One of the worst feelings in the word: You catch a glimpse of your reflection in natural lighting and realize that your face is two shades darker than your neck. Or your bronzer isn't blended enough. Or your supposedly subtle highlighter is as sparkly as a teen vampire. You can avoid mishaps like these by simply applying your makeup in daylight.

And if you're going to be in photos, make sure you take a selfie first. You should check for two things: that your makeup shows up (makeup often seems to disappear in photos), and everything is properly blended -- especially if you're wearing translucent face powder, which can make you look like you just stuck your nose in a bowl of flour.

Highlighter is a wonderful thing. When applied correctly, it can make your cheekbones pop and give you a luminous glow. If you use it incorrectly, you look like you lost a fight with a unicorn. The key is to keep it balanced.

During the daytime, I apply shimmer only in the inner corners of my eyes to brighten them. If I wear a shimmery eye shadow as well, I make sure to define my crease with a matte shadow to create depth.

At night, I apply highlighter to the tops of my cheekbones and underneath my brows to get that lit-from-within glow, but I keep the rest of my makeup matte.

After you apply highlighter, always do the aforementioned once-over in natural light.

There are as many ways to apply mascara as there are detox recipes in a Gwyneth Paltrow cookbook, but I've found that the most foolproof method is this: "Stamp" your mascara onto the roots of your lashes, then sweep the product through to the ends using a zigzag motion. This defines your eyes and keeps your lashes from looking too heavy at the tips.

Discovering my eyebrows -- or learning how to define them -- was my biggest "aha!" makeup moment. When I add a little brow pencil, my eyes look bigger, my bold lipstick looks a million times better and, overall, my face just looks more balanced.

Twelve brow pencils and 36 brow waxes later, I've picked up a few tricks. I always use short, angled strokes to mimic the look of natural brow hair, and I start mid-arch, working my way to the "tail" of each brow. You want the outer half of your brows to be a tad darker than the inner half -- this opens up your face and your eyes.

Nothing kills a bold lipstick look like flaky lips or uneven application. Before attempting to apply lipstick, make sure your lips are exfoliated (use a lip exfoliator or lightly scrub with a warm, damp washcloth) and moisturized.

Dab off any excess balm, and use a nude lip pencil to line your lips and fill them in. This ensures that your lipstick doesn't bleed, and also creates a blank canvas so your lipstick shows up true to the color in the tube. Blot your lips again, and purse your lips around your pointer finger and pull it out to prevent annoying lipstick stains on your teeth.

Oh, and another tip: Apply your bold lipstick before your eye makeup, so you don't accidentally overdo it on eyeliner.