When they’re not brightening up London with splashes of neon and the orange hair of their achingly cool artist in resident, they’re running workshops on everything from studio sound engineering for women to welding. We’re hooked.

This week the Glossy team put products to the test that deal with the not so glossy issue of dry feet. Read more: Get The Gloss.

Mind your language

Our speech is a very powerful tool. The words and language that we use all go towards creating our self image, how others perceive us and even the life that we design for ourselves. If you frequently use language such as ‘I’m afraid that I won’t be able to …’, ‘I worry that….’, ‘The problem is…’, stop and think about the effect this is having on you. Using negative language becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and amplifies any anxiety you’re already experiencing.

Visualise a good result

Our mind can’t differentiate between what is real and what isn’t and so visualisation is a great way of turning an anxious feeling about a situation, in to a more positive one. Take a scenario that you are worrying about and visualise a great outcome. What happens, what does it look like, what does it feel like? This helps with some brain re-wiring and encourages a habit of expecting a positive outcome rather than a negative one. After all, a lot of the time, it’s a 50-50 chance!

Pick a role model

We all know that someone who seems to have a particular way of dealing with life that seems so easy and seamless. If we look at how they behave, the language they use, their attitudes, their body language, they can be great role models and give us ideas for how we can approach our issues differently. How are they dealing with their challenges? Practice being someone else for a little while.

Write it down

Whenever you are feeling overwhelmed by too much thinking and internal chatter, get a piece of paper and write down all the worries in your mind. Write down anything and everything that’s coming up. Then throw the piece of the paper away. If you want to add a bit of ritual to it, you can burn it or throw it in a river or canal. You’ll be surprised at how much this helps clear your mind.

Be your own cheerleader

Often over-worrying starts from a place of lack of confidence or some insecurity. Reminding ourselves that we can cope and that we have some great personal qualities helps build confidence and a reminder that we can deal with what life throws at us. Make a daily list of all your little achievements and you’ll start to feel a sense of empowerment. Whatever was causing you some anxiety now starts to feel less of a challenge.

In New York City, Antonia Opiah (founder of Un’ruly), extended an open invitation to all curious passers-by for an exhibition called “You Can Touch My Hair.” Opiah was exploring the “tactile fascination” with black women’s hair by gathering a trio of women with different hair textures and styles (locks, straight/weave and loose, natural hair) and allowing strangers the opportunity to fondle their follicles. Bedecked with signs reading “You can touch my hair,” the ladies made their hair available for two hours to anyone with the courage to take them up on the offer. Read more: Huffington Post.

Dirty Dog

3 oz. Bulldog Gin
1/2 oz. olive juice
3 olives

Shake all ingredients together. Serve in a martini glass, and garnish with olives. Best savoured pre-dinner with a few salted almonds.

Bulldog Mojito

2 oz. Bulldog Gin
1 oz.  simple syrup (made with sweetener)
3 sprigs chopped fresh mint 
Soda water
2 lime slices

Muddle mint and lime slices. Shake with gin, simple syrup and ice, then pour into a tall glass and top up with soda water.

British Mule

2 oz. Bulldog iin
1 oz. fresh lime juice
4 oz. diet ginger beer

Combine gin and ginger beer over a tumbler of ice. Stir until sufficiently chilled. If  desired, add a splash of fresh lime juice. Garnish with lime.

You should visit Accra because… the people are warm and welcoming, the weather is hot and the culture is rich. One of the most fascinating aspects of the city currently is the stark contrast between the swiftly developing centre and the poverty-stricken periphery. It’s not unusual to see a modern building adjacent to a slum.

The best thing about Accra is… that it’s possible to have both a family life and a work life and be successful in both. It’s a place where you can still enjoy the simple things in life, unlike in more developed countries where there is a faster pace that often revolves around materialistic choices.

The worst thing about Accra is… the traffic, at any time of the day.

Ghanaians are… a very nice, laid back, friendly and happy people.

My favourite spot is… The waterfalls in Hohoe.

My favourite shops are… My shop, La Maison, where you will find an inspiring and curated collection of eclectic interior furniture and accessories; Wild Gecko for local arts and crafts; Suntrade for local beads; and Glover Gallery for Ghanaian art. While there look out for paintings from Professor Glover himself, Eklou, Larry Otoo and many other great painters, sculptures and also antique fabrics (Kente cloth).

When you’re in Accra be sure to try… Tante Marie for a taste of local food.

My favourite place to eat is… Santoku. It is Ghana’s coolest new restaurant, which is one of the few places to serve up contemporary Japanese fare in West Africa.

Start your night out… With a drink at the bar at Santoku, where they serve champagne by the glass – it’s definitely not what you would normally find in Ghana.

The best parties take place at… Labadi Beach.

Accra’s fashion scene is… all about a fabric company called Vlisco. Colourful fabrics are key to African style and culture. On a trip to Ghana, an African print dress makes the perfect souvenir.

The most overrated sight in the city is… Independence Square.

But you definitely shouldn’t miss… There are so many unique sights in Accra – and Ghana as a whole – but my favourites are the Akosombo Dam, Lake Volta, which is the world’s largest artificial lake, and the Ada and Kakum National Parks.

To experience the city like a local… Drive around in a trotro (local taxi bus), and visit Kokrobitey village.

Something you won’t find anywhere else… are the endless stretches of the beaches of Cape Coast, which are flanked by coconut trees. For me these sights represent pure Africa.

Take home some… Arty crafts from Wild Gecko, African fabric from Woodin, and Cape Coast’s pineapples and fresh lobsters.

If you’d rather walk on broken glass than work a room, you’re not alone: ‘How to network’ gets a whopping six million Google searches per month. But it’s easier than you think. We asked the experts – from business tycoons to bloggers – to share their networking tips on how to shake the shyness and get ahead. Read more: Easy Living.

If in doubt, set up a panel

It seems Mr Cameron plans to fight gender equality with a complex network of panels and councils. When the government is bamboozled by issues that they can’t solve/don’t understand /don’t really care about, Cameron sticks a group of women in a room for an hour and hopes they come up with something.

Launch a report

If you are confused by the purpose of the panel, see the 30-page report. That will definitely make things clearer.

Forget to invite any men

In conversations that were essentially about equality, there was a distinct lack of men on both occasions. And whilst both panels had a token man, superwomen CEO and founder of 30% Club, Helena Morrissey, asked the WBC where all the men were? “Er, they were invited”. Hmm.

Be completely unclear about what you actually intend to do

Grand declarations of ‘changing the culture’ and ‘giving girls opportunity’ were repeatedly thrown about. What panels plan on actively doing when not at the panel, well that wasn’t so clear.

Forget to confer with the people you seek to represent

While we all discussed the pressure 15-year-old girls face, there wasn’t a single high-schooler in sight. Just an idea…

Avoid using the F-word

Prohibit access of violent porn to young men? Encourage girls to feel good about their bodies? Help women back to work after having a baby? I *think* it’s called Feminism.

Remark “how far we’ve already come”

Yes, Maria Miller, fortunately we have come a long way from the days of Suffragettes, but with a 25 year high in female unemployment, fewer women in the cabinet and slashes to services that affect women, it’s not the time to start patting yourself on the back.

But although the lead characters experience ‘senses’ about the future, this isn’t a work of science fiction, nor, really, is it about whether the extraordinary can occur, much less in the 21st century Mid West. It’s about sisters – hence the title of Sisterland – twins, in fact, who have and still do share so much and yet live their lives along totally different lines. Kate has chosen the conventional path and her resentment at her more quirky sibling’s intrusion on that normality is believable. Her desire, for example, to ensure that Vi does not embarrass herself – at least with what she wears – when she goes on national television to discuss her earthquake prediction, is understandable, and does not make her the villain of the plot. The joy in Sittenfeld’s characterisation, both here and in her previous novels, is that her protagonists sometimes fall short, yet manage to remain both sympathetic and engaging. Kate is conflicted, between her cynical scientist husband – and a disparaging academic community – and her awareness that her twin is not simply an attention-seeker. As the predicted disaster date draws nearer, reconciling this becomes ever more challenging.

This is Sittenfeld’s first book since 2008, and she doesn’t disappoint. Fans of her previous novels (the brilliant acerbic account of boarding school life that was Prep, and the thinly-veiled Laura Bush biography, American Wife) will see that she has matured as a writer (and, as a mother herself, now has different experience on which to draw) but has not lost her ability to set the scene and develop a gripping plot.

Sisterland is hard to categorise; it’s about family and relationships, but also takes a challenging look at modern America and its struggles with racism and abortion. It’s an intensely clever premise, and one that provides the author with a launching-off point to look candidly at the sacrifices and loyalties of family and marriage. Overall, it’s an intelligent, well-crafted and unputdownable read, and one that leaves you guessing until the very end.

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld is available to buy online here.