To be honest, I’m not very good with putting on makeup. Every time I try contouring or putting on eye shadow, people will ask me if I am sick — not exactly the response I was looking for. I don’t get it … how do the women on “Housewives of Beverly Hills” do it?

As I’ve gotten older, I realize that we have to put some makeup on because we look pale and unhealthy without it (at least we need some blush and lipstick). When we are in our 20s, we all have a natural glow and our lips are a healthy shade of pink, but as we get older, our skin looks dry and dull (that is why we need to exfoliate) and the nice pink lips look like a very tired purple!

I’m currently in Taipei, Taiwan for my girlfriend’s 50th birthday party. Since I am not good with my own makeup, I decided to hire a makeup artist. At first I was nervous because I noticed that women in Taiwan don’t seem to wear makeup — major contrast to the Korean women! I asked my Taiwanese friend why that was the case, and she said, people here are casual and like being natural. It seems that they don’t see the need unless for very special occasions. But she assured me that the makeup artists here are very good because they get a lot of practice (since women who want makeup all have to go to makeup artists because they don’t know how to do it themselves). That makes sense …

So here I am at a place called ITENG Hair and Makeup Salon giving it a go. So far so good but will have to save my judgement until I see the final result. But just so you know, he started with foundation and then moved to the concealer. For the concealer, he basically used it to cover up all the flaws on my face — spots, red dots, fine lines, eye bags, etc. He first covered the dark spots on my forehead, then spots on my cheeks, and more on my chin and on and on. I have to say that after at least 15 different areas dabbed with concealer, I was getting annoyed because each time he used the cover up, it made me realize how many flaws I have. I was thinking – Come on! Really? That many!! You might as well use that concealer all over my face like foundation!!