My 600-hour adventure in esthetics school. Learn about the project, or catch up with Weeks 1 and 2.

We’ve been practicing the daytime face for two weeks now, so tonight, Meg and I are messing around in our FantaSea makeup kits. They’re filled with clever compartments and secret drawers, all fitted with perfectly pressed cakes of color that beg you to swirl your brushes through them, like walking on fresh snow. There’s even a black plastic comb fitted into the hinge, though no one can explain what we’re going to do with that.

“Remember girls, the daytime face should be very, very light,” says Miss Jenny for perhaps the millionth time. She’s been toning down our preferences for smoky eyes and pouty lips all week. “Very light. You need to be very restrained with your color selections.”

Meg dips her brush in a coral blush and dabs her cheek. We peer at the orange streak. “Nice and light,” I decide. She follows up with neon blue eye shadow, while I layer on the frosted pink lipstick. “Perfect for daytime,” says Meg approvingly. We add sparkly gloss, green shadow for contour, and more orange blush, then admire our Technicolor faces in the Fantasea mirrors. It’s the kind of makeup you used to put on at a middle school sleepover party, while your one friend was in the bathroom dying her hair some impractical color, before you all sat down to eat an entire pan of brownies in one sitting.

“My God,” says Meg. “We’re so pretty!”

“Oh you girls are making me laugh,” says Miss Jenny.

I think this is kind of the moment when we all realize that we’re becoming friends.