Thing Of The Week – and yes, I know I’m late to the party – is this very nifty little product from Bourjois, the Magic Nail Polish Remover for Hands and Feet. Their “one second” remover for fingernails is already one of my all-time favourite beauty inventions – you just stick your finger into the pot, and the remover-soaked sponge dissolves your polish in mere seconds. (One second is somewhat optimistic, unless you are able to move your hands at superhuman speeds.) The new version is even more clever than the original:

Take off the lid and you have a neat, stubby sponge – again, pre-soaked in remover – that is perfect for swiping over toenails to remove remnants of old polish, or to give a nice clean base for new polish. Before I actually tried this little toenail-polish-removing sponge, the sceptic inside did whisper, for crying out loud! Can you not just soak a bit of cotton wool? Is that too much effort for you these days?

But I must say that I am a total convert. The remover works so fast that just a quick rub of the sponge does the trick and, if you’ve already done your fingernails (which for me is about 90% of the time – toenails are always an afterthought!) there’s no risk of getting remover on your new manicure and messing it all up. It’s just a brilliant, brilliant idea. And of course you still have the original function – poke your finger into the pot and the sponge will clean your fingernails of polish in less time than it takes to decide which colour you’re going to apply next. No scraps of cotton wool to get rid of, no risk of spillage, just stick the lid back on when you’ve finished and it’s all tidily packed away. Also (and this is a terrible thing to say, especially when you’re making an effort to try and do more exercise), you don’t need to bend down quite so far to touch your toes. The sponge-on-a-lid saves you about an inch and a half’s worth of stretching. Which is a lot when you’re tired/rushing/drunk/in a moving vehicle.

Definitely one to add to your home manicure/pedicure collection – in fact, I’d say that it’s probably the most useful and most-used thing in mine. ASOS have it on sale at the moment – £4.50 – you can add it to your shopping bag here. (ALSO, there’s a 70% sale on. If you didn’t see my post with the small-headed sunglasses, have a read here. They are well worth picking up!)