When evening calls for a glamorous look, you want to focus on making your eyes amazing. Here's how to apply eye makeup in only 8 steps. Difficulty: Easy Time Required: 10 minutes Here's How:

1. Prep your eyes with concealer Concealer can be used to cover up under-eye circles or just the bluish discoloration just under your inner eye. To cover dark undereye circles, apply three dots of concealer under each eye. Start at the inner corner where skin tends to be darkest, then under the pupil and the third on the outer edge. Pat, never rub with your ring finger (this finger tends to have the softest pad) until it disappears.
2. Apply eye base to your lid Eye base is the secret to keeping your shadow in place for hours. Without properly priming your lid first, your eyeshadow will likely end up a greasy line in your crease.
3. Follow with eyeliner Dark eyeshadows work great as eyeliners. Wet a slanted brush, then dip in a dark eyeshadow. Line eyes as close to the upper lashes as possible from the inner corner to the outer corner. Follow with liner on bottom eyes, but only line from the middle of the eye out. Smudge the bottom line with a Q-tip or your finger. You don't want a prominent line. For a smokey eye, use a brush to pat in a dark eyeshadow along the upper lid and below the lid. You don't want a stark line, instead you want to blend it so it's "smudge-y."
4. Apply eyeshadow. It's great to use a three-toned shadow and build from lids to brow (see How to apply eyeshadow). Allowing them to blend into each other like a rainbow is gorgeous, according to celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal. Start with a light color that almost matches your lid. Sweep the color across the lid and up to your browbone. Follow with a medium color across your lid only. Build on this with a darker color in the crease. Blend the colors well.
5. Brighten your eyes with a highlighter This step involves only the inside part of the eye. Putting a bit of your lightest eyeshadow in the inner corner of your eye will brighten it significantly (this is the makeup artist's secret and I use this trick all the time). I usually dab a finger into my lightest eyeshadow and then I press it into the inner corner of my eye where the upper lid meets the bottom lid. This totally makes eyes "pop."
6. Highlight your brow Take the same light eyeshadow and dab it on your browbone, concentrating on your mid-brow outward. Blend with your finger. I like to use Yves Saint Laurent's Touche Eclat just below my brow and just above it, but a super light shadow will do you.
7. Curl lashes An eyelash curler will make even long lashes look more gorgeous. For added effect, you can heat the curler under a blowdryer for a couple seconds. Test curler before applying to lashes because you could burn yourself.
8. Apply mascara Place the wand of your mascara brush at the bottom of lashes and wiggle back and forth. Follow with another few sweeps of the wand. Apply to bottom lashes as well. See How to apply mascara for step-by-step instruction and extra tips.

The healthiest way to lose weight is neither crash diets nor bursts of exercise. The body likes slow changes in terms of food and exercise.

For example, someone who hasn't exercised for years shouldn't rush into running miles a day or pounding the treadmill. Not only will the struggle to do so leave you feeling disheartened and demotivated, you're also far more likely to injure yourself and set your fitness levels back further.

The same goes for people who suddenly start starving themselves. Diets that severely restrict calories or the types of food 'allowed' can lead you to be deficient in the nutrients and vitamins that your body needs.

So, if you need to lose weight, what should you do?

Energy needs and weight loss Your body uses food for energy. It stores any excess energy as fat. This means if you eat more food than your body needs for daily activities and cell maintenance, you'll gain weight.

To lose weight, you need to get your body to use up these stores of fat. The most effective way to do this is to:

• reduce the amount of calories you eat
• increase your levels of activity.

This is why experts talk about weight loss in terms of diet and exercise.

Introduce changes gradually Small changes can make a big difference. One extra biscuit a week can lead you to gain 5lb a year – cut that biscuit out of your diet and you'll lose the same amount.

You're also more likely to stick to, say, swapping full-fat milk for semi-skimmed or making time for breakfast each morning than a diet that sets rules for all foods.

You should think of weight loss in terms of permanently changing your eating habits. While weight-loss goals are usually set in term of weeks, the end game is to sustain these changes over months and years, ie lifestyle change for life.

Increase your activity levels Someone who increases the amount they exercise, but maintains the same diet and calorie intake, will almost certainly lose weight.

No matter if you hate gyms – even light exercise, such as a short 20 minute walk, will be beneficial if done most days of the week.

Every single time you exercise more than usual, you burn calories and fat.

There are lots of ways to increase the amount of activity you do. Team sports, racket sports, aerobics classes, running, walking, swimming and cycling will all improve your fitness levels.

Find something you enjoy that's easy for you to do in terms of location and cost. You're then more likely to build it into your routine and continue to exercise, despite inevitably missing the odd session through holidays, family commitments, etc.

• Get out and about at the weekend. Leave your car on the drive and walk to the shops. Try to incorporate longer walks into outings to the park, coast or countryside and take a picnic, so you're in control of what you are going to eat that day.
• Every extra step you take helps. Always use the stairs instead of the lift, or get off the bus a stop before the usual one and walk the rest of the way.
• Use commercial breaks between TV-programmes to stand up and do exercise, or consider using an exercise bicycle in the living room while watching your favourite programme.

Reduce your calorie intake What is overweight? Doctors use BMI to assess weight.

A BMI of 18.5 to 25 is healthy.

If you have a BMI of more than 25, you're overweight.

Over 30 is obese.

Over 40 is morbidly obese.

To calculate your BMI, you'll need to know your weight in kilos and your height in metres, then follow the example below.

1. Multiply your height by itself, eg 1.7x1.7= 2.89.

2. Divide your weight (eg 80kg) by this figure.

3. 80 ÷ 2.89= 27.7.

27.7 is the BMI.

If you're overweight, you can't continue with your current eating habits if you really want to lose weight.

It's not possible to reduce body fat while eating lots of food, cakes and sweets. This doesn't mean you can never have any treats, but you need to learn how to limit these foods to small quantities – say, for special occasions.

In terms of weight-loss, you can get your body to use up existing stores of fat by eating less and making healthier choices.

This doesn't mean crash diet (anything less than 1500 calories), which usually ends up with you either getting weaker or giving up in desperation. Quick-fix diets can lead to a yo-yoing effect of drastic weight loss followed by weight gain, resulting in a vicious cycle.

There are no shortcuts to losing weight in a healthy and reasonable way.

Eating 300 to 500 calories less per day should lead to a loss of between one and two pounds per week. This is a realistic target. It may seem slow, but it would add up to a weight loss of more than three stone in a year.

Fat contains the most amount of calories out of all the food types (protein, carbohydrates), so a good way to achieve this is to cut down on fatty foods and eat more wholegrain bread, fruit and vegetables.

Below are ways to reduce calorie intake without having to alter your diet significantly.

• Replace fizzy drinks and fruit cordials with water.
• Swap whole milk for semi-skimmed, or semi-skimmed for skimmed.
• Eat less lunch than usual. For example, make your own sandwich and limit the use of margarine or butter and full-fat mayonnaise (store-bought sandwiches often contain both).
• Stop taking sugar in tea and coffee.
• Have smaller portions of the food you enjoy.
• Avoid having a second helping at dinner.
• Cut out unhealthy treats – such as confectionary, sugary biscuits and crisps between meals.
• Cut down on alcohol intake.

All these things will influence your health in a positive way.

Finally, don't be tempted to skip breakfast – or any meal to lose weight. While skipping a meal will reduce your calorie intake for that hour, it will leave you much hungrier later on.

Not only are you likely to overeat to compensate, but you'll often make bad choices to fill the gap: a cereal bar is not as healthy as a bowl of cereal or as filling, leading you to 'need' something extra for lunch.

Irregular eating habits also disrupt your body's metabolism, which makes it harder to lose weight in the first place.

Write down your plan Food diary If you're not sure what's wrong with your diet, try keeping a daily diary of everything you eat and drink.

You can use a notebook or an online diary.

At the end of the week, review your entries for problem areas.

Look out for processed foods, alcohol, fast food, roasts, creamy sauces and fried foods.

If your diet seems largely healthy, look at portion sizes.

If you're not sure what's meant by 'healthy diet', read our series on nutrition.

Once you've decided on what changes you're going to make, write them down. For example:

Week 1

• Exercise: one 20 minute walk every lunch hour.
• Alcohol: none in the week, two small glasses of wine on Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
• Food: no chocolate or biscuits in the week, choose healthy snacks such as fruit, trim all fat from meat, eat no fried or fast food.

My weight loss plan: Week: _____ My weight: _____ Targets Alcohol Exercise Food plan Mood Comments Goals for week Progress Alcohol Exercise Food plan Mood Comments Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Be patient and persevere It might take a week or two before you notice any changes, but they will steadily appear. After the first month you'll be able to see the results and measure them in terms of looser fitting clothes.

Keeping your motivation up is one of the most difficult aspects of dieting. There will be days when healthy eating goes out the window, and there will be weeks where you may not lose any weight – or put a little back on.

This is normal for everyone – dieters or not – so don't let it undo your plans for a slimmer you. You're not doing anything 'wrong', but you may need to look at your plan. Do you need to increase your activity levels? Make a few more changes to your diet? Put more effort into sticking to your current plan?

The other side of this is to make sure you celebrate your goals. While there's joy enough in stepping on the scales and seeing them dip lower, be sure to mark long-term progress with a reward – such as new clothes or time off from domestic chores.

Celebrating is also a way to involve your nearest and dearest – it's up to you whether you want their encouragement in the form of gentle reminders not to eat certain foods. But support from other people can get you through the bumpy patches.

Health benefits of weight loss Studies show that overweight women who lose between 10lb and 20lb halve their risk of developing diabetes. For men, the risk of heart problems reduces considerably.

Generally, we gain weight as we age. A few pounds over the years are not a problem, but people who gain more than 20lb compared to their weight as an 18-year-old will rapidly increase their risk of health problems due to that extra weight. In particular, women increase their risk of heart attack and double their risk of dying from cancer.

It may seem like these are problems to worry about in the future, but time flies by and tomorrow becomes today. By keeping your weight in the healthy range, you're less likely to be troubled by illnesses in your later years.

Retaining water is uncomfortable, unflattering, and frustrating. Here are some ways to lose that extra water weight.

• 1 This may seem counterintuitive, but the best way to lose water weight is to actually drink more water. Your body may be retaining water because it is dehydrated; drinking more allows your body to flush out toxins and the water it has been holding onto so stubbornly.
  
  
• 2 To shed water weight, add a little twist of lemon or lime to your water; they are natural diuretics and make all of that fluid easier to drink.
  
  

3 When trying to lose water weight, reduce your sodium intake. An excess of sodium will cause your body to retain water, making you look and feel bloated. Also avoid sugary foods, diet soda, and alcohol.



4 To get rid of water weight, push yourself through a workout. The combination of proper hydration and a workout will help your body find it's balance and stop holding on to excess fluids.

5 To lose water weight and get rid of bloating, eat foods that are high in potassium. Bananas, cabbage, carrots, asparagus, watermelon and other fruits and vegetables are great for fighting bloat.

Have you ever watched the models Heidi Klum, and former Victoria's Secret models Giselle Bündchen, Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell walk the runway for the Victoria's Secret Fashion show and wanted to learn how to walk like them? If so, then read the below article to learn how to walk the runway like a Victoria's Secret Model.

• 1 Visit Youtube and do a search for "Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows". Watch the runway videos and study how the models walk. When watching the videos, look at the models' posture, walk and poses at the end of the runway.
  
  
• 2 Try and copy the models' runway walk. Stand up straight, push your shoulders back, put your shoulders back and push your pelvis slightly forward. Keep your eyes up and your chin leveled. Keep your head and shoulders still when you walk. Also, your toes should face forward and when you walk, you should be walking a straight, single line as if you were walking a tightrope. Let your arms swing naturally.
  
  
• 3 Practice your Victoria's Secret walk over and over in front of a full length mirror until you feel comfortable. Once you have your runway walk down, turn on some music and try your Victoria's Secret runway walk to get even more comfortable walking to music as the models do in the Victoria's Secret Fashion shows.
  

Wondering how you can snag the allure of a Victoria's Secret model? Look no further; follow these steps to get the look!

All girls would love to get locks like those on the Victoria Secret runway. Full and voluminous, these angels have guys who would die at the chance to run their fingers through this simply gorgeous, touchable hair. Want sexy hair like this? Here's how to create these irresistible long.

Wash your hair with shampoo and conditioner. While your strands are still damp work in a volumizing mousse from roots to ends. Always put in your mousse then you think you will need. The mousse will help pump up your locks giving it that big and full look, without adding any build up or weighing down your hair. Three or four palmsful should give you that extra boost and long lasting style. Once you have applied the mousse come it through with a wide tooth comb to make sure it is distributed evenly.

2 Blow dry your main. Flip your head over and direct the nozzle of your blow-dryer in the opposite direction you would like your hair to fall for ultimate volume and body. This will also give you incredible lift at the roots. Lightly run a leave in conditioner serum (Paul Mitchell's Skinny Serum is suggested) through hair once it is fully dry to make locks shiny and smooth and replenish moisture.

3 Roll it up. Body and bounce is the key to the Angel's hair and hot rollers will do just the trick. Part your hair with a two inch section starting at the forehead all the way back to the nape of the neck. Roll about two inch sections doing this "mohawk" first. Since you are rolling large sections you will get a little bit of curve at the ends and lots and lots of body. Once your "mohawk" is completely rolled start on the sides. Let the curlers completely cool. This would be the perfect time to do your makeup.

4 Remove rollers and let hair sit for a minute to make sure it has completely cooled. Take a large barrel curling iron and go over the ends to create those beautiful waves. Run your fingers through your mane to give it a more natural look. Tease your roots using a small tooth comb for extra lift. Finish by misting with a light hold hairspray.