The reafir trick should work well for when you zero in on right settings.
Generally I'd do the 'fixy' things first, then proceed to sweeten. Corrective EQ before compression, maybe some sweetening gentle EQ after, maybe some further compression after that, fit de-ess in there, if it's really essy, before comp.
Don't be afraid to have multiple stages of tweaks that are doing one job ranging from correction>>sweetening that are getting less severe as you go.
Generally speaking
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