Other than evening out a few freckles it never does much for me.Luckily I don't usually have dark circles under the eyes.
Since all they do is blank out any color I have and then tell me to put the same damn color back on as the exact shade of pink and brown my cheeks and eyelids are seem to be just perfect for my coloring. Who knew? They usually won't even do anything bright on the lips at all and tell me nudes/natural is the way to go. *sigh* If it looks like chapstick, I'd rather wear chapstick.
I'm not sure I blame the writers for the level of frump, I don't blame them for going with that story line. The over exaggerated nature of it I think is more the stylist/director types than the writers picking something that would never happen once someone can't afford to go to the salon and the spa to maintain themselves like they used to and are focused on the kids rather than their looks.