I've been a fan of simple makeup and haven't learned the real GLAM stuff well enough to use it except on occasions where I have an hour or more to use for the application.

You need to remember I'm approaching 60 years of age... and don't want to try to look like Cindy Crawford -- Cheryl Tiegs would be OK, though, if we could just do something with her blonde hair!

Makeup tends to be simple, as I said above.

1. Get rid of hairs in unwanted places -- shave well, and trim or pluck eyebrows.

2. Concealer on blemishes and dark spots... I've tried this before and after the foundation, and these days I use a light concealer in a few spots before I apply foundation overall. Cover Girl makes the concealer I use currently.

   Blend these spots a little, and wait for them to set before proceeding with the foundation.

3. I use one of two foundations, each in one of two colors -- a summer color that's one shade darker than the winter color. In both cases, the colors were chosen to match natural skin tones.

   Cover Girl Clean liquid makeup is one choice, and the other is Merle Norman (this is in a large compact. I apply the CG product with finger tip, but the MN product gets the dry makeup sponge application.

   I apply the chosen foundation over my entire face, including nose, cheeks, eyelids, and even a bit on the outer edge of my lips... and I blend it outward into my natural hairline. I know my wig would cover part of this, but you have to avoid a line where the foundation ends... best to blend it.

   After another few minutes for the foundation to set, I apply a matching "translucent" powder to firmly set the foundation.

4. Eyes need shadow, and for daywear, it's a bit of Merle Norman shadows in a brown and a tan shade. I'm still working on this. Lighter shade on the lid, and the darker up to the brows. Sometimes I do a blue or green shade... but you won't see me out shopping like that. Mascara is one of several -- Voluminous by somebody is my favorite, in black. Eyebrows and eyeliner are usually the same medium brown pencil from Merle Norman.

5. Lips get lipstick... I haven't gotten into the lipliner application yet... but think it might help add more fullness to their appearance.

   In my Glamour Shots portraits, the artist used a matching (or maybe a shade darker) lip liner before brushing on the lip color.

6. I want to highlight my cheekbones, and make my cheeks appear thinner, so I use a bit of a darker blush (also Merle Norman, and it's something of a Dusty Rose color) applied below the cheekbones, and blended back into the hairline above the ears.

7. Nails -- I always can be seen with at least clear polish on my fingernails... but a color that matches something else (lips, skirt, ...) sometimes seems to look good to me. The red turtleneck and the red skirt you see in some of the pictures at my site seem to match "Revlon Red", which is a unique red shade of theirs.

Obviously, I have a fair amount of Merle Norman cosmetics in my bag... One day I called the local Merle Norman shop, introduced my self and asked about makeup color selection and application help. I was promptly invited over to the shop.

I was asked about the look I wanted -- serious, comic, glamour, day or evening... My answer was that I wanted to look "normal" and was not intending a parody or anything like that, and that I wanted to work on day styles before moving on to the more glamourous or elegant evening look.

The Merle Norman approach is to sit the customer in front of a mirror and for their consultant to show you how to apply the product on just one half of your face. Then, you do the second half yourself, with their supervision. This worked for me, but I'm sure my eye wasn't as good as the one the consultant did.

In addition, I've found the cosmetics at Wal-Mart or Target stores... (Cover Girl, Revlon) to be just as good as those at department stores... but you sometimes have to ask a customer for help! I've done this, and gotten good advice. Maybe I've even helped plant a seed or two in the minds of other women this way.

If you're shy about sitting at a cosmetic counter applying makeup with other staff (and possibly other customers) around, you might want to discuss this before you go in. Also, the consultants may want to set an appointment for you -- and this can be a mutually agreeable time, but it's up to you and the consultant as to your circumstances.

In my case, other customers, a couple women and one man, plus the UPS guy in his cute shorts came and went and kibitzed and reviewed and suggested... I thought it was way cool, actually, and none of them even appeared surprised, or looked strangely at this guy, drab, sitting there getting obvious women's makeup application.