Beauty Reporter: Beauty 101 Card.

Beauty Reporter: Beauty 101 Card

Cheat Sheet

1 Wash face, and pat dry. While skin is still damp, apply a light daytime moisturizer to dry areas. If skin is oily, rub mattifying lotion over shiny areas after the face has dried thoroughly. 2 Use a tinted moisturizer or a sheer foundation to even out the complexion and help blush last longer. 3 Cover brown spots and red areas -- especially around the nostrils and mouth -- with a creamy concealer that matches your skin tone exactly. 4 Choose the blush that's best for your skin tone: bright pink or red for fair or medium skin, apricot for olive faces, and fuchsia or violet for dark complexions. 5 Smile, then rub a fingerprint-size blob of cream or gel blush on the apple of each cheek. 6 Pat the color on the skin to blend, then use the little bit that's left on your fingers to dab it toward -- but not into -- the hairline. 7 Pick a sheer highlighter, and rub a tiny amount along the tops of the cheekbones, allowing it to fade as you reach the temples. Blend lightly into the blush so the edges disappear completely.

Beauty Reporter: Beauty 101 Card

Toolbox

Choosing the right blush is only half the battle. The key to wearing it well is preparing the face with a scrub and foundation -- then adding the right finishing touches. * Bright blush is unforgiving on dry skin. L'Oreal Visibly Clean Foaming Cream Scrub Cleanser (1) has gentle beads that slough off dead skin cells (lorealparis.com). * A lightweight, oil-absorbing foundation, such as Estee Lauder Ideal Matte Makeup SPF 8 (2) or Chanel Ultra Sheer Makeup SPF 15, evens out skin tone and helps keep blush from fading (esteelauder.com; gloss.com). * For those with oily skin who use powder blush, a fine topping of loose powder such as Aveda Inner Light (3) stops shine without looking grainy (aveda.com). * A medium-size brush, like Scott Barnes Cheek Brush (4), is big enough to cover the apples -- and small enough to be precise (Scott Barnes, sephora.com). * To keep color from looking unnatural, top it with a pearly highlighter. A silver-flecked formula, such as Prescriptives Sheen Cream in Twinkle (5), looks best on fair to medium skin; a gold-tinged version, like Shu Uemura Luminizer in Bronze (6), flatters olive skin; and a berry-tone highlighter, like Revlon Skinlights Instant Skin Brightener (7), brightens ...