The French Manicure is a popular look for nails because it looks natural, only better. The white tips and neutral beige or pink topcoat leaves the nails looking clean, bright and shiny. It’s a great everyday look.

The French Manicure can be easily achieved at home, especially with the use of one of the many kits on the market. Usually the kit will supply the white polish and either a beige or pink topcoat. This kit by Sephora has three polishes in a clutch bag for easy storage.

For help in applying the white polish at the tips you can purchase stick-on stencils to give you a guide and prevent mistakes. The French Manicure is also great for hiding minor length differences in nails. Just place the stencils at the same distance from the end of the nail regardless of how much of the real white edge you have.

Sally Hansen makes a kit that comes with an easy-to-apply white nail polish pen. The 5 Minute French Manicure Pen Kit comes with the nail pen, nail guides, sheer blush or sheer natural polish and a growth treatment for nails.

Long, talon-like nails are no longer “in” and for most of us, that’s a good thing. Maintaining ultra-long nails is difficult enough, but even simple tasks can become nearly impossible.

Medium length nails that are elegant and feminine without being clumsy to work with are the look you want. Taking the place of the long nailed fashion trend is “nail art”.

A lot of nail art looks are difficult to achieve on your own but there are products that can help you. Nail polish pens let you “paint” just as you would with a paintbrush or marker. Airbrush kits with stencil or stencil wheels can help you create professional-looking results. Add some glitter or small faux gems for a little pizzaz. If you are adventurous and artistically inclined, you might try some free-hand painting on your nails. You can create some interesting designs with a couple of good paintbrushes and a toothpick. Consider using acrylic paints as well as traditional polishes.

Airbrush kits can be rather pricey, so if I were going to try doing it myself I might start with this kit at $29.95. If I showed any proficiency, then I might consider moving up to a more professional model airbrush that can start at $89.95. Think about it, if you become very proficient, you could defray the cost of your kit by doing manicures for others.

If you are using the brush that came with your blush, chances are you are using a brush that is too small, too stiff and unsuited to the task.

Blush is not meant to be a stripe of bright color on the sides of your face. Streaks of red, pink or brown that appear “painted on” end up looking clownish.

Choose a large, soft, fluffy brush to apply your cheek color. Don’t overload the brush. Sweep the brush across the blush product to load the bristles with color, then tap it to shake off any excess.

Start below the cheekbone ridge and brush lightly up to the “apples” of your cheeks. The color should give you a natural glow to your cheeks and there should be no discernible edges.

A great brush is the key to proper application of blush. Bare Escentuals Tapered Blush Brush is exactly the type of brush we recommend. It’s available at Amazon for $15.00 but if you shop local stores and beauty outlets, you might some great deals on brushes and brush sets. It’s not the name that makes you beautiful, it’s having the right tools, the right methods and the right products for you.

Some women naturally have volumes of thick hair. Some women don’t. The actual number of hairs on the head varies and is mostly a matter of heredity. But the number of hairs on your head isn’t all that determines volume, the texture of your hair is important as well.

If you have thin hair, getting body and volume can mean hours of hairstyling only to find that your hair goes limp again before the end of the evening.

For short styles or multi-layer styles, apply some gel or mousse near the roots only and dry your hair with your head upside-down, drying the hair in the opposite direction of the one gravity will force it into all day long. When you are done and flip your head up again, your hair will now be falling against the way it was dried and will look more voluminous instead of just lying flat on your head.

If your hair is long and you want to create a little more volume on top to avoid the flat-head look, you can use a similar tactic. But this time, dry hair in the opposite direction of the part you usually make. For instance, if you wear your part on the right, make a part on the left and dry hair towards the right. When dry, brush it back to the direction you wish to wear it. If you use a middle part, then dry it upside down or brush it towards the back of your head as you blow-dry.