The finishing touch to any makeup routine is lips. Here are some basic steps and techniques to help you achieve lip perfection.

Prep:

Even most gorgeous lip color can't hide dry, chapped lips. Start with healthy, moisturized lips prior to any lip color application.

Lips need exfoliation, just like your skin does. Lip Glosses help moisturize, but they can't exfoliate. Sugar crystals are a natural exfoliant - just rub sugar over slightly moistened lips to get rid of dry skin. For a more luxurious effect, try Alexis Vogel Exfoliating Lip Balm with crushed apricot seeds and essential moisturizing oils.

Apply a lip gloss and let it set while you are doing rest of your makeup to help moisturize skin, then blot it to remove any excess when you're ready to apply lip color.

Base:

Lightly cover your lips with foundation - then powder. Be sure to blot powder with a puff or tissue. This evens out any lip discoloration and acts as a "base" to lock in your lip color for long wear.

Line:

A Lip Liner adds definition, helps sculpt shape of your lips - and prevents your lipstick from bleeding. You can make your lips look smaller, larger or more balanced just with a Lip Liner, so it's an important and vital tool.

There are two methods to line lips - connect dots or feather/sketch with short strokes.

Connecting dot method is easier for beginners, especially if you don't have a steady hand. Just draw dots on each point of cupid's bow on your upper lip and then two more dots directly below them on your bottom lip. Then, just connect dots. Remember to use a light touch.

To feather, use short, delicate strokes - start from outside and blend strokes inwards - also using a light touch. The key here is not having it look like a solid lip line. Be sure to use a sharpened pencil to achieve lightest feathery strokes possible for a natural look. A great creamy pencil to try is Alexis Vogel Lip Liner.

This bout is scheduled for 5 rounds…

There is no cut and dry answer to this question. While eyeglasses vs contact lenses is not a bout that would sell out Ceasar's Palace, it is of importance to most of us who rely on vision correction.

Because eyeglasses vs contact lenses debate is of such interest to so many, Let's look at general pros and cons for each type of vision correction.

I'll give you facts and you can then decide for yourself which is best for you.

Round 1 - Quality of Vision:

Eyeglasses provide crisp clear and consistent vision straight ahead. There are not many variables to vision throughout day because with glasses you are looking through a solid piece of plastic.

Contacts give you good straight ahead vision, however it is not as consistent as with glasses. Soft lenses are made of plastics and water and are therefore prone to change with environmental variables. For example, air conditioners and circulated air can cause your lenses to dehydrate leading to blurred vision. To clear your lenses, all you need to do is blink.

Round 2 - Distortions:

Eyeglasses again, give you great crisp vision straight ahead. Anything that is not straight ahead will have an element of distortion. The stronger your correction and more astigmatism you have, greater distortion will be. If you are nearsighted (minus lenses) everything will seem small and far away with glasses. If you are farsighted (plus lenses) everything will appear larger and closer.