When it comes to honing your cosmetic slight-of-hand,
you'll want to start with these tips.

If you want to create a beautiful, long-lasting makeup, it's essential to start on clean, fresh skin. Residue--dirt from the environment as well as oils from your own system--collects on the skin and should be removed before you start applying makeup. After cleansing with a product specially formulated for your skin type, you should use a tonic (if you have oily skin) or a moisturizer. You may even need an astringent lotion and a moisturizer; tonic on an oily T-zone and moisturizer everywhere else.

Apply moisturizer in a three-dot pattern (three on each cheek, three on your forehead, two on your nose, and one on your chin) to ensure even coverage. Also apply on eyelids and over lips. Be careful not to use too much, and blend well so that your skin will be sealed and protected from the ravages of nature and pollution.

Now you are ready to begin putting on your makeup.

1 Concealer Using a cotton swab or a small brush, draw a line of concealer around the inner corner of your eye. Blend well; there should be no line of demarcation when concealer is properly blended into the skin. Then blend concealer down from the side of your mouth to cover smile lines, between the eyebrows to cover frown marks, around nostrils to hide broken capillaries, and over blemishes--wherever needed.

2 Foundation Put a few drops of foundation onto a dry makeup sponge and distribute on your face in a three-dot pattern. Blend quickly in long, even strokes down toward the jawline and up to the hairline, until forehead and cheeks are covered. Using a corner of your sponge, dab hard-to-reach areas around your nose, mouth and chin. Blend your makeup base into your lips, then apply one more dot to each eyelid. Stroke the skin around the eye gently as you work the foundation inward. Check coverage, dabbing with your sponge until imperfections have disappeared. Finally, blot with a tissue to remove excess foundation or any oily residue.

3 Loose Transparent Powder Sprinkle your basic shade of loose transparent powder into the palm of your hand. Lightly dip your powder brush into the powder and dab over cheeks, chin, nose, and forehead, then brush over eyelids and lips. Use more powder to cover oily skin; less if your skin is dry.

4 Contour Use your straight-edged contour or blusher brush to apply a dark-toned contour powder. (Remember, light emphasizes, dark recedes.) The same general technique applies wherever you use contour. Draw a line of contour powder over the area you wish to shade, then blend until the line becomes a shadow. In applying contour to cheeks, jaw, forehead, temples, and so forth, think oval: Shorten a long face, narrow a round face to give your face a more perfect shape. When applying contour to your cheeks, blend contour in a downward direction from the line directly under your cheekbone, thus causing the hollow of the cheek to recede in relation to the height of the bone. Apply to the sides of your nose to narrow it; complete the illusion by drawing a thin line of concealer down the center of the nose. Contour under your chin to mask a double chin. Apply down the sides of your neck to elongate your neck. In short, use contour wherever you need it--and blend, always blend, until the line of powder becomes a shadow.

5 Blusher Dip a blusher brush in a powder blusher and shake off the excess. Draw a line of color directly under your cheekbones and right on top of your contour shadow. Blend in an upward direction; the brighter blusher shade will stand out in contrast to the darker contour below, thus accentuating the height of the cheekbone. Blend until the line becomes a shadow and there is no clear line delineating contour from blusher.

6 Cheek Highlighter Use a flat matte white powder shadow as a cheek highlighter. Dip your powder brush into the shadow and draw a line of highlighter just above the line of your blusher. The line will visually separate your cheekbone from your eye. Next create a rough triangle of highlighter all around your cheekbone and under the line of contour to further pronounce the height of your cheekbone. Blend until the lines become shadows.

NEXT ISSUE: Completing the picture, Ilana Harkavi demonstrates how to complete application of eye makeup and shares tips for your particular face shape.

Ilana Harkavi is president and creative director of Il-Makiage, a cosmetics company with a palette of more than 500 colors. She is a renowned makeup artist and a beauty trendsetter whose clients have included Cher, Kim Basinger, Madonna. Diana Ross and Sylvester Stallone. Harkavi also is the author of a beauty book I'll Make You Beautiful.

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