Bright and beautiful feet.

"It’s time to get out your pretty little sandals and get ready for the summer sales, but before you slip on these delicious caskets, the jewels they are to contain – your feet – need to sparkle with colour.

Once a week, spend a little time pampering them, so that they look fresh and bright in your summer shoes.

Step 1: Exfoliation. Use coarse sea salt (or sugar) mixed with a moisturising oil base rather than a pumice stone or file and before you scrub, soak your feet in warm water scented with rose or orange flower water. Make sure that you dry your feet thoroughly.

Step 2: Nail-cutting. This requires great care. Unlike your fingers, which are better with long nails, the nails on your feet should be reasonably short. Cut your toenails straight across to a square shape, which not only looks more attractive but will also prevent in-growing toenails from developing. Using a crystal glass nail file, smooth the nails down a little so that they do not split.

Step 3: Rub a soothing and healing emollient product into the cuticles and gently push them back with a wooden cuticle stick, covered with cotton wool if necessary. And please, whatever you do, never cut off the little pieces of skin known as hangnails, as they will only grow back even more. Then rinse with soapy water and dry well before rubbing in a hard skin reducing cream.

Step 4 (the last before the cherry on this particular cake): Buffing, which should be performed at least once a month. Buffing removes vertical ridges and blemishes, and helps varnish to last longer. Use a four-sided buffer and work your way up gradually from the coarsest surface to the finest, which gives the nail its final shine.

And there you have it! The only thing left to do is apply a base coat and two coats of varnish (see our tip) in a magnificently trendy colour. We know we can trust you to make the right choice!"