Beaut.ie How To: Give Yourself a Diamond-Standard Pedicure

Even if you can't afford diamonds to scrub your body with or adorn your fingers at the minute, you can well afford bling for your toes: a few mini crystals strategically applied at the tail end of a pedicure can really perk up those tootsies. (And this is going to sound really sad, but when I have bling on my feet I it really perks me up too!) You'll need a steady hand, a tweezers, clear top coat and the aforementioned crystals (I picked up a huge packet of weeny ones in Claire's Accessories for about 4 quid recently) for this.

To make sure your paint job lasts, use a base coat before applying two coats of your chosen colour (I like to stick with French polish if I'm going all out with the schparkles.) Slick on your top coat and, while it's still tacky, position and apply your crystals using tweezers, gently pressing them into the polish to help them adhere. A line of crystals applied along the cuticle line of your big toe is what I'd favour; usually that takes about 6-7 teeny crystals and the easiest way to put them on is to get the centre crystal into position and then work out to both edges.

Finally, gently brush a sealing layer of top coat across the crystal and surrounding nail and et voilá! Fabulous feet.

And I dare you not to smile everytime you see them...