choose a cherry, plum or blue based red. MAC Red is in perfect harmony with cool skin tones. Available online or Mac Stores

I prefer reds with some gold, orange or brick in them. A timeless choice would be Yves Saint-Laurent Rouge Couture 1. Available at Holt Renfrew.  

rich warm reds are great for this skin tone but a rich raspberry red can also work very well. Try Fire & Ice from Revlon it's a universally flattering shade, a perfect balance of warm and cool. Available in pharmacies.

go for deep reds that have some burgundy, fushia or cranberry in them. I really like the richness of the color Charlotte from Nars. Available at Holt Renfrew

start with a sheer formula, Lipsies in Strawberry from Annabelle is a tinted retractable lip balm. Available online at annabelle.ca or in pharmacies.

I suggest the MAC Pro lip palette in Editorial Reds.  It has a mix of warm and cool, opaque and sheer, matte and satin finishes.

The Tweezerman eyebrow tweezers: They're the most precise I've ever used. If you're feed up with pinching your skin rather then actually plucking a hair, these are for you. When I do eyebrow shaping for my clients I use these 2 models, they're hand-filed and perfectly aligned. The point tweezer is finely tapered, great for ingrown, hard to reach and baby-fine hair. The slant tweezer let's me work quickly with great precision. They're available in pharmacies and at Sephora

The dreaded eyelash curlers. I know most of you view this as a torture device, but give it a chance. When you have a good model like Shu Uemura or Kevyn Aucoin, soon available at Nordstrom Ottawa , it makes things much easier. The difference is the rounded pad, which lifts and curls the lashes instead of bending them. Here's how I use it, I start by opening the curler and move it toward my eye to insert my lashes, I close it gently, then without reopening the mechanism I softly pump the curler 3 to 5 times. Then I apply my favorite mascara, I can redo these step with mascara as long as it hasn't dried yet. But my best advice, remain calm.

Cleansing Brushes: I started with the Neutrogena Microdermabrasion System, it's great for exfoliating but I was searching for an everyday deep clean. So as a birthday present to myself, I got the Mia 2 from Clairsonic. It's a two speed model and it has a 60 second pulsing t-timer cycle. It also comes with a charger and traveling case. It's great at removing impurities and it made my skin look more even and my pores less noticeable. It's available at  Sephora

I have lot's of favorites, but my essential are the #286 and the #130 from M.A.C. The first one is a dome shape duo fibre brush made of goat hair and synthetic fibre, it's suppose to be use with mineralize eyeshadow, but I love it for applying thin layers of pro long wear concealer. The second one, also with a mix of natural and synthetic fibre, is great for applying cream products and liquid foundation. I've tried the 2 previous models #187 and #188 but I find that this model, when used in a light circular motion, offers less streaks and more control. Available at M.A.C.

Finally the cutest of the bunch, the Micro Beauty Blender. Yes it's adorable, but it's really practical for blending the concealer and illuminator under the eye and in the hard to reach inner corner of the eye. They are reusable and can be washed with a bar of soap. They're available at M.U.S.S.T. and Sephora.