The face line takes the same lab-first thinking and applies it to skin. Serum bases are a different feel from a classic foundation: lighter, more fluid, and often kinder to dry skin in winter.

The Hy-Glam Foundation is a hydrating, blurring, luminous longwear serum foundation, and I like it best with a damp sponge, pressed on rather than swiped. The Hy-Glam Serum Concealer is brightening and hydrating with medium to full coverage that is crease proof, so it works under eyes and around the nose. Then the Hy-Glam Setting Powder goes only where you shine, not all over. Powder used lightly means the serum base still looks like skin by dinner.

The Hy-per Natural Face Palette is my quick pick for getting out the door, a single compact for a natural face. The Hy-Sculpt Liquid Bronzer is a liquid bronzer, so I dot it on the high points of the face after the base and blend with a fingertip or a damp sponge. Hy-Gloss Tinted Lip Gloss Balm sits in this grid too, because it rides in the same pocket as the rest and works as a finishing touch on the mouth.

Try the base for a full day before you decide how it wears. Wear it through a whole workday, with a coffee and a commute. Look at it at noon by a window, and check the places where skin moves: the sides of the nose, the chin, the smile lines.

The lip and liner pieces here are simple on purpose, and that is what I like about them. A good look needs one or two definite marks, not a dozen.

I Need A Nude Lip Liner is the pencil to reach for, a neutral that goes with the nude palette above and works under almost any lip color. My Dream Lipstick is a creamy lip color, comfortable rather than dry, and My Dream Lip Gloss is soft and hydrating, with a light shine. Layered together, liner in the center, lipstick over it, gloss right on the middle of the lip, they make one of the fullest-looking mouths I know.

The Macro Tech Eye Crayon is a high-pigment pencil eyeliner, and I use it along the upper lash line and smudged out with a small brush for a soft frame. It is more forgiving than a liquid one, and it pairs with any palette in the first grid.

What I would skip: buying every shade of everything at once, or trying to copy a full runway eye at eight in the morning. Pick a single focus for the day, either the lid, the liner or the lip, and let the rest be quiet. It is cleaner, it is faster, and you will wear it more often. A palette that gets used is worth more to me than a shelf of ones that look good closed.

To choose one palette, look at what you already wear. Warm clothes and gold jewelry point to the warm palette, and silver, navy and gray point to the cool one. The nude palette is a good middle path.

Once you have it, use a light shade all over the lid, a mid-tone in the crease, and a deeper one along the lash line. That is three shades, and enough for months. Blend more than you think you should, keep brushes clean, and test any shimmer on the back of your hand first. The better the routine feels, the more often you will pick up the palette. Wipe the pans with a clean tissue now and then, store it flat, and close it firmly after use. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Natasha Denona Concealer Comes From a Makeup Artist Who Grew Up Around a Chemist and Natasha Denona Foundation.