this sort of thing Cantu Satin Bonnet Classic - Boots

other bonnets, brands and stockists are available

A silk hair wrap, or bonnet like these:
https://onlycurls.com/collections/sleep-turbans
https://uk.silksilky.com/products/womens-mulberry-silk-bonnet-with-long-ribbons

They come in all sorts of capacities to deal with however thick/long your hair is.
TK Maxx often have a good choice of cheap options in. I put my hair in a loose loop on top of my head using a satin scrunchie, then put on a bonnet.

Mine is a silk, expensive, wrap affair - a gift:
https://paradisefold.com/products/into-the-wild-fold

@Fluffywithteethits Code 8 in Mayfair about £85 per person for 45 mins cultivating your perfect lipstick, then they send you away with it and keep the colour mix on record so you can just reorder it online. You can do it as a group - ask me how I know!!! It’s my 60th this year and that’s one of my birthday celebrations 😉 can’t wait

Ah that sounds such a lovely treat! Let us know once you e been? And very happy 60th! X

Does your really expensive one actually stay on? I have tried a few in the past and they all dislodge overnight and end up on the bedroom floor!

Yes - I think you can get bonnets with ties too, but the tie mechanism of the wrap keeps it in place. I worked my way through a few cheaper ones that ended up on the floor too.

I like the design, am now wondering about repurposing an old 100% silk scarf to make one myself.

I've got a couple of tired silk dresses. I could make a pillowcase and a bonnet or two from them.

It really wouldn't be that hard if you have sewing skills. Which I do not. Let me know if you want me to send you some measurements later.

Yes please!

Why would you only use eyeshadow as eyeliner at night? I'm just curious as this is my usual day time look (if wearing eyeliner at all) as it's so much softer and more subtle looking than eyeliner, so to me it seems like a great daytime option!

Cropped linen trousers look appalling on everyone and all jump suits are unflattering from the rear view.

False nails give a lot of people the absolute ick - I'm pretty much phobic about them.

@LindorDoubleChoc , jumpsuits tend to be unflattering unless the wearer has a good figure, and I hate false nails.

A colleague with very long slim legs looks good in cropped linen trousers.

False finger nails. Boak. False toe nails. No words.

What counts as ‘false’ these days? Are gel/BIAB nails false?

@BigSkies2022 for the benefit of an ignoramus, what are BIAB nails?!