by Elizabeth M Young

Created on: September 26, 2009   Last Updated: October 20, 2009

It was the best of times. We moisturized, laid on concealer, then highlighter, then foundation, then powder, then blush, then the eyeliner, then the eyeshadow, then the brows, then the mascara, then the carefully applied lip liner, then filling in with the lip brush...and the hair wasn't even ready yet!

Later, we found that the trick to staying beautiful all day was to keep makeup and hair simple, light, and in need of as little complicated, major repair as possible. The biggest problem for women in the military was that the hat had to come off at every entrance to a building and go back on just as the door was closing. That wreaked havoc on the hair, and we hated the women who had that perfect hair that could just fall back into place no matter how much jet blast we all were standing in.

A little foundation to even the skin tones, perhaps some powder to control the shine is enough. The twelve step process of highlighting under the eye and all of that should not be necessary in a young, healthy woman, unless ID photos are being taken that day. Getting decent rest and drinking plenty of water will help with that, and a whole lot of other skin problems.

As we get older, the under eye might need some concealer, and discolorations might be coming on, but concealers are vastly improved from years ago, and do more light reflecting than they do behaving like house paint primer to blot out all that is right and good about skin.

A little blush, some lipstick, liner and shadow and that is it. The less we have to do in the morning, the less we have to repair. These days, the no makeup look is going on everywhere, and skin has never looked better. But there is never "no makeup" it just looks that way.

For hair, a style that is wrong for the type of hair is never going to be easy to maintain or repair throughout a long day. If hair does not go up well, then "up" may survive an evening event, but is not the style for a long day. If the hair goes flat after a couple of hours, then a consult with a hairdresser about longer lasting cuts and styling options is worth it. The trick is to find the style that is right for the type, grade, and length of hair and to have it styled in ways that do not fall apart after a couple of hours. There are incredible products out now which offer incredible flexibility in styling for the long haul. But the bottom line is that having to do hair restyling sessions throughout the day is just nuts.

The general rule? If it has to be worn for more than four hours, it should be light, simple, and easy to repair in about one minute. That leaves the twelve step makeup program for special events and romantic evenings out.

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