In a pinch

Over the past few weeks, just out of curiosity, I began asking my girlfriends to share with me their top 3.

Not men. Not movies. I'm talking about the serious business of morning makeup. If you were in a pinch and it wasn't an option to walk into the office 10 minutes late, what 3 all-important products would make the final cut?

It may not be helpful to you to know what other women would sacrifice their morning espresso runs for, but allow me to let you in on a secret. When it comes to makeup, the four women profiled below are subject matter experts in the field of cosmetics and cosmetics application. Further proof of this is that they all said the same thing when I posed the above question to them:

Skin. It's all about the skin.

Rule #1: Make your skin look the best it can before moving onto any other part of your face.

And by "look its best," they don't mean "its tannest" or "its cakiest." Get it to the point where it looks seamless -- when your jawline matches your forehead and your chin is the same color as that little patch of skin between your nose and upper lip. Be as meticulous and sparing with concealer and foundation as you possibly can.

And for god's sake, don't forget to moisturize your face first.

25 years old, DC analyst, medium olive complexion, hazel eyes, dark brown hair:

Stila's perfecting concealer ($20 at sephora.com)

Cover Girl Marathon mascara ($4.49 at drugstore.com)
Kiehl's clear lip balm with SPF 15 ($7.50 at kiehls.com)

alternate: Fresh Sake perfume ($50/$75 at fresh.com)

35 years old, DC freelancer, dark red hair, snow white skin, hazel eyes

Laura Mercier secret concealer ($22 at neimanmarcus.com)

Benefit get bent mascara ($19 at sephora.com)

NARS oil-free foundation ($40 at narscosmetics.com)
alternate: Chanel le vernis nail color in "black satin" (good luck finding this)

28 years old, NYC I-banker, Chinese, long black hair with sideswept bangs:

Chanel le crayon khol intense eye pencil in "noir"

($26 at neimanmarcus.com)

Chanel extracils super curl lengthening mascara

($25 at neimanmarcus.com)

Chanel rouge allure luminous satin lip color in "chic"

($29 at neimanmarcus.com)

alternate: Chanel ombre essentiele soft touch shadow in "silvery"

($26.50 at neimanmarcus.com)

26 years old, Chicago Advertising Exec, dark olive complexion, brown eyes, thick dark black/brown hair:

Dior show mascara ($23 at sephora.com)
Benefit you're bluffing concealer stick ($20 at sephora.com)
Stila sun n' highlighter bronzer ($24 at sephora.com)

alternate: Kieh'ls tinted lip balm with SPF 15 ($7.50 at kiehls.com)