Former Miss World, actress and television host Diana Hayden was in town on Friday to launch her book, A Beautiful Truth: The Art of Grooming for Women.

Her first stop was an interactive session at Rohit Bal’s signature restaurant Veda on Park Street, organised by Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO), which saw a full house with over 150 members turning up.

The energy was palpably high amongst the women, with much crowding and jostling, and some ladies even perching themselves on tabletops to get a better view of the beauty queen. She covered a range of topics — posture, body language, make-up and more. The book, she said “is a result of two-and-a-half years of research.” “I closed myself off from friends, gave up all my private time and even turned away work,” she added.

The PYTs were scribbling furious notes throughout as Diana went on to dispense quick tips — never pair heavy eye make-up with bright lip colour, throw back your shoulders and stand straight to command attention, never offer a limp handshake.... And to think it took her two-and-a-half years of research to know this!

Being a talk on grooming, the painfully sensitive subject of facial hair was touched upon, with a lot of discreet face-touching amongst the audience trying to locate the insidious face fuzz making a bid for freedom. There was a section on diet too and Diana repeated the much-heard adage ‘breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.’ However, she said nothing about snacking, so the canapes served after the talk flew fast, with some not-so-discreet inquiries from members, “bas itna hi hai?”

The second stop was at Starmark, South City Mall. If the women pumped up the energy levels at Veda, the kids ruled the floor at Starmark, with one young man even snatching his mother’s cellphone to march up to the chair and snap a perfect pose of Diana, which she gracefully obliged with.

The talks, conducted by painter, choreographer and ex-model Pinky Kenworthy also included a short book-reading session by Diana. The tips that followed included pearls of never-heard wisdom like baby oil is a good make-up remover! And though Pinky tried to valiantly coax Diana into explaining what exactly she meant when she said one must match one’s foundation shade to “skin undertone”, all that emerged was it is the hue beneath the skin that is a shade different from your apparent complexion. Good luck finding it!

The evening concluded as it was suggested to Diana that she write a book about grooming for men, a suggestion that found much approval from the women. Yeah, you metrosexual men, throw back your shoulders and never offer a limp handshake — before this beauty queen disappears again for two-and-a-half years to tell you just that!