Coral me happy

If, like me, you have near enough milk-bottle-white skin and brilliant red lipsticks make you look like the walking dead, try an orange-red hued lippy instead. I bought and would recommend Revlon's ColorBurst Coral, as it is still as striking as a traditional red, but gives you that warmer tone to balance well with pale skin and bring out the rosiness in cheeks.

This shade suits all hair colours and skin tones, and is ideal as spring is upon us. Pure reds can look too heavy and out of place in the warmer months, but the Coral shade is a sure fire hit all year round.

One of its quirks is that you can build up the colour to the gain the desired intensity. After experimenting, I found that you can slick on one layer for a glammed up day time look, or add a further couple as night hits for a more intense effect.

Best of all lips don't get dehydrated with this lippy; its oil free but adds moisture in a non-sticky, long lasting way. A definite staple for the make up bag at the bargain price of around £7.00.

The day I joined the culture club

I was sat at my desk this morning, checking emails and started thinking about plans for the evening. I'd spent the last two nights at home doing the same routine; dinner, TV, working, shower then bed and couldn't face another stint of run-of-the-mill manotony, so fired up on coffee and the spark of the idea entering my head, I Googled London exhibitions and found one at the Barbican by Cory Archangel. Reading the blurb it sounded quirky, different and a little bit cool, and if that hadn't sold it to me, the fact that it was free was enough to tip me over the edge.

Armed with my iPhone, the Barbican located on the Map app (haven't been there since First School), I made my way from work on the tube. Two hours and a grumpy Sarah later, I arrived at the Barbican (which is the most maze-like building I've ever seen) only to make my way up to the third floor where the art is housed. "No", said the man on reception, "you need to go to The Curve which is on the ground floor". About turn. Got to The Curve, which is a long and curvy room, so to speak, and was met with white screens with video games on, some sketchy music and a steward that looked like he was about to drop off. I walked along a bit, saw some old games consoles on my right and came to some double doors. Turns out that was it. What a let down. Never again. Next time I feel the pressure to be cultural I'm booking a trip to Italy to see some proper art.

Is that a butterfly in your eye?

One way of beating winter beauty blues and giving spring a helping hand is to buy these futuristic-looking paper lashes, now available at www.asos.com.

The eye decor, by Paperself, are a fushion of Chinese cutting techniques and contemporary designs and each come with a symbolic meaning. Choose from peacocks, to clowns and even more. They're easy to apply by trimming down to the size of your eye, adding lash glue and then applying to the top line of the upper lashes. Priced at £10 - £12, they're not going to rob you of all your entire monthly beauty budget, yet are original and unusual enough to make an impact.

Wear them out on a Friday or Saturday night, even if it's just to the pub. They'll brighten up even the most wintery of winter looks and you can guarantee to attract attention.

Is your job making you fat?

With articles in the media every day on what we should and shouldn't be eating and the recommended weekly exercise intake changing more often than Davina McCall's gym slips, it's no wonder that as a nation we feel more pressure to get in a workout after a day's work, to keep up with society and its idea of healthy living.

What happens though when you sit at a desk all day, getting up only to walk to the coffee machine, to the loo or to the nearest lift? The answer is; no exercise, every calorie consumed going straight to the hips, and an increased risk of clogged arteries.

It's a bleak outlook for anyone with a 9 - 5 (or 9 - 8 depending where you work), by which time there physically isn't an opportunity to hit the gym and sheer starvation twinned with a sudden craving for wine kicks in.

This is not to mention the kind of food that is actually being eaten throughout the day. I tend to start off with a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea - healthy breakfast, tick, and take some fruit or a cereal bar for elevenses. After this it gets tricky. Normally by lunch I'm famished, having got up from my desk maybe once to go to the toilet and another time to get a caffeine fix, and so don't understand the hunger levels; they are totally out of ratio with what they should be. Anyway, I make my way down to the canteen, where the aromas are too much to bare and normally end up ordering the cooked lunch with some sort of chocolatey treat for afters, for fear of the 3.30pm energy slump. I then go back to my desk for the afternoon stint, which is about as active as the morning, and have to route around in my snack drawer around 5.30 for sustenance until I get home at 8.30pm (long distance commute on a train).

All in all, a long day coupled with less movement than a comatose koala is making me fat. There, I said it; FAT!

Housemare Hell

The sinking feeling in my stomach kicked in, as I moved the mouse and clicked on yet another room-for-rent reject. I'd spent about two hours browsing online for a room available in a 'normal' house share and had no joy whatsoever. It wasn't a shortage of rooms that was the problem, or that I had minimised my search to one specific area of London. There was an abundance of adverts and I was looking within a four mile radius of my original chosen postal area, but in each case, something just wasn't right - whether that be scrolling down and seeing 'this is an alcohol free house', or a guy asking for £1 a month rent in exchange for two hours of 'housework' a day.

I can understand that some people may be living on the breadline and just having a roof over their heads is the main thing, but why so many of these sorts of properties available, on what appears to be perfectly reputable websites?

I'm also the first to admit that I'm a tad fussy when it comes to home comforts and living environments, but I'm not looking for student digs now. I have a decent job and am in my mid twenties. I need something - as my friend Shell and I always say - shit, but good. I realise the extent to what I can afford isn't going to get me The Crowne Plaza, so it's without hesitation that I look for an already existing shared house with all-inclusive bills and have little expectations when it comes to size and decor. It's also mostly about the people you live with, wanting to make new friends and share with people that aren't going to steal your laptop and iphone while you're out or asleep.

I suppose you never know what people are like until you meet them, but I've already had bad experiences. One texted me two minutes before I was due to view a property, with the line 'the room has gone', and didn't pick up the phone when I then tried to call him. The others - two girls around my age - who came from a great flat, old build, spacious, massive double room and all the added extras like Broadband, turned out to be two-faced. They were really enthusiastic when I met them, giving off those 'you're in' vibes, and telling me they'd phone me in the next couple of days to let me know if I'd got the room. Did I hear anything? No.

They say moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do in life, and it's up there with getting divorced. I thought this just applied when you're on the property ladder, buying your own place, but now I'm rethinking. Is it too much to ask to find somewhere liveable, sharing with like-minded young professionals?