There’s something for everyone in my roundup of the best multitasking concealers. From lightweight to heavy-duty coverage, these are the masters of cover up in my beauty bag.

1: Tom Ford Beauty Illuminating Hightlight Pen
This light, creamy brush pen can be compared to the storied YSL Touche Eclat, but it is creamier with better coverage. Its ability to bring light to the skin is a wonder, but the formula’s beautiful finish is what makes it a true stand out.

2: The Balm Time Balm Concealer
Part makeup, part skin care, you can sleep in this lightweight coverup. Light-to-medium coverage that feels good on your skin.

3: Benefit Fakeup
My new best friend as of late as it tackles the problem of dry skin under the eye. It reminds me of a vitamin E stick, but with a healthy dose of natural coverage that lasts. It’s really moisturizing and does not accentuate or dry into lines the way a lot of concealers do.

4: Kevyn Aucoin The Sensual Skin Enhancer
This creamy, almost opaque cream can be used in multiple ways. Use it ever-so-sparingly where you need serious coverage, mix it with moisturizer for a sheer all-over foundation, or use it straight-up as a full-coverage foundation. There’s nothing like it. It’s been in my arsenal for over ten years.

5: rms uncover up:
This is a do-it-all product that you can do as little or as much with as you like. Use it in the t-zone and it smoothes skin and minimizes pores, definitely use it under the eyes for brightening and light but buildable coverage. The mineral pigments self-adjust to your skin for a perfect match. I love love love this brand for it’s purity and quality. Founded by a world renown makeup artist, it’s natural and free of all toxins and chemicals, but it performs like a luxury beauty line.

6: Alison Raffaele True Concealer
This antioxidant-filled formulation provides a light layer of color that works as an overall blemish concealer as well as it does under the eyes. This makeup artist eco-brand is one of my newer discoveries and I really love its unique blend of vitamin power and coverage.

7: Bare Escentuals Correcting Concealer
I love this brand’s straight forward concealer. It’s so tiny, I keep one in my purse for under eye touch-ups and around my nose. The SPF 20 is a nice bonus.

8: Bare Escentuals Well Rested
If I had to name by biggest eye brightener, it would have to be this hard-to-categorize game changer. It just does something to your entire face. It lightens, brightens, covers and contours. Apply it with a light hand with this great concealer brush, extending a bit beyond where you normally put concealer for a truly eye-popping affect. Be sure to blend well and don’t use too much. I often use this on top of another concealer, especially at night.

I’m pretty loyal when it comes to beauty products I love. Some products are so great that my radar for the competition simply goes down. Such is the case with Bare Minerals Exfoliating Treatment Cleanser—I’ve been using it for years and I continue to repurchase it without blinking. Kind of like toothpaste or deodorant.

Using it is simple—pat some water on your face, pour about a teaspoon of powder into your palm and rub a little bit of water into it, transforming it into a light froth. This activates the mineral complex that empowers the supreme cleansing and exfoliation action. It’s a little bit grainy, but it’s gentle and can be used daily. You can play around a bit with the consistency to your liking, but it’s super easy to use.

There’s no other cleanser that makes my face feel as clean or bright.

Perk: It also can be used as an exfoliating mask.

I have loved Jewel since college, when songs like Who Will Save Your Soul and I’m Sensitive felt like personal anthems. I blasted her ballads and belted them out (while blow drying my hair) the way only a soul-searching 20 year-old girl can. I loved her painful poetry and her bohemian hair and was so taken with her personal story.

Jewel’s makeup has always been gorgeous: a slight shimmer, a smokey eye, a nude lip and glorious long hair. The kind of look I’m always going for.

But here she is at the Academy of Country Music awards wearing a strong lip and sleek hair and I think she looks AMAZING.

I am so inspired because her bright pink fuchsia lip color looks exactly like theYSL Rouge Volupte Shine #17 I bought recently. I never, ever wear a bold lip but this is the one color and formulation I think I can pull off and wear comfortably. I prefer it to the bright orange lip that is trending right now because, quite frankly, I just think it’s prettier and easier to wear. I might even go for the sleek ponytail and really take a risk.

What’s your go-to bright lip color?

When I went to the Birchbox press event for Fashion Week in NYC (love Birchbox!), beauty editors were invited to create their own Birchbox of samples from a dazzling wall of beauty items. I took home a mascara from a brand I had never heard of before called Marcelle, a Canadian beauty company that makes hypo-allergenic, perfume-free makeup and skincare. I’m a tough sell when it comes to mascara and this mascara is TOTALLY AMAZING. The most perfect, firm short-bristled brush gives a smooth application, and the formula is just thick enough to add length and dimension without clumps. But what’s most striking to me about this mascara is the color—the deepest, darkest black, in the best, most eye-opening way. What’s more amazing is the price: $13.

It’s out of stock on Birchbox.com but you can order directly from Marcelle. (There’s a minimun for delivery since they ship from Canada, but you’ll want multiples anyway.)

Marcelle now has a solid spot among my mascara all-stars:

1: Marcelle Xtension Plus Mascara: Ive been wearing this exclusively for a while now. It’s that good.

2: Cle de Peau Beaute The Mascara: This is my special occasion mascara. Dramatic and long-lasting.

3: Cover Girl Lash Blast in Very Black: My go-to for everyday for the past few years now.

4: Kevyn Aucoin Beauty ‘The Mascara Curling’ : One of the first “tubing” mascaras, this amazingly dark, bold mascara really holds a curl and simply slides off with a warm wash cloth.

I’ve been wearing makeup since I was 13, when my eyeliner of choice was a bright aqua by Cover Girl. I’d compliment the blue with a nice, frosty Wet n’ Wild pink then finish the whole look off with some Cody powder and black Maybelline mascara. I thought it all really worked for me in 1987.

Over the years, my look has evolved to a more neutral palette, but my makeup bag has remained a motley mix of brands, from drugstore standbys to department store treasures. Until now. Now, Tom Ford has me, beauty and soul. Can the man do no wrong? The packaging: rich chocolate brown with gold hardware. The colors: a spectrum of perfection. The textures: dreamy, creamy. The ingredients: my skin practically purrs. The best part, besides the subtle marshmallow scent of the lipgloss? IT LASTS ALL DAY. I can say this with confidence because my skin generally absorbs makeup so fast I usually have to apply it twice before I walk out the door. Much of this longevity is due to the remarkable Translucent Finishing Powder (I wear Ivory Fawn), which sets the TF foundations beautifully—and also seem to all but erase my pores in the process. I really could go on and on.

My Tom Ford All-Stars:

Illuminating Primer  (This deserves its own post)

Bronzing Powder in Gold Dust (The most decadent compact possibly ever)

Eye Color Quads in Golden Mink (Wearable but can get shimmery for night) and Cocoa Mirage (best earthy basics. I’ve literally worn this palette every day 2 years)

Cheek Color in Frantic Pink (beats Nars’ Orgasm any day)

Eye Shadow blend brush #13 (the key to the perfect smokey eye. I am obsessed with this brush)

Bronzer brush #05 (huge, soft yet dense enough to contour)

Lip Color Sheer in In the Buff (pink nude with subtle shimmer)

If you’re in New York City, I highly recommend a trip to the Tom Ford counter at Bergdorf Goodman, where the skilled, easygoing team (Hi Winnie! Hi Cliff!) will help you find what you’re looking for—and probably lead you to discover a bunch of things you aren’t looking for but need to have.

*I’d like to take a moment here to reiterate my editorial policy: this is not a sponsored post. This is authentic makeup obsession.

Without my brows filled in, I look the facial equivalent of bald. My face is like a sentence without punctuation.

In some cruel twist of follicle fate, I was blessed with an ungodly amount of thick hair and cursed with sparse, anemic eyebrows. You know how women are often asked what beauty product they can’t leave the house without? Usually it’s lipstick or mascara. And I get that. But for me, it’s my eyebrow makeup. I won’t leave the house without my brows on. If I had more guts and a better camera, I would show you some before-brows photos, but I’m really not that brave. Those defining arches are the absolute bane of my existence. Sometimes it’s a good brow day and sometimes it isn’t. It just is what it is. I’ve often considered trying my own experiment with Rogaine, but at the end of the day, I’m just thankful for great products and my steady hand.

Whether you need to tame or tweeze, fill-in or shape, these are the eyebrow products I swear by:

1: Benefit Gimme Brow is a light gel that fills in brows really well because it adheres nicely to fine hairs and the skin. The wonderful precision brush enables you to create shape, too. (I use Light/Medium)

2: Anastastia Brow Pen  has a fine, felt tip that makes it easy to make hair-like strokes and really draw in brows where there are none. (I use Universal Light)

3: Laura Mercier Brow Powder: If you’re more comfortable with powder and a good angled brow brush, this is the best in class. The colors blend well to create your perfect shade.

4. Tom Ford Brow Sculptor is simply the best: bold, blendable, soft yet slightly waxy pencil. Stays on through my spin class.

5: Tweezerman slanted tweezer: Gold standard. I like mine mini, and in bright pink.

6: Joey Healy Brow Structure in Clear provides great hold without being too shiny or stiff.

7: Anastasia Mini Duo Angled/Spooley #7: Genius. I use the spooley end to blend and soften after I draw in my brows with multiple products. The angled brush is the ideal stiffness for applying brow powder.

8: Anastasia Brow Duality: I don’t leave the house without applying a hint of the shimmer end to the inside corners of my eyes and the matte end under my brows. At night, I use the shimmer side in my cupid’s bow and a touch down the center of my nose.

Photo ©Depositphotos/subbotina