How To Be Beautiful: Scrub up nice

Exfoliation is just about the only thing you can do to feel instantly better about the state of your physical being.

At this time of year, when you're no longer festively throwing caution to the wind, but desperately trying to refocus the long view, this kind of instantaneity is particularly welcome. But frankly, the transformative powers of a bathtime scrub-up, softening and smoothing dull dry skin in mere minutes, are always pretty satisfying to witness.

It's for this reason that exfoliation is the beauty equivalent of crack. Once you start, you just want to do it all the time. Fortunately, most of the skin on your body can take more frequent and more vigorous polishing than that on your face, although after a certain point the benefits tail off, so save your quality products and limit yourself to a couple of times a week. That way you're unlikely to find yourself on your knees desperately seeking pennies for another scrub any time soon.