For what it’s worth, I like this more than the last collection. The soft floral prints in dark, more autumnal shades, make a nice change from the bright neons being shoved down our throats by most other high summer collections.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What do you think? Will you be buying into the latest Ri-Ri for RI collection (or did you indulge in round one)?

In a way, sugaring is old-school, too. I remember seeing reports in Bliss and Just 17 magazines way back in the day (when Sarra Manning wrote Diary of a Crush on the back page, which was my favourite thing ever in the world) about different types of hair removal, and sugaring was up there with waxing and epilation in a long list of things you could, but not necessarily should, do.

Now, of course, we’re all au fait with ripping the hair out of our follicles, and most of us are interested in hearing about new (to us) and interesting methods of doing the same. Sugaring dates back to ancient Egyptian times, and basically involves using a paste of sugar, water and lemon juice to remove hair from the follicle without tearing or pulling at the skin or flesh around it.

And Lindsay Leggett aka Lindsay the Sugarist is the US-born gal bringing it to our shores, with her dedicated studio in the Hive on George’s St.

Photograph by Virginia Wilcox

To describe Lindsay, I’d say: there are people who possess the ability to make you feel at ease, and then there are people who don’t even need to have that ability – because as soon as they say hello, you immediately feel as if you’ve known them for an age. Lindsay is one of those people, which matters a lot as you’ll be trusting her to stare at your bits for a good half hour (I went for a Brazilian; you could, of course, have your armpits sugared and you’d never have to think about her thinking about your vagina).

How I would describe being sugared is as having someone take a piece of play-dough and pressing it against an area of skin and hair, then pulling it away. The sugar solution is reused over and over, rolled up by Lindsay – with gloved hands – so that there’s very little muss and very little fuss.

And let’s get to the important part: does it hurt? Honey child, having hair torn out of your follicles is never going to be fun – but I can say that, hands down, this is the least painful method of hair removal that I have ever tried. There were about three areas (if you’ve had your labia waxed you’ll know what I’m talking about) that resulted in a good wince, but otherwise Lindsay and I chatted away like old chums throughout the entire treatment (and yes, that included the bum bit).

Lindsay will sugar pretty much anything you want – except beards - with a Brazilian (including the butt crack) coming in at €65. lindsaythesugarist.com

Velashape is a treatment that combines four elements: bi-polar radio frequency, infrared light energies, negative pressure and tissue manipulation. What this feels like is suction, heavy-duty massage and heat, all at once. Clinical studies have shown a reduction in the strength of fat cells, which basically means that Velashape breaks them down and smooths the skin.

Does it work? After one 20-minute session, I definitely felt firmer and more lifted; after six sessions, I can imagine seeing a marked improvement.  But at €120 per Velashape session, your cellulite would want to be very high up your priority list. pinkbeautyemporium.ie

Me? I have yet to see it – I’m waiting to get my Gatsby fix in a Manhattan movie theatre; I’ll be spending the next week of my life in NY, soaking up the culture and otherwise improving myself. But I have seen some incredible Art Deco fashion (I even went on Xposé to talk about it), including these amazing earrings from the Greta Garbo Collection at Newbridge Silverware.

The unique collection seeks to, and I quote, “strike a stylish balance between glamour, elegance and modernity” – and it’s pretty nifty, if you ask me.

With that in mind, Newbridge Silverware and Fash Mob have teamed up to offer one lucky reader a pair of the above earrings from the Greta Garbo Collection to help you complete your Gatsby look.

To be in with a chance of winning, just answer the following question:

What is the name of the Newbridge Silverware collection inspired by the Art Deco trend?

a) Greta Garbo Collection
b) Greta Gerwin Collection
c) Greta Gibney Collection

Send your answer, by email, to rmaccabe@irishtimes.com with “Gatsby” in the subject line. This competition will close at midnight on May 24th. No correspondence will be entered into. One entry per person. This prize is non-transferable.

So it might be a sign that things are picking up, but Decade Darlings is the latest new “big thing”: for a fee, you and your friends can be primped and preened, groomed and glammed up, vintage-style, for your very own 1950s-style photoshoot.

This is by no means a necessary – or even particularly useful – service, but gosh if it isn’t a fun one. For hen nights, birthdays, anniversaries or just because, Samantha-Jones style, this could be just the ticket to brighten your day. I know that I would love to try it out with a group of my girlfriends.

Maybe the luxury for me is that I’ve never done any kind of organised shoot. Any photographs on my family’s walls are candids, taken when we were picking our noses or scratching our eyes, and the closest my dog has got to a phone is when I stick my camera in her sleeping face. How about you? Have you ever been roped into a professional shoot?

The BB lips product is the really big story of this new release – but that’s not all that’s new at No 7.

No 7 is also releasing the High Shine Lip Crayon (€11.75), in a range of colours with what No 7 calls a “lightweight, moisturising feel”. Add to that No 7′s Stay Perfect Lip Stain (€12.95) for a more statement lip in five colours.

Which is why Jervis is dedicating this weekend to all things shoes, holding several summer-themed fashion shows, hosted by the inimitable Brendan Courtney, as well as opening a pop-up shoe and accessory emporium where you can go for a sit down and take the advice of expert stylists on which shoes and handbags to choose for any particular outfit.

Marks & Spencer’s Your Beauty is also offering free makeovers and hand massages, while the lovely ladies from No 7 will colour-match your foundation - and Peter Mark is offering free conditioning treatments with any cut or blow-dry. Plus, Brendan is also holding masterclasses in how to walk in high heels with two of Ireland’s top models, Angelica Salamao and Irma Mali.

What’s the point of it all? Well, obviously the nice folks at Jervis are hoping to entice you into parting with some of your hard-earned cash, but cynicism aside, it’s a fun way to spend an afternoon if you’re in town shopping anyway – and you may just pick up some tasty tips!

So, to the process. Your own nails are cleaned and buffed, and nail tips – which look rather like false nails – are glued to your nails, from midway. Then they are filed at the join until they lie flat against your own nails, following which, they are filed at the tip, to whatever length and shape you’d like.

As you can see, I went for a very vampy, pointed long nail – which, in hindsight, is proving troublesome. My lovely nail technician did ask me, at one point, what I did - ”won’t they get in the way?” My heart sank as I realised: yes, they will (and they do). Here they are painted with OPI‘s Dusk Over Cairo (it’s got a filter so looks a little pinker in that pic; in reality it was kind of a 1980s secretary nail colour, and definitely not my favourite).

After your nails are filed, they’re coated in gel which is then set under a UV light. This process takes an age; there are about three layers of gel (which is why gel extensions look so thick) and each ”setting” takes three minutes. After the gelling is done, it’s on to painting and I was off on my way.

The entire process cost €55 (this wasn’t a review freebie) and took two hours – a price I can’t really imagine being beaten for the amount of work that went into them. Yesterday I repainted them, with Illamasqua’s Mottle (top pic), which I love a lot more. Do I feel glam? Yes. Ridiculous? A bit. I can’t imagine I’ll keep them for the full three weeks (you can have them refilled once the gel base grows out – I’ll update you with a pic on Twitter so you can see what that looks like) and I’ll definitely be filing them down for ease of typing!

But for a change? Love love love them. And there’s something about having these crazy 1950s superstar nails that means going out in your tracksuit bottoms feels more sinful than ever, which makes me love them even more. Motivation!

Glam Nail & Beauty Salon is at 17 Trinity St, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-679 1111

So what have we got? For starters, one of the biggest stories is sure to be the three, limited-edition – the entire collection is limited, incidentally – Le Vernis shades: Azuré, Bel’Argus and Lilis.

The limited edition nail shades (€22.50 each) are usually the ones that are only available in the Chanel boutiques, often necessitate a waiting list and almost always sell out. Of the three, Azuré is my favourite – a lovely combination of blue, green and yellow that seems to change colour in the light. I think I remember having a slightly similar shade to it in the 1990s, in a slightly darker, grungier tone.

Next up in terms of newsworthiness are the Stylo Eyeshadows, in six new shades – Blue Bay, Black Stream, Cool Gold, Jade Shade, Moon River and Pink Lagoon, €28 each. The press release says there are “endless combinations” to be made with the six shades, and despite my inner math nerd suspecting that to be slightly wide of the mark, they sure have made some impressive efforts with the supporting imagery.

Blue eyeshadow, which has always seemed that little bit dated, is brought bang up to date when it’s washed through the lashes and winged into the inner corner. On paper, this shouldn’t work, but here? I’m dying to try it out.

But of course that’s not any old coloured mascara – it’s Chanel Inimitable Waterproof (€30), in a limited run of four rainbow-bright shades: Aqua Blue, Blue Note, Lime Light and Zest. I received a sample of Zest, and I’m definitely intrigued as to how I’m going to incorporate it into my less-is-more make-up look.

Perhaps the least splash-making of all of the new items are the lipsticks, Rouge Coco Shine in Idylle and Pygmalion (€30.50 each). There’s no doubting that the colours are gorgeous – in particular, the grapefruity shade has me yearning for some warm weather and a nice beer garden – but they’re not rocking my socks the way the iridescent shades in eyes and nails are.

Lest I forget, the collection is rounded off with three Levres Scintillantes lip glosses (€26) – Envolée, Zéphyr and Eden – and a waterproof eyeliner in True Blue (€23). It will be on-counter on May 31st and off-counter as soon as the limited run is sold out. My money’s on mid-July for that.

So what do you think? Will you be taking a closer look at Chanel’s butterfly summer?

This isn’t anything remarkably new from Debenhams; Marks & Spencer has gone down the route of diversity in several of its campaigns, and a TV programme searching for an amputee model was aired on Channel 4 a few years back. But will it make any difference?

What will really be the proof of the pudding is whether or not Debenhams will keep this up. M&S has embraced diversity on the regular, but diversity with quite a narrow definition, which is somewhat oxymoronic. In M&S’s books, Twiggy’s role is as the older model, Myleene Klass’s is as the curvy (?!) model. But that’s pretty much as far as it goes - age and “curves” notwithstanding, M&S’s models are all beautiful and, y’know, modelesque.

Attempts to make waves in the fashion industry will always be welcomed; as Caroline Issa said, it’s a far from perfect place. But it’ll be a long wait to see if these waves are freak weather incidents, or serious tidal shifts.

I also always feel sorry for the plus-size model who gets plonked beside the teeny tiny model. Can’t we just get two average-sized girls and show how average can be beautiful too? What about the size 10 to 12 girls with no boobs?