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Perfect grooming: bringing girly glamour back

Look at these pictures of Christina Aguilera. The picture on the left could be anyone, on her way to get the paper and interrupted by an annoying phone call. Now check out the one on the right. Wow!

For me, these pics drive home a major lesson: don't get lazy with your outfits! The magic is in the little things: that flash of colour; that unexpected touch; that little bit of perfection, like a gorgeously manicured hand. You might not notice it at all until you're about to part ways and someone offers you their hand to shake, complete with chic black nails. It's a footnote that says: 'you know I'm hot!'

That's what this season's girlie makeup trend is all about: details. Prepare to rediscover your perfectionist streak. You'll need it to achieve the Dita Von Teese look. It's not like a false eyelash can just be slapped on: you cut it into sections, you apply glue carefully to each one, you hold your breath and fiddle until it's perfectly aligned with your natural lashes, you press until the glue is dry, you draw a neat black line to conceal the base. Is it gorgeous? If not, start again. If so, repeat for the other sections.

Presto! You're ready to move on to the right eye. After that: concealer, foundation, highlighter, lipstick, body-moisturiser, etc, etc, moving all the way down to your feet, which must be clean, buffed and lacquered. And don't forget your hair! Have you heated up the curling iron? No? Oops, you've just lost ten minutes...

Jessica Simpson ungroomed vs groomed.

It's not an everyday look - by the end of the season you might throw up your hands, shriek 'I'm over it! Kate is my muse again!' and burst out the door with a scrubbed face and bed hair, a la Miss Moss. But if, like me, you've seen the runway examples, you'll be trying it at least a couple of times a week. Gucci sent models out with barrel curls, crimson lips and matte skin; the forties had returned in all their prim glory. Clothes were well tailored (forget last season's voluminous shapes - girly dressing is all about clean, sharp lines): pencil skirts, fitted blouses, wool tights and tiny, belted waists. Chunky shoes and adventurous details (such as alternating tweed and leather, embroidered shoulders and even the odd plunging neckline) brought the designs into the twenty-first century; a modern take on 'ladies who lunch'. It's neo-girly; everyone from Von Teese to Christina Aguilera has embraced the look.

I've mentioned that it's time-consuming, but done right, it's oh-so-worth it! When I leave the house dolled-up (false lashes, red nails, blow-dried hair) it's a whole different universe. Men stare, women gawk, shop assistants drop everything to help you, skittish types scurry aside to give you more room on the footpath. It's a look that says, 'I'm somebody. I've succeeded. Acknowledge me!' I walked into my first college maths class done up like this: full makeup, set hair, slim-fit olive pants and singlet. By the end of the class I had a date. A few weeks later the guy showed me a poem he'd scribbled about me that day (instead of absorbing the lecturer's rant about probabilistic axioms). It was called 'The Girl in Green' and it went something like this: 'she walks in and yet she is separate/ a soldier for class in a class for maths. Every head turns to stare/ each regards her as an outsider'.

Well, I caught his eye, but this reveals a side effect of perfectionist dressing: people may stiffen up a little around you. It isn't a relaxed look, so prepare to be tiptoed around (it might not be relaxing for you either - resist the urge to fiddle with that belt, tug at that scarf or adjust those loosening curls). This was how my poet-boyfriend felt; I'm glad he asked me out anyway. After dating for a while we started studying together. I'd show up without makeup - just moisturiser, lip-gloss and freshly washed hair. 'You look great' he'd tell me. 'I mean, I like the makeup too, but when you're done up I feel like I can't touch you. Like I have to be careful and stay a bit further away. It's artificial. This way you seem more like... a person.'

Sandra herself demonstrates ungroomed vs groomed.

Ok, well, that sounded bad, but I wasn’t put off. A look can say a lot, and I got some pretty encouraging looks from him when I was made up. You know when a shock wave of desire comes over and hits you? I love that from my guy! Men say they love women natural because that's when they can get physical, but I'm convinced they love a work of art just as much (outside of the house, and outside of the bedroom). Make yourself a girly work of art! That's what the season is about.

Anything else to watch out for? Well, the look can't be done by halves. When I put on just a false lash, or try just a red lip, and leave the rest of my face relatively bare, it looks wrong. I don't look like I have 'a touch of forties sensibility', I look like I was going for a forties look but I only got halfway there. Like I didn't finish getting ready. It's not just me; I've seen this on other women. A lady with the chunkiest fake nails I'd ever seen (hot pick ones - thick as teaspoons - with the cuticles filed red-raw; ouch!) recently handed me a steak sandwich in a café. The rest of her was unkempt; she'd obviously leapt out of bed, pulled her hair into one of those rushed scrunchie-knots, and bolted to work bare-faced.

Her hands hovered above the bread like helicopters. 'There you go love, you want me to cut it in half?'

'No, no!' I said intensely, and she gave me a look. I gazed around and didn't explain- maybe I could pass myself off as one of those people who is passionate about everything (you know the people - every topic makes their blood boil, from globalisation to censorship to family loyalty to religious freedom, and even small fry like sport results, the amusement factor of The Simpsons, eighties fashion and-yes - the prospect of having one's sandwich bisected). It must have worked, because she ignored me and proceeded to bag my lunch.

I went into a semi-hypnotic state, watching those hands dart around. An extravagant detail can look pretty silly by itself; the whole package has to be right. That's why you don't see Miu Miu running their girly ads in the Financial Times (well, that, and the fact that Parisian fashionistas usually leave the finance to their husbands). Better to run it in a glossy, so girls like me can flip through page after page saying 'ooh! aah!', dazzled by glorious detail after glorious detail. I hope your fashion muscles are well toned, because getting ready this season might just be a marathon. But trust me, it will be worth it!

Makeup trends for 2008

Find out more about 2008's biggest fashion trends by visiting our 2008 beauty and makeup guide

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First Written: 19th March 2008 at 23.10