A few weeks ago, Bh members were buzzing in the forum about whether some beauty looks should correspond with birthdays. Does wearing glitter post-30 overdress mutton as lamb? Does too much liner and lippie just make a lamb look like a piece of meat?
As beauty addicts of all ages tuned into the conversation there were at least a few points of consensus, and a niggling feeling I’ve always had about young girls and make-up was piqued…
It seems most of us in Bh are on the same page: gorgeousness comes in no particular shape, size, or colour, and it’s absolutely ageless. Sure, glittery shadow spotlights crepiness, but, if you’ve got the confidence to shimmer, shine. Because looking hot is less about the make-up than the woman wearing it.
And that’s what we all hope teenagers know – that and the art of blending foundation. As Bh chatters pointed out, by your mid-twenties you think it’s a crime to smother a supple young complexion, but the teen years are all about experimentation and expression through different looks (which you’ll probably live to regret later), not to mention dealing with spots. It’s just a shame when girls want to grow up too fast.
Which is why I’m unsettled by pretty pre-pubescents dolled up like Bratz figurines. Maybe it’s just my inner-fogie emerging, but when tweenies tottle by with disco ball lips and painted toes wedged into heels, it strikes me as, well, wrong – and sad. I worry it cheats them of the un-self-consciousness of childhood, buying them into the beauty myth with pocket money.
Or is it just face painting? As with grown-up glamour, as long as it’s not applied in desperation to fit a mould, is make-up simply girly fun?
It reminds me of something Madonna reportedly said when a journalist, obviously angling at her racy rep, asked what she’d tell her then-newborn little girl about boys. Madonna answered she’d teach Lourdes about self-respect, then she wouldn’t have to teach her much else about men.
Maybe if we help our daughters believe they are beautiful without make-up, we won’t have to worry too much about when they wear lipstick at all.
A nice bb cream which is light and has spf is lovely