Four things polished girls never do

I’ve never been a polished girl. You know, one of those heavenly creatures who manages to look pristine no matter what the situation – after the gym, at the end of a night out, just casually doing the shopping in Woolies. The kind of girl I imagine Emily Blunt to be: not a hair out of place or a scuffed heel to be seen. Ever.

Currently I’m sporting a two-week old chipped toenail paint job (with the polish removed from my two big toes from when I was testing out colours last week), fingernails that are all different lengths, and a serious case of bedhead that I didn’t quite have time to tame.

Yeah, I know, something’s got to change. But I don’t think it’s big changes that are needed here – nor a big budget to blow on manicures and blow-drys. I’ve been observing polished girls, you see, and I think I’ve managed to acquire some of their secrets. Their immaculate, well-presented demeanour is all down to paying attention to the small-but-important details that finish off a look, and setting a little time aside to keep these things in check.

In order for me to learn something from these well-put-together darlings, I’ve compiled a list of the things polished girls never ever do.

1) Have chipped, uneven fingernails. If a nail breaks, they take it as a sign it’s time to chop them all; if their polish chips, they either get rid of it all or switch it up for another colour. Tip: keep a nail file like Cutex Crystal Gloss Nail File and some nail polish remover pads such as Swisspers Nail Polish Remover Pads in your handbag for emergencies. Shorter, polish-free nails have got to be better than raggedy, messy ones, right?

2) Let their hair get to that day-after-the-day-it-needed-to-be-washed stage. Or, if they do, you would never, ever know it. My guess is polished girls don’t do lie-ins on hairwash days. If for some reason they don’t have time to shampoo greasy tresses, they have a go-to failsafe updo and they always have a good dry shampoo such as De Lorenzo Essential Treatments Absorb Dry Shampoo on hand to disguise any oiliness. Tip: a Scunci Bun Maker is one of the easiest ways to give yourself a chic-looking style without spending hours on it.

3) Walk like they stole their shoes from their mum. Yup, polished girls were born to wear heels. Or so it seems. They appear to have the ability to pound city streets, Carrie Bradshaw-style, with three inches of sexiness strapped to their soles without so much as a grimace of pain. But it’s all an illusion. What you don’t see it that they’ve got some cute fold-up ballet flats tucked in their bag ready to be worn when the night is over. And they’ve also employed the aid of some super-secret foot-helpers such as Compeed Blister Patches, which to not only help heal and protect your feet when you have blisters, but also to prevent them.

4) Have a smudged eye, a two-tone foundation jawline or a lipstick-splodged tooth in sight. These girls look in the mirror regularly during the day (under different lighting conditions). To make sure their foundation matches their skin and that their eye make-up has stayed on their eyes. Don’t be afraid to keep a compact mirror handy to check on your make-up throughout the day. When I see a polished girl checking her reflection in public, I never think, ‘oh, she’s vain’. In the back of my mind I’m always saying, ‘ahh, so that’s why she looks so good’.

Do you envy polished girls? Do you pay attention to the finishing touches of your look? What are your tips for looking pristine and flawless?