Am cautiously peeking my head in here to ask for help from you lovely people who understand make up. I was a bare-faced 20 something and just about mastered moisturiser and concealer in my 30s. As I enter my 40s this is clearly no longer going to work without people running away screaming, so I have been studiously watching make-up tutorials, buying brushes and practising eyeshadow, brows and foundation.
I can now just about do those basics but am terrified that I look like mutton trying to paint itself as lamb - whatever eye shadow I buy turns out to be inappropriately sparkly, even when I think it is matte in the shop, I am terrified about having 'orange lines' so overblend foundation until it basically disappears, and mascara tends to end up half way down my cheeks within half an hour. Blusher and lip liner are too terrifying to even contemplate. I work in the City and am 'the boss' so am wary of people sniggering as I inadvertently turn myself into an Aunt Sally.
The tutorials are good for techniques but there are so many out there and the product recommendations are so baffling that I just want a grown up to tell me how to develop a 10-15 minute routine to make myself look like an understated but put-together 41 year old.
Is there a magic place I can go where a fairy godmother will lead me around, tell me which skincare and make-up products to buy and show me how to apply them? Can any individual stand in a beauty hall/Space NK do that or will they just try to flog me their most expensive stuff? I am prepared to invest a reasonable amount (currently experimenting with MAC, Benefit, Nars, Clarins type ranges but might splash out for a miracle de-aging brand) and, if it's relevant, I have very pale, Irish skin, dark hair and the roundest/most hamster-cheeked face imaginable.
Thank you in advance from an incompetent human being