What vibrates, needs to be added to your life this second, but won’t be found in an episode of Sex And The City?

The day after a shoot is always hectic – to say the least. Once we unpack the trunks and sort out what clothes and accessories have been shot, the returns begin.

Have you ever seen girls walking down Castlereagh Street in Sydney with arms full of designer shopping bags? Well then you’ve probably spotted some of Grazia’s fashion interns completing the one of many walk backs that they are subjected to before and after every big shoot.

Another routine part of the day after is what I like to call the scavenger hunt.
Anouk and Peter, our market and accessories editors, swoop on the racks and shelves of unused clothes and accessories, hunting for fabulous things they can use on their shopping pages.
“Ooooooohhhhhh,” Anouk exclaims. “This is fab,” shouts Pete – ah, that’s what I like to hear, the sounds of a successful hunt.

The Grazia fashion department are always on the hunt for the most fabulous pieces of the moment, so much so that it has become a bit of an obsession.

When our contributing stylists come in they are always unpleasantly surprised to find that almost everything they have pulled we have already shot, but such is the world of Grazia…fast fashion at its speediest and best.

Grazia’s fashion interns: Amanda and Alice.

There are some masks that make you look better immediately. But I recently tried one that makes me look like a swamp monster. Seriously, like I’d fallen face first into a puddle of bright green pond gunk.

So why would I plaster it - Pangea Organic’s Japanese Matcha Tea with Acai & Goji Berry face mask ($49.95, 02 91304556) - on my face? Well, it’s from one of my (and Gwyneth’s) fav organic brands so there was an element of trust. It sounds a lot like you could eat it. And, most importantly, it promised an impressive list of benefits: deep cleansing, exfoliation, new tone, regeneration, wrinkle prevention…and the list went on.

Did it deliver? Well, after 15 minutes my skin was baby soft, smooth, and uber-clean (no more oily patches). And I’ve now made it part of my weekly pampering ritual - I’ve just taken to warning housemates before I enter a room with it on, so they don’t scream and attack me.

Big question: do I love it as much as my Dermalogica Age Smart Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque ($71, 1800 659 118)? Dermalogica does make my skin plumper, dewier, with an “I’ve just had a facial” glow. They say to leave it on for 20 minutes, but I never do. My trick is to leave it until it’s soaked all the way in and there’s nothing to wash off. In fact, I often apply just a super thin layer and put foundation straight over the top. It’s the perfect base for creating subtle, lit-from-within radiant skin.

I’ve also been “getting swamped” here at work. Different context, but terrifying all the same. We have been literally inundated with Christmas gift packs these past few weeks, to the point where sometimes it’s difficult to find Tracey behind all the boxes and bags. This is on top of all the usual product we receive, mind you. One day last week I spent four hours in one day, yes four, just calling and emailing companies to find out when their product was being released. Tracey and Lucinda refuse to let me go home unless everything’s put away and filed in chronological order. All I want for Christmas is for PRs to put the exact launch date on their press releases. So I can go home. Is that really so much to ask, Santa?

My beauty must-have is perhaps a little out of the ordinary. I love plenty of the obvious ones – YSL Touche Eclat, Clarin’s Beauty Flash Balm – but there’s one that I’m addicted to more than any other. It’s the simple eyebrow pencil.

I am on an eternal quest for perfect eyebrows (and it pains me to admit that, because now my friends and colleagues will scrutinise them, and they’re not ready for that). I’ve been growing them back for months (I had an over-enthusiastic waxer), but they’re still gappy and barely there without a little help. You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone! Eyebrows really do frame your face, and bad eyebrows will undermine a perfect makeup look every time. I have used mascara on desperate occasions (not ideal but it does the trick), and once I backtracked half an hour home to get the left-behind pencil. Vain? Yes, (slightly) guilty as charged.

Just as I had finished writing this, a bag of Benefit’s best-selling brow beautifiers arrived in the beauty department. I took them home to try, and it truly is love at first sight. The Instant Brow Pencil in light to medium ($38, 02 8353 5000) has a powdery texture, glides on, and is EXACTLY THE SAME COLOUR AS MY EYEBROWS. Can you tell I’m excited?

Feel free to share your wacky beauty must-haves in our comments section below. Random, mystical delivery of favourite product not guaranteed.

P.S. Somehow, in amongst consuming half my body weight in sugar (macaroons, fairy floss, lamingtons –it’s a regular food fair here) each time I’m in the Grazia office, I’ve found time to discover a fab new lipstick. I don’t normally wear nude colours – I either go gloss or for a full-on red or berry shade – but Clarin’s new Joli Rouge lipstick in Rose Sorbet ($40, 02 9663 4277) has me converted. It’s really close to your natural lip colour, so brightens your face without looking like you’re wearing much at all. I used it on Saturday and two of my girlfriends loved it so much they spent all night borrowing it.

This week a pair of fabulous navy blue Lanvin platforms landed in our fashion cupboard and my dangerous obsession began. When Anouk, our shopping editor, received a package from Christine Boutique in Melbourne, and opened the box to reveal the navy blue perfection that are Lanvin’s platforms with a fab straw bow, my jaw dropped and I was instantly in love. This pair of Lanvin beauties kept me very distracted all week and posed a definite threat to my bank account, it took a lot of strength and self-control not to call up Christine Boutique immediately or jump on the net to buy myself a pair of these perfect shoes. By the end of the week the whole fashion team had tried to convince me of the pros and cons, but I’m sadly informing you all that I did not attack my poor bank account and selfishly indulge (which is very unlike me and a bit too sensible). But who knows, there is still next week to obsess and maybe then my savings won't be so safe…

The other day, it was my job to look after a patch of grass. To watch over it, spritz it with water (chilled, filtered water, no less), make sure it wasn't too hot or cold and that it had enough direct sunlight.

It wasn't part of some strange intern initiation test. We were shooting a patch of wheatgrass for a beauty story and it had been picked up the night before to ensure it looked its freshest. When the shoot was unexpectedly pushed back a day, the wellbeing of the grass became a top priority. If it started to wither and fade or, god forbid, died entirely, the shoot was doomed. Our search for a sunny resting place took us across the road — cue me at the traffic lights, cradling said patch of grass, receiving some very strange looks from passers-by.

Just like my wheatgrass baby, I also happen to function better under optimum sunlight. Winter, to put it bluntly, leaves me looking a corpse. Luckily, Lancôme's new Sensual Bronzing Powder ($78, 02 9931 8888) is here, which means hello to subtly sunkissed skin. I'm getting rid of winter early and faking the first signs of spring.

P.S. I'm happy to admit that my tan isn't real, but I have another, not-so-eager confession. I've been merrily blaming my ghd for my deficiencies in the sleek hair department, but beauty director Lucinda's 'Giving it to you straight' article (in the latest issue) has put me in my place. I've had my technique all wrong. And not just slightly, but literally completely-the-opposite-to-the-right-way wrong. Ah well, better late than never!

I am, as our fashion intern Ashleigh sometimes calls me, the "returns lady", or on a more professional note, Grazia’s merchandise manager. To give you some sort of insight into what it’s really like inside the Grazia cupboard, I'll start by saying that it's hard not to go completely insane.

It’s pretty intense and all a bit surreal. I'm completely overwhelmed by the abundance of amazing pieces from incredible international designers like Balenciaga, Marni and Hermès, plus the local talent of Zimmermann, silence is golden and camilla and marc. Then when I adjust to the surroundings, I suddenly realise all these fabulous pieces also all need to be returned...

This week it was me vs. the accessories. No matter how many of them I sent back, they just kept on piling up, but by the middle of the week I could finally see the floor again. It was an amazing feeling — until I realised that Mark Vassallo, our fashion director, was shooting that day. Soon the fashion cupboard would return to its natural buzzing state and the returns would continue...

But believe it or not, for those couple of hours, the cupboard was a beautiful place! I just sat back and admired my newly ordered world.

I am, among other things, the Grazia beauty team's organisational monkey (aka "intern"). Lucinda and Tracey like me because I like labels. Not the designer variety (though I like them too) - little labels with words on them, which I have stuck on absolutely everything in the beauty department. When you're working on a weekly, you have to be able to find things quickly.