Hemlines

Some helpful advice from Northern Irish make-up artist Pamela Smyth on how to minimise bags under the eyes: keep a face flannel in refrigerated water and, half-an-hour before rising in the morning, place this (well squeezed out, of course) over your eyes. She also recommends sleeping on satin pillow cases (very Joan Crawford) which won't pull the skin as cotton or linen does, but perhaps this is going a little too far in pursuit of unageing skin.

A colleague came into the office recently wearing, so we thought, no tights. However, having sufficiently recovered from our initial shock to ask her about this, we discovered that she was actually wearing a pair of Pretty Polly's new Perfectly Natural tights. These come in eight different skin tones (such as Perfectly Beige and Perfectly Bronze) and, as our mistake showed, really are flesh coloured. "I could never wear skintone tights before," said the now-proselytising colleague, "but these are absolutely wonderful." They're also relatively inexpensive, at just £3.75 a pair.

Good news from cosmetics company Helena Rubinstein, which is offering a comprehensive mail-order service of its products. A very smart brochure lists everything available, and this may now be ordered over the telephone from the Rubinstein counters in Brown Thomas, Dublin and Cork; there is no charge for post and packing. In addition, the company has introduced a Discovery Collection reward card; for every £5 spent on Helena Rubinstein make-up or skincare, one point is given. Once customers accumulate a certain number of points, they will be sent a free full-size product from among Helena Rubinstein's most popular lines. Start collecting now.