Stay away from Robinson. I was there this weekend and it was INSANE. I know that's expected during this time of year but I felt like I was at a concert or something. I went to Ross Park this weekend as well, and surprisingly it wasn't half as bad. (The future MIL made me go on a shopping spree with her.)

I have very fair skin with yellow undertones and love Bare Minerals because I can custom-blend to match my skin tone perfectly (though the Fairly Light 1.2 works fairly well on its own).

No matter how oily your face is, though, you must moisturize every day. I have combo skin that gets really dry in the winter. I use an oil-free moisturizer and let it absorb 5 or so minutes before I put on my makeup. I can always tell a difference when I try and cheat on this step to save time.

Well, you could always drive to Columbus and go to the Sephora here. Much better shopping than either Shadyside or Robinson :) My SIL and I spent 2 1/2 hours in Sephora a few weeks ago. Seriously. It's makeup heaven, no matter where you have to go to get there!

(back on topic)

I hate foundation. I mean, I hate foundation. I've tried them all--Prescriptives color matching, Mary Kay, Clinque, MAC, Maybelline--you name it, I tried it. Mary Kay had a powder type foundation recently that was okay. Even if a "makeup artist" did my face it always seemed that once I got home it looked horrible, the colors were off, or you could tell I was wearing foundation or whatever.

Then, I went to Sephora and got the Bare Minerals medium kit after seeing BE on QVC and the infomercials. I think I'm hooked! The Medium Beige is too dark right now but should be perfect in late spring/early summer. Medium is perfect for my December pallor :) Really nice and light coverage that doesn't feel like a mask, or look even worse.

Now I'm also the proud owner of a full size Glee (love it), Bisque (whoever knew concealer could be fun?) and the Clear Radiance (the wonder product of the whole darned line so far). I still haven't quite got the moisturizing trick down yet, but so far I've very happy with the products.

Nice

On the rare occasion that I wear full makeup, I use either Neutrogena or MAC. I like Neutrogena because it doesn't look like I'm wearing makeup (the shade matches perfectly with my skin tone) and it's SPF 20. I have oily skin though, so this may not help much.