Ok, you've read how to pluck your eyebrows and apply fake lashes (or you haven't and intend to skip those parts) and now you're ready to create a great face, for work or for evening...actually, this little "recipe" will be great for either...it's a very polished look for work, but not overdone, and if you re-powder your face and use darker colors of eyeshadow, and perhaps add the fake lashes, you have a stylish, clean polished evening look as well. This has been tested by me for years, and I promise it goes quickly.

Let's begin! Assemble your tools, ladies!

1. Moisturizer (preferably with suncreen included, tho you can always mix some in)
2. concealer
3. base/foundation
4. sponges if you use them
5. brush for powder
6. loose powder
7. a compact of pressed powder
8. eyeliner
9. fake eyelashes if you want to use them
10. 2 shades of eyeshadow that go well together, one light, one darker
11. eyelash curler
12. mascara
13. old toothbrush
14. hairspray
15. lip liner
16. pencil sharpener
17. lipstick

Now that you're all ready, let's hit the mirrors!

• Wash your face
  
  
• Apply moisturizer
  
  
• Apply concealer on anything red...and also on lips and all around eyes, including that little area to either side of your nose.
  
  
• Apply foundation/base. Put it everywhere you usually put it (if you're a forehead woman, go for it...I'm not) and also everywhere you just put concealer. Make sure it is blended very well at the jawline. You do NOT want any hint of a line of demarcation there! Use sponges if you use em...I use the middle and "useless" finger of my hands...Mary Kay teaches this...they don't apply much pressure, those fingers, and it's harder to be heavy-handed on the makeup when you use them.
  
  
• Using a big, fluffy brush, dip into the loose powder and tap against the rim of the container till the excess is off. Brush all over your face, even where you haven't applied foundation. Do this until nothing feels "sticky" from the foundation.
  
  
• Go over this with the powder in your compact. Your face will now be "set." Don't forget all around your eyes and your lips.
  
  
• If you're using fake eyelashes, now's the time. Apply them now.
  
  
• Grab your eyeliner of choice, (I use black liquid) and, right at the last little bit of eyelid, just before it hits the lash line, draw a steady line, about 2 millimeters thick. Take it from the inner-most corner of your eye to the outer-most corner on the top lid. On the bottom lid, take it from the outer-most corner (it's not necessary to connect it to the end of the top line) and, tapering as you go, take it to the middle of the bottom lid and end it. You don't want to ring your eyes completely.
  
  
• Take the eyelash curler and slipping your top lashes between the pads, slide it up as far toward the base of your lash line as you can...careful, I've accidentally caught skin more times than I can count. Although to be fair, it's usually when I'm overcaffeinated. Close the pads on the lashes and hold to a count of ten, then let go. Top lashes only, of course.
  
  
• Now you're ready for mascara. Pull the wand out of the bottle and scrape any excess gloppies off onto the rim of the tube. Do long straight sweeps, from base of lash to tip, until each lash, top and bottom, has one coat.
  
  
• Take the darker of the two shades of eye shadow, and sweep it over your eyelid, the lid part and just a bit up onto the browbone. Use the lighter shade to cover the browbone. Then, smudge the part where they meet at the browbone, til it looks blended.
  
  
• Repeat the mascara step. Now you're done with the mascara, after the second coat.
  
  
• Take the old toothbrush, lightly spray some hair spray on it, and sweep your brows upward, then use it to gently push them downward again where you want them. You can also use clear mascara to define them and set them where you want them.
  
  
• Unfortunately, since I don't use blush, and haven't in years, you're on your own with the blush.
  
  
• Sharpen your lip liner pencil to a good thin point, and trace the exact shape of your lips with it. I have to do little lines; if I try to make one continuous line, I often screw up. :)
  
  
• Using your fingers, take the line you just drew and smudge the liner carefully downward onto your lips. This will give you a precise line that fades inward onto your lips.
  
  
• Now you're ready to apply your lipstick normally over it.Remember, for evening, use a more dramatic shade than for daytime. And generally speaking, you should pick one feature, eyes or lips, to accentuate. If you created smoky, very stand-out eyes, then you shouldn't use a show-stopping lipstick, and if you went kind of light on the eyes, then you should pull out all the stops for the lips.
  
  
• You're done!The look should be your normal face, but with a higher degree of polish and precision.