Here's myself and fellow journalist Merle Brown from Beauty Bombshells before our morbid makeovers at the Edinburgh Dungeon. Because usually a makeover results in you looking and feeling great but not in this case. Oh no. Thanks to the talents of performance team leader Kieran Wood, we were destined to look more gruesome than gorgeous.

The popular capital venue has recently had something of a rebranding. And this has extended right to the heart of the Edinburgh Dungeon experience- the makeup. Before actors at the favourite tourist erm..haunt..used non-branded stage makeup to create their gruesome characters.

Then in March 2013, Kieran and the Edinburgh Dungeon team turned a much more mainstream makeup brand for help: MAC. Kieran and performance manager Lyndsay Herbert took part in a MAC performance training course back in February this year. Alongside the MAC Pro Team was independent makeup artist Sam Norman. She has worked on box offices hits such as Pirates Of The Caribbean - On Stranger Tides and Snow White and The Huntsman. And the result is a much greater sense of realistic makeup. Kieran says,

Image via Tom Ford Beauty

Tom Ford's Summer 2013 makeup collection is the perfect piece of illusion equipment. Because as we inch our way towards summer this new collection creates sun-kissed skin without even relying on British summertime. Used altogether or individually the products is all about luminous, shimmery skin. Tom Ford himself says,

"I wanted to capture a very particular look of akin that is bathed in sunset light in the summer. It is a sultry and sublime glow. In this light, every woman looks irresistibly relaxed and sensual."

Don't believe me? Then see for yourself. I was invited along to the Tom Ford counter in Edinburgh's Harvey Nichols to test it out. Here's me before I got my glow on with the new collection. This picture probably ought to come with a Wizard of Oz 'I'm melting..I'm melting' warning but that's what makeup was invented for.

I've been invited along to this year's INAA Scottish Hair and Beauty Awards next Sunday - May 26th - at Glasgow's Hilton Hotel. The finalists, listed below, have been voted for by beauty fans across Scotland for the past few weeks. There's 19 categories including Best Hair Salon and Best Spa. But there's also the chance for specific beauty specialists to pick up awards such as Expert Makeup Artist and Expert Tanning Specialist. So to find out if you're favourite beauty expert made it onto the shortlist, check out the finalists below. And pop back next week to find out the winners:

Where would we be without our ghds? Because the company, which handily is an acronym for Good Hair Day, has given users just that since it launched in 2001. Back in the nineties, having good hair days weren't so easy to come by. Yes hair straighteners existed but I remember my own being about the size of a boat oar. And once they did eventually heat up, they more singed hair than straightened it. So no wonder when ghds were introduced - initially only in salons - we flocked to the alter of ghd. They were lightweight, they were compact and more importantly, they worked.

Now, the brand is so wide spread that, much like the hoover brand name became used to mean vacuuming, so people talk about their ghds in place of hair straighteners. And these nifty tools don't just straighten your hair, oh no. They can even be used to curl and flick hair too. They come in different colours and have raised over £2.5 million for Breakthrough breast cancer charity thanks to the sales of the brand's limited edition pink hair straighteners.

Over the years there have been different ghd models including ghd IV styler collection and the ghd Gold styler. But for the past few years, the best-selling brand has been working on the newest addition to the range: the ghd eclipse. And now the wait is over. Costing £195, these are the granddaddy of hair stylers.

ghd eclipse

Image via Essential Edinburgh

Line up beauty fans because the FREE beauty event Spa in the City is coming back to Edinburgh for the sixth year. Organised by Essential Edinburgh it’s a chance for you to get pampered and preened for absolutely nothing. That’s right, zilch, nada, not one penny.

Set amidst Edinburgh’s swanky Quartermile area is a girlie hang-out where you’ll find yourself pondering beauty treatments or fun sounding work-outs. Because in amongst all those posh looking glass flats is the newly formed beauty and fitness pairing of Fitness Chicks and Wo:mankind.

Both businesses have been in Edinburgh for a number of years with Wo:mankind a familiar face on the capital’s beauty scene with its popular Stockbridge salon. Owned by mum and daughter team, Sue and Lauren McCanny, the busy beauty salon is adding to the Wo:mankind family with a new branch within the already established Fitness Chicks venue.

The girlie gym, set up by friends Sarah Munro and Laura Westwater, opened in the area in August 2012 and offers a busy gym schedule. Aside from the usual sounding classes, it also offers tantalising gym treats such as Pole and Irish Dancing. And working alongside each other, it seems like the perfect business partnership. Wo:mankind co-owner, Lauren McCanny says,

In a bright, airy room just off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile I’m experiencing cupping. My nerves have subsided because the pain-free procedure has produced an almost trance like effect on me. There is a slight pull on the skin as the cups are applied to my back. But beyond that the sensation is calming and relaxing and I can see why millions of people are fans of this ancient treatment including some well-known faces.

Image via Superior Pics

Stobo's Outdoor Hot Tub at night - image via Stobo

It’s minus two out here and there’s snow on the hills but it’s barely noticeable to me in my bikini. In fact, I'm positively balmy thanks to the tropical waters of Stobo Castle’s Outdoor Hot Tub. Perhaps the unseasonably chilly air has scared off other guests as the huge tub, which looks like it could fit a football squad, is empty bar two of us. Or perhaps they're just taking in some of the other great spa facilities on offer at Stobo.

Phones ringing, texts bleeping, email pinging, facebook updates, sometimes getting heard amidst the din can be tricky right? But what if sound could be used in a therapeutic sense to relax you? It might sound vaguely hippy to some but British brand Lush is doing just that with its Sound Bath spa treatment.

The Lush Spa Treatment - The Sound Bath (Image via Lush)

I was invited along to the recently opened Lush Spa in Edinburgh (the only one currently in Scotland) to experience this interesting sounding treatment. A while back I had visited the spa and was blown away by the awesome The Good Hour, so I was intrigued to see what the Sound Bath offered. My therapist, Elise McKenna says,