1
general::
Phrase(s): stare someone in the face
1. Go to look someone in the face. 2. [for evidence] to confront someone directly. (Fig. on stare someone in the face; look someone in the face.) • Finally, the truth stared me in the face, and I had to admit to myself what had really happened. • When the facts in the case stared the jury in the face, there was nothing they could do but acquit.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Also, look in the face. Be glaringly obvious, although initially overlooked, as in The solution to the problem had been staring me in the face all along, or I wouldn't know a Tibetan terrier if it looked me in the face. [Late 1600s]
American Heritage Idioms