I have an awkward female friend who wants to learn make-up

She's 32 and has never been on a date. I don't know what to tell her except she does need some glamour and polish. Is there a classic "how-to-do-your-make-up" book for women? Didn't that Kevin guy who died have a good make-up book? But she is truly a novice, so it can't be too technical.

• Take her to a drag bar and leave her there. She'll sink or swim.

  Zaza

• Universal Pictures' Jack Pierce's book was the final word on makeup during Hollywood's golden age.

• Tell her to go to a department store make-up counter and have one of the girls show her.

• What R3 said. Plus they'll sell her a few hundred dollars' worth of face shit she'll use maybe 2-3 times a year.

• youtube videos - watch and learn

• She can say no to most of the products, R4, or return them later at a different store.

• OP Lesbian here. Your gal pal has to learn her makeup palette first and that all depends on her coloring. She could Google pictures of gals with her coloring or something on that end. Then she has to go to YouTube and look up videos on makeup application techniques. For example, my coloring is similar to that of Cher's and Anjelica Huston's. When I was a teenager I had a bit of a collection of magazine clippings of both of those fine ladies and used that as my guide as to what makeup palette to invest in and all of that. We all mature and come into our own at different rates and so I will not snark on your gal pal because of that.

• OP = Amy Farrah Fowler

• Sephora will do sessions if you buy $75 worth of stuff.

• "I have an awkward female friend who wants to learn make-up" Only a fat stupid lesbian would post that and think gay men would believe it and respond. Try again moderator.

• Thank you so much for starting this thread, OP. You sound like a good friend. I'm a 32 year old lesbian who's been single for quite some time. I want to start to put a little more effort into myself -- something I haven't done in the past, largely due to major self-esteem issues -- and get back into the dating scene. I'm in decent physical shape, but I could really use some polish in terms of make-up and clothing, and I have no idea where to start.

• I'm going to second R7's advice, using a celebrity with her coloring as step 1. I myself am red/blue/pasty like Amy Adams, so I do look at her to see how makeup trends work on someone with this coloring. Step 2 might be to buy some cheap Wet N Wild crap, and fool around with it at home. In my experience, the girls at the makeup counter aren't too helpful to real beginners, they want to sell a lot of product so they aren't into the kind of subtle day look your friend would probably want to start with. She probably could start with just lipstick and mascara, and maybe someone like the OP could take her down to the drug store and help her pick out a few lipsticks.

• R3, Dept stores SELL cosmetics, many of which are overpriced. Find a friend who has a GREAT eye for color who can help her shop in a drugstore, for starters. Just because a lipstick is trendy doesn't mean it works for her skin tone. Best advice is to put a dot of lipstick, eye shadow, and blush on a blank piece of paper to make sure that the colors blend.