Look Glamorous on that Valentine's Date ~ Get a Makeup MAKEOVER - By Elayne Kershaw

Whether it’s the promise of new love or a celebratory reminder of all your years together, every woman wants to look extra special for her Valentine’s Day date.

You’ll invest time in carefully selecting and coordinating your look to reflect the passionate reds and romantic pinks of the occasion in your outfit, accessories, jewelry, hair and nails. You’ll probably use the services of professionals and the advice of friends to help you tick off each essential component from your beauty checklist, but the one aspect of your appearance often unplanned or entrusted to experts is your makeup.

Tunde Divoll, business manager for Clinique, says this is because women often apply the same makeup and the same style they’re comfortable with and know they can achieve, especially if they’re pressured for time. They essentially put on the same “face” every day, with varying degrees of emphasis depending on the occasion — from natural for daytime to heavier for the evening. Divoll recommends every woman set aside the time to visit a cosmetics counter to learn how to take care of their precious skin with tailor-made products and apply makeup effectively to adapt for different situations.

 Most beauty counters (especially in department stores) offer some kind of makeup service.

You can find businesses that sell makeovers exclusively, and there are makeup artists who will come to your home, but the beauty counters in Dillard’s offer free makeovers. There’s no obligation to buy. The point of the free makeover is to enable the customer to better understand their own face, skin type and coloring and equip them with the skills and the products (should they wish to purchase them) to create a range of different makeup styles.Woman with heart over eye

You can go to the Clinique counter in Dillard’s (or any of the other brands represented: Lancôme, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Clarins or Shiseido) and request an impromptu makeover, but at busy times of the year, such as Valentine’s Day, it’s better to book it. In the capable hands of a trained expert like Divoll, you will discover exactly what type of skin you have and how it behaves. This is fundamentally important knowledge because everything else literally sits on top of the skin. Treating the base layer correctly will help take care of it while also enabling the applied makeup to enhance rather than detract from your features.

As different elements of makeup are selected and applied to your face, they are sketched and labelled on a customized record sheet you can take home and re-create.

Divoll talks to you as she works, explaining exactly how she applies color, shape and contour with foundation, concealer, powder, eye shadow, liner, lash, brow, cheek and lip products. By the time you leave, you look fabulous and have the confidence you can recreate what she has done.