Faces Illuminated CARLOS A. CRUZ Makeup specialist Aleida Muñoz shows you for free the best tricks to look beautiful without having to suffer or waste money

Every Monday evening at her office in the Bronx, the Dominican beauty expert shares her experiences with a group of women interested in her profession, at the same time offering free introductory classes in makeup and skin care.

According to Muñoz, Independent Sales Director with [a well-known cosmetics company], makeup is not a trivial matter. "A woman who feels comfortable with the image she projects is a more confident woman, capable of doing all she sets out to do, someone who people begin to listen to and whose judgment they seek", she points out.

But that doesn't mean they have to spend a lot of money on their appearance. According to Muñoz, in most cases it is not necessary to subject oneself to painful surgery or aggressive procedures to the face. "Many imperfections can be fixed with basic skin care and a few simple makeup techniques", she says.

In the classes, "the first thing a woman must learn is to identify her type of skin and the exfoliants that are most appropriate to clean it", she explains.

Once the skin is clean, Muñoz applies color templates of clear plastic against the face to determine the color selection. When a color on the template disappears, that will be the foundation tone. "This is an essential step to ensure the person looks natural, without excessive color", the specialist explains.

Some of the regulars at the Aleida Muñoz's classes serve as models for her, which improves the experience. "It's a magnificent demonstration", says Sandy Ariza. Katery Enríquez, for her part, declares that after the cleaning "I realized that my skin had changed".

Giving Back

But her greatest satisfaction is returning the favors that she has received by helping people who have little. She recalls a time when she went to make up a girl for her quinceañera celebration. "When I arrived, I realized that the rest of the girls looked terrible, so then I went to work and wound up doing the makeup for all of them, even though they couldn't pay me. It was my gift to them, because one can't always be thinking of money."

She explains that this spirit of solidarity comes from the memories of her modest origins in Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. "I come from a rural family of limited means, we were eight sisters and brothers and there was never enough of anything", she recalls. After establishing herself in Santo Domingo as an interior decorator, she came to New York in 1996 without knowing the language and began to work as a cashier in a supermarket in upper Manhattan.

"For six years, my life was not what I had hoped for. The bosses did not treat us well and there were always problems with money", she says, but adds: "This is the land of opportunity and little by little I was able to lift myself up. Now I have a stable career, house, car, and everything that people dream of having, without forgetting where I come from".

She invites all the women "who say that they don't like makeup because they don't understand the techniques, nobody has ever taught them, and they don't look good when they do it themselves" to come Mondays to 928 Allerton Avenue in the Bronx, or to call her direct at (646) 228-2266. The classes are free and in Spanish (or English).

Some Advice and a 'Touch of the Brush'

For a wide nose, "it helps to profile it a bit with shadow on the lower edges", she continues. Women with wider lips should "avoid outlining the edges of the lip and only do the inner parts, the opposite of what should be done with thinner lips". Although she is inclined more to concealers than liners, Muñoz says that sometimes the latter help to conceal certain imperfections. "I prefer concealers and a foundation of the same tone as the person's skin, because the intention of my work is to bring out the natural beauty of the face, not to transform it."

As a general rule, she likes to highlight the eyes. For the lips, she usually prefers to apply a tone that looks very natural, and she avoids color on the cheeks: "just a touch of the brush".