New year beauty resolutions

By Emma Hill 

Start 2008 as you mean to go on with our top 10 skin and make-up must-dos for a totally gorgeous you

1. Massage your skin

Top facialists swear by facial massage and it\'s something you can easily fit into your beauty routine at home.   If you do it daily - morning, evening or both - your skin will look fresher, healthier and more even toned.  It\'ll also help shift puffiness around eyes and jaw line.  Many devotees report that it gives a slight lift to the face, too.   Using a light, facial oil and the pads of your fingers, massage your skin with firm, circular movements.   Start with your neck and work upwards over your cheekbones, sides of the nose, around your eyes and up to your forehead.  You can also use this technique with your cleanser for a more thorough, reviving cleanse.

Amanda Lacey Camellia Oil, £60, www.amandalacey.com

2. Exfoliate

Regular exfoliation helps the skin to renew itself more freely and whenever I have a facial, I\'m ticked off for not doing this enough.  The skin\'s own skin shedding process slows down as we get older and so by giving it a gentle, helping hand, it\'ll thank you for it.  By getting rid of the dead surface skin cells, you\'re revealing the fresher, more luminous layer of skin that lies beneath.  A word of caution: if you have sensitive skin use a gentle, enzyme based exfoliant.  Usually fruit based - think exotic fruits such as papaya - the enzymes dissolve the glue that binds the dead skin cells together.  They work more gently than AHAs and without the scratchy, abrasive effect of a scrub.

Kiehl\'s Overnight Biological Peel, £34 020 7240 2411

3. Use SPF every morning

Any dermatologist will tell you that the single most effective way to slow down ageing is to use a sunscreen.  So make sure your moisturiser contains one - at least SPF15.  If it doesn\'t do consider buying a light, every day sunscreen to apply on top.  Sure the sun is far weaker in winter, but its ageing UVA rays are present throughout the year.  This is a really easy beauty tip to forget about, especially when the sky is grey and the icy winds are freezing your cheeks.  If you make this into a habit, your skin will look younger for many more years to come.   

Dr Nick Lowe Supercharged SPF15 Day Cream, £16.95, 08450 708090.

4. Less base more concealer

If you\'re a tinted moisturiser girl bear with me.  For those of you who hide behind your foundation it\'s time to lighten up.  It\'s all too easy to think that a generous application of foundation, however perfectly you apply it, will show your skin in its best light.  Conversely, the best way to do this is with as little base as possible.   Instead of relying on foundation, use concealer to even out the blemishes and marks you want to cover.  Buy the best you can afford - the colour will look more natural and the texture will blend into your skin without looking cakey.  Make sure it matches your skintone - the concealer compacts that contain a lighter and darker shade let you mix your perfect shade.  Apply with a synthetic hair concealer brush to give a seamless finish.   If you still need foundation, apply a little over trouble spots (nose, chin), smoothing in with a finger. 

Givenchy Perfect Again! Perfect Nude Complexion-Correcting Palette, £21, 01932 233824

5. Apply nail base and top coat

Painting your nails is one of the many things we do in a hurry.  And so to cut corners, base and top coat are the two steps easily skipped.  This year, plan ahead and follow these golden, manicurist rules.  For the undercoat, go for a treatment, protein based formula.  This way you\'re helping to strengthen and nourish your nails as well as protect them from staining.  For the top coat, go for a quick dry formula, and when applying, do as top manicurist Marina Sandoval does and run the brush over the tips of your nails to seal the colour.  Take a break from polish from time to time to keep your nails clean and healthy.  A coat of protein treatment is all you need.

Maybelline Anti-Breakage Base, £3.99, available nationwide and Revlon Nail Care Top Coat, £6.29, 0800 085 2716

6. Try lipstick

High gloss has lost its edge because lipstick is having a bit of a revival.  So instead of buying another tube of gloopy-goo why not try one of the fabulous new lippies?  The hottest new texture is more sheer than trad lipstick, so there\'s no chance you\'re going to look like an Eighties throwback.  This means you can experiment with hot pinks, apricots, oranges (hot for spring) and berries without worrying about overkill.  You get a sexy, veil of colour that looks subtly shiny or shimmery.   To give your lips a bit more punch, apply lip liner in a shade that matches your own lip colour, blend it over your whole lip and slick the lipstick over the top.

The Body Shop Sheer Lip Colour, £8.50, www.thebodyshop.co.uk

7. Wear coloured eyeliner

Amy Winehouse gave strong eyeliner back its cool, now you can give it a new, springtime edge by swapping black for colour.  I\'ve been experimenting with Laura Mercier\'s fabulous metallic eye pencils along my upper lash line.  They come in blackened versions of gold, navy and turquoise and give a gorgeous, jewel like sheen.  Alternatively, go for something more dramatic - bright green, pink or aqua (another hot shade for spring).  Start with a newly sharpened point and from the outer to the inner corners of your eyes.  At the outer corner, start a little way up to accentuate the cats eye shape creating a point.  Blend the colour downwards, right into the roots - you don\'t want to see any gap between the lash root and the liner.

Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencils, £15, www.spacenk.co.uk

8. Curl your lashes

This is a make-up must do that\'s easily forgotten.  I haven\'t been on a single make-up photoshoot where the make-up artist hasn\'t wielded her eyelash curlers.  This is because the effect really does make a difference to your eyes.  By curling your lashes upwards, you open them up and give a lift to your look.   Choose a well designed eyelash curler that has a padded cushion.  For extra lasting power, heat the pad with your hairdryer, apply, hold for 30 seconds and release.  Finish with a coat or two of curling mascara.  The formula is designed to hold the curl for longer.

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers, £18, 020 7240 7635

9. Wash your make-up tools

Ahem, I\'m not just nitpicking here - there\'s sense to keeping make-up brushes and sponges clean.  First the obvious question of cleanliness.  Your tools inevitably pick up grease and grime as they deposit make-up onto your skin. If left unwashed for too long, you\'ll be putting grime and bacteria back onto your skin.  Second, unwashed brushes don\'t perform as well thanks to build up of make-up and oils.  So, once a fortnight, cleanse them in warm, soapy water and allow to air dry, lying flat.  This way you\'ll also help make them last longer.

Clinique Makeup Brush Cleaner, £11, www.clinique.co.uk

10. Wear blusher

Bobbi Brown and Jemma Kidd are the two make-up artists who know useful blusher can be.  They\'ve both shown me how to wear it so that you look fresh faced and gorgeous, rather than an over baked, prom queen.   Here\'s the advice I\'ve gleaned from them both that will give you the secret to a modern girl\'s blush - a must for the new year:  Apricot blusher is as flattering if not more so than pink.  It suits more skin tones, and gives the skin a warm glow.  Apply it to the apples of your cheeks, working the colour upwards and outwards.  For a more rosy, outdoorsy flush, apply a pale, tawny blush along your cheekbones and add a dash of pink to the apples of your cheeks.   This will lift all skin tones from light to dark.

Pop Blush Cake in Warm In Sienna, £12, www.popbeauty.co.uk
and Bobbi Brown Blush in Nectar, £16, www.bobbibrown.co.uk