Sensitive skin? Start checking ingredients lists on cleansers, avoiding sulfates and parabens (which can irritate some skins), and seeking out ‘buffered’, complexion-friendly formulations featuring glycerine (to maintain skin’s natural moisture balance, along with strengthening ceramides or panthenol.

‘Squoval’ (square with rounded corners) generally complements most hands – but if you’ve shorter fingers, this can be more flattering, creating the illusion of long nail beds and longer fingers.

If you get an eye infection, you need to replace your mascara. But wait until the condition’s cleared up to break out replacements…

To prevent flat, plastered-to-the-head hair in the morning, keep hair pulled up while you sleep. Gather long hair up into a ponytail on the top of your head (think: whale spout!) with a scrunchie, which won’t create a ridge in hair the way a smaller ponytail holder will.

If you use eyelash curlers, clean the curler and the pad frequently (ideally, daily). Use a cottons square and alcohol. If your curler has a rubber cushion, keep checking it’s still flexible and replace the pad when the rubber hardens or cracks.

Smudged your mascara? Slightly ‘ewwww’, but your best bet is either a cotton bud dipped in foundation, which you can use to ‘roll’ away the specks – or wet the cotton bud with your tongue. It’s not as runny as water, so won’t take off foundation underneath and leave a mark.

How do you fix a broken lipstick? Rotate the lipstick all the way up so that the broken base is exposed. Next, hold the decapitated top with a tissue so that it doesn’t slip, and slowly wave a match underneath the chunk of lipstick to warm it up. (Be careful not to burn yourself – and be sure the tissue is folded well out of the way.) When the bottom starts to soften, gently place it on top of the broken base. Then take a cotton swab and blend the seam. Finally, twist the lipstick all the way down and place it uncovered in the fridge for five minutes.

If you notice your skin’s shiny soon after cleansing, or you have enlarged pores, blackheads (or your skin often breaks out), look for products featuring salicylic acid. It soaks up sebum. (Clays are also good for drawing out dirt and oil without dehydrating skin.)

If your hair’s shoulder-length or longer, a ponytail is ideal for second-day hair and last-minute social outings. (A high ponytail has the bonus of offering a temporary facelift, sort of, too!) Glaze hair first with a pea-sized amount of gel, mixed with a dab of wax/pomade.

It may be counterintuitive, but hot baths are drying to skin. (If you have to lower yourself in slowly, it’s too hot.) We always like to counteract the drying effects of a bath with at least a few drops of oil, though.

Love this tip from Daneen Baird, founder and editor-in-chief of SpoiledPretty.com. ‘If your skin is on the shiny side, stop by your local Starbucks, grab a handful of their brown napkins and shove them in your purse [handbag]. They work better than any blotting papers I’ve used and they’re free! And don’t feel guilty about “pilfering” from the coffee conglomerate. If they’re charging four bucks for some Java and steamed milk, they owe you a shne-free face.’

When cleansing, spend time on the nooks and crannies around your nose and jaw-line, and the cleft of the chin. But be sure to scrape hair back off your face, too, so that you can concentrate on the hairline. You’d be surprised how grubby it gets.

Eternal wisdom from the late make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin: ‘Make-up isn’t plaster. It can’t be used to fill lines and wrinkles. In fact, if you try to apply foundation, concealer and powdere over laughter lines in the hope of camouflaging them, the opposite happens. You just draw attention to them.’

Time to mow the lawn. We’re not calorie-counters, generally, but it’s impressive to learn that a 55-kilo woman will burn around 170 calories per half hour, mowing the lawn. (Ride-on mowers do not count.)

If you know you have sensitive skin, don’t dive straight in and try new anti-ageing products directly on your face – particularly if they contain AHAs or retinols. Test them on a ‘sensitive’ area, such as under the arm above the elbow, or behind the ears.

Don’t rush choosing foundation. The skin’s chemistry can make foundation and/or concealer change colour when they’ve been on the skin for a minute or two, so avoid snap decisions.

We’re not HUGE fans of selfies – but what we do know is moving the camera up or down can make all the difference, erasing or magnifying a double chin, for example. Bite the bullet, switch to the ‘selfie’ lens on your phone – and play around till you’ve figured your best angle. We promise it’s what all the bloggers do!

Lipliner is your biggest ally, if you have uneven lips. (And if they bother you. Chances are nobody else will notice, but hey…) Apply a medium-toned lip liner where lips need definition – on the inside edge of the ‘bigger’ lip, and just outside the natural lip line where you feel they are too thin. The goal is to create a balance. And if your bottom lip is thinner than your top lip, dot on a light, shimmery colour of lipstick in the centre of your bottom lip to create the illusion of fullness.

If you suffer from sensitive skin, don’t just load up with more products designed to tackle the problem. Introduce some easy relaxation methods – yoga, or even a walk around the park – which can help manage levels of the stress hormone cortisol, production of which can have a knock-on effect on skin.

For a quick exfoliating D-I-Y scrub, mix a few squirts of a favourite (we suggest inexpensive) body moisturiser with a teaspoon of sugar, in the palm of your hand. Should be enough to blitz hands or feet or elbows.