With renewed confidence in the cosmetic world, I boldly walked up to make-up artist, Robert, exchanged pleasantries and flat-out asked him,"If you could pick one product out of all of these available, what would you say is the best?" He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and responded,"It depends on what you are looking for." "Foundation," I replied without hesitation.

He led me over to the Shu Uemura counter and showed me Nobara. I had been using the custom blend foundation from Prescriptives and I thought it worked all right, but it seemed to just stop doing its thing.

Well, Nobara is nothing short of amazing! It is all about the molecules and undertones in the product -- things I don't know about and don't really care to know about. It comes in a palette and is the consistency of a stick foundation. He used a dabbing technique and put it on with a sponge. It evened out my tone and looked like I wasn't even wearing make-up, which I think is the goal of every woman. At $19 a pack, you can't go wrong. Robert said it lasts about eight weeks and that's worth it to me.

Next, Robert showed me Stila's lip stain. I told him about my run-in with BeneTint (he doesn't like it either). The lip stain is exactly what I was looking for. It is almost like applying straight magic marker to your lips, which I was very close to doing before coming across this.

I then asked him if any companies made a decent eyebrow liner. Shu does. Robert first showed me the pencil made for blondes. It is a hard pencil and only comes off on skin that has your natural oils on it. It has green undertones, which is the undertone of blondes. Needless to say, I bought two of them for two of my blonde friends.

"Robert?" I asked, "What beauty rules should every woman live by?"

1. Find a make-up artist that gets your vibe -- treat him/her like your hair stylist. He will get to know you and your personality and make you look fabulous!

2. Buy make-up in groups. For example, if you try a look on at a department store and really like it, buy all of it. You try an eye shadow like mauve with a matching eyeliner and it works, buy both of them. Even if you have a liner at home that sort of looks like the one in the store, companies change their formulas all the time and it will not look the same. The only exceptions are black and white shadows.

3. Bring the make-up you use to your newfound friend, your make-up artist. He/she can help you enhance your look with what you've got and suggest what you might need.

4. Spend money on good brushes! I can't emphasize that enough. Yes, you have the right make-up but if you use bad brushes to apply it you are simply wasting your time and money. Some can be very expensive but if you take care of them they can last you many years.

5. Make sure to clean your brushes often. Robert said that "any solvent make-up remover is best" -- they dry quickly. If you use shampoo you run the risk of getting it in the silver part of the brush and it can rot the wood and the hairs will fall out, and shampoo takes too long to dry. After you have washed them lay them flat to dry.

Don't know what kind of brushes are good to use? Try natural bristles for powders and synthetics for creams. Natural brushes are porous, so you don't want to use liquidy products because the brushes will drink in the make-up and not apply it properly. Synthetics are, well, synthetic so they don't absorb anything. If you learn one thing from this column this month it is this:

Natural brushes = powders

Synthetic brushes = creams

If you are ever in Beverly Hills and want to talk to someone with knowledge of make-up who isn't just trying to push the product, stop by and visit "the nicest person in make-up": Robert at Barneys.

--Cybele Parsignault