Celeste from Perth, asks:

‘Jane, I like to keep my nails short but I also love painting them.  How can I make my nails look longer without actually having to grow them?’

If you want your nails to look longer than they are, a neat trick is to make sure you leave a small gap on the sides of your nails unpainted.  I usually leave about 1mm on each side. 

A secondary, but super, benefit of leaving this space is that your nails won’t look untidy if you have accidentally slopped some laquer on your skin.  You will end up with a cleaner finish.