Makeover? Facial? Lasers? Which treatment?

[Pufflehuff]

I love makeup and skincare but I still feel there's a number of areas I'm not quite 'getting'; I'm never 100% satisfied with my makeup (though I like to think I'm improving), I still can't do eyeliner, and skincare-wise, I can't seem to shift the redness, dark circles and some overlarge pores. I have lines I don't like (but, hey, age) and some general tired-looking agingness I'd love a magic fairy to fix.

I've never had a beauty treatment or been in a salon. If I was to hand over some money to a professional, which one and which service should I choose? There's 'a facial' but the descriptions seem like, well... cleaning and moisturising a bit, or are they better than that? There's various expensive laser resurfacing, IPL, sandblasting, snake venom, not sure. Some sound scary. There's all the anti-aging things. Fillers or botox even. Scary stuff. Let's stick to the non-surgical for now. And then maybe not skincare at all, but makeup application and learning what suits me. The beauty counters? Or pay and book one for a proper chat? Pay more and go on a day course to learn?

Which treatments out there do you consider must-haves, luxuries, totally not worth the effort and totally invaluable?