Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

I've been wearing make-up since my early teens. Back then, it was a lot of Bonne Bell, Yardley of London (I wanted to look like Jean Shrimpton), and, of course, Maybelline & Cover Girl. There weren't any Sephoras or Ultas; there was a chain of stores called Merle Norman. I guess they're still around; back then they were known for catering to the "blue-haired" set.
I have never been brand loyal to any one particular brand. I think I've found something I'll stick with and then, I spot an ad in a magazine or see a commercial on tv and, boom, I gotta have it.
For 2009, I've decided to try and not be so fickle when it comes to cosmetics. A few months ago, I started buying various Bare Minerals products, wore them a bit, and moved on. A few weeks ago, I started wearing them again and noticed I was getting compliments, even if some of them were a bit backhanded. Tony, the mailroom guy, dropped off some mail to me last week and said "What did you do? You look different. You look good." Uh, thanks, I guess.
Over the weekend, I purged just about all my partially used make-up - foundations, eyeliners, mascaras, blushes, you name it - I didn't think twice. I held on to just a couple of items from Nars and Urban Decay, but otherwise, it's going to be Bare Minerals from now on.
The only exception is lipsticks. I cannot walk into any store that sells make-up - drug, department, whatever, and not at least check out the lipcolor and,more times than not, buy at least one. The problem is I'm a terrible judge of what colors look best on me. I think they look great in the tube, but, so many times, I hate the way it looks on me. The same thing goes for eye shadow. I rarely wear it because, if I try any shades but brown, I feel I look like a clown. I would love to have a complete makeover done, head to toe, like on "What Not To Wear." Anyone want to nominate me?
So, I'm curious to see how long I can do this. This upcoming weekend, the LSH & I are planning on heading to the Freehold Mall, which I don't get to very often and which has a Sephora store there. You know, I HAVE to stop there to, at least, check out the lipstick.