Traditionally London fashion week is where the kids come out to play. Creativity and exuberance have fuelled London's reputation as the place where eclectic style flourishes and the avant-garde have a cup of tea with the eccentric. However this season, London is trying on grown-up for size and the hair and beauty looks reflected this new adult mood.  Perhaps it's not cool to be hair fiddling whilst the euro is burning so the double-dip recessionista is packing away her statement looks and will be wearing her polished and sultry face next season.

There was a distinct lack of colour and the word on the make-up artists' minds seemed to be tonal. Cheeks were contoured, eyes shaded and lips muted. It was all about emphasising face structure and not colour. Limiting themselves to a neutral palette, the make-up artists used different ways to highlight key features. At Felder Felder, make-up artist Georgina Graham created a shiny glossy eye by pressing a shimmery pigment into the lids and at J.JS Lee the key-make-up artist Terry Barber put a 50s eye through an x-ray machine painting on a white cat eyeliner on the models faces but anchored with strong black lashes to avoid an alien look.

Drama on eyes without colour was seen through a variety of smokey looks ranging from the softest grey haze at Burberry through to petrol toned dark lids at Paul Smith where Petros Petrohilos used a dark blue shimmery pencil to shade in the entire eye. Bypassing the eyelids entirely the look at McQ showed a deeply shaded crease and inner corner of the eye for a severe sculpted look which made the models look like frowning statues. Overall the London look next season requires a product list more about skin care and textured products to create dimension, shine, shadow and tones. Blusher has taken the season off.

For hair the natural soft looks dominated. The girls at Christopher Kane looked like they had styled themselves, with natural textured loose hair worn centre-parted for the ultimate youthful natural look although those without naturally gorgeous youthful hair can fake it with a hairdryer and texturising spray. If all else fails backcomb like mad and push it into a low ponytail for an easy versatile style as shown at House of Holland and Paul Smith.

If all this sounds too safe and monotone for the vibrant of heart, take comfort in the nails which rebelled against the pared down make-up at House of Holland. Sophy Robson took the houndstooth pattern from the collection and created a custom transfer to finish the nails in either a mid-tone blue or pink. All bets were off at Meadham Kirchoff where strokes of bright colour were used to paint on the vital lines on the girls' faces for Picasso beauties that had stepped out of the canvas. The rainbow explosion provided an alternative for those whose war paint needs to make a colourful point.

2012 will be the year of "higher maintenance" for my beauty regime ...or rather, lack of. I tend to stick to the routine of cleanse, tone and moisturise. When I'm feeling really daring mascara and a red lip is as much as I can handle (although I did badger Kay Montano to teach me some new looks. Check out my Rio Glow, Doll Face and Red Line)

To kick off the new year and my new beauty resolution, I needed a clean slate, a perfect glowing blank canvas, all the better to experiment with colour and textures. That's what led me to the sanctum of Vaishaly's salon. I'd passed the discreet entrance off Marylebone High Street many a time, noticing over the years how it went from one door to two. Mental Note 1: Something good must be going on inside for her to expand in such a short period of time.

I booked an appointment with Vaishaly herself and she came to greet me at reception with the kind of glowing unlined covetable skin her reputation would lead you to expect; a reassuring sign of what I hoped I would emerge with. Despite her rapidly expanding empire she makes time to perform facials herself. Her business is tightly run to ensure the highest quality and consistency; she very carefully picks her small team of facialists who perform her signature facial on Vaishaly herself so that she can assess their hands and technique to ensure they are up to her standards.

The facial consisted of around four or five stages: I'm afraid that I fell asleep at one point so my recollection is a little bit woozy. There's, deep-cleansing, extraction, micro-dermabrasion (with what I can only describe as a baby vacuum cleaner for your face - terrifying yet satisfying when you see all the dead skin cells she's managed to suck off), a massage and then closing of the pores using a high-frequency tool that has the added benefit of killing any unwanted bacteria in the skin. All very sophisticated and high-tech but the most heavenly part is Vaishaly's facial massage which lulls you into the deepest state of relaxation, nudging all those tense muscles to let go and give in to absolute serenity. Reluctantly waking up and having to face the world I decided to arm myself with a potion. I'm a recent convert to facial oils as moisturisers and left with the Night Nourisher from Vaishaly's own carefully developed range of beauty products.

At £450 with Vaishaly and the Vaishaly Signature Facial £120 with her team of experts, it is an investment but a highly worthwhile, effective and above all a pleasurable one that will leave your skin looking amazing, radiant and smoother for a good four-six months.

Fancy making your own candle this year? Candle chandlery, Rachel Vosper of London is offering candle making classes through January and February for a little glow in the mistier of winter months...

If you'd rather a candle already wicked and ready to go, those by Rachel range from £26 to £50, and the vessels can be refilled at the store with a fragrance of your choice - a good investment and pretty eco-friendly too. Launching in February, the 'Candle Bar' will allow us all to choose a container and then pick a candle from the fragranced candle bar to create their own bespoke product. So the store on Kinnerton Street is a hot ticket for 2012. Check www.RachelVosper.com for details.

Text: Grace Timothy