Tween Makeup Tips -- Beautiful Boundaries

Photos by Karynn Jorgensen (bloomshoot photography)

It’s that season again – freshly boxed shoes stuffed with paper and placed in a way that can rarely be duplicated. Artfully distressed jeans with holes where you want them and nowhere you don’t. The soft look of a vintage top, the latest hairstyle, the scent of a newly sharpened #2, 5-tab dividers, basketball shorts for P.E. Every item on the checklist is indicative that your summer days are dwindling and your child is heading back to campus. It’s the bottomless pit we call back-to-school shopping.

But there IS one thing I haven’t had to fork out that hard-earned cash for yet. It really comes down to luck and biology – the oldest three are boys. And we have yet to find a need for makeup {excluding my own personal and extensive collection}.

Not that my day won’t come – the princess in the family is still toddling around, but for now, I’ll treasure the time between bottles and bras.

And yet I find myself puzzled over the rising number of young girls wearing more makeup than I do (and I wear a decent amount, believe me). We’re talking 10, 11 and 12 year olds! I was beginning to wonder if anybody even had rules anymore – I sure did when I started 6th grade. But after asking around, I quickly discovered plenty of moms that lay down the limits, and most girls seem perfectly fine with following them. Maybe it’s because the NO makeup rule has evolved into a SOME makeup rule.

I found this to be true when I interviewed Morgan Stubbs, a 7th grader at a local middle school. Morgan is so beautiful and was willing to let me in on the rules in her house. Like many girls in junior high, she’s allowed to wear mascara and light eye shadows. Lip gloss has the green light, too, but Morgan finds she doesn’t really wear it very often. And she sure doesn’t need to! Her skin, coloring and eyes are stunning. It would be a shame to cover them up. The small amount she does wear accomplishes exactly what makeup is supposed to accomplish…it reveals her eyes, not hides them.

Makeup. Cosmetics. From lip gloss to mascara; mineral powder to crème foundations; eye liners, lip liners, brow liners and highlighters – everything has its place on a face, but do you know where to put it and how to use it for enhancement, concealment or age-defiance? With so many options - colors, textures, price-points, tones - it can prove challenging for a young girl to know how much to wear and how much is too much. I mean, there are even falsies that are woven into your real lashes, now. Gone are the days of too long and too thick. But when it comes to your little-girl-turned-middle-schooler, is there a line to be drawn and where should you draw it? From the heavily made-up looks I see at our local junior highs, it’s drawn in thick black eyeliner. But according to Renee Howard, local Mary Kay Director, the heavy wearers are the exception, not the rule.

So what is appropriate for an 11 year old, a 13 year old and an 18 year old and every age in between? Are there gradual levels of acceptance? Lip gloss, then mascara only, then a little foundation? There were for me, but I think the levels have been liberated a bit, starting in elementary school with lip gloss and nail polish, allowing for neutral eye shadows and light lash-enhancing mascara in middle school, then edging further toward bold and bright colors, heavy foundations and full coverage, which for some high-school aged girls is backing away from enhancement and heading for a disastrous mess, quite literally.

As a former Mary Kay Beauty Consultant, cosmetologist and current wearer of makeup for, well, a lot of years, I’ve found the intensity of a color and the heaviness of a foundation are NOT what are important. We’ve all heard from our mothers that certain colors are too strong, too dark or too something. Ready to be educated, moms? The truth of the matter is…it’s all in the technique, the application and the applicator. The same color, when applied with a soft shadow brush made of high-quality material or blended with your favorite facial moisturizer, will last 10 times longer, look more natural and blend smoothly into the skin, leaving no harsh lines or strange accidental dark spots.

Speaking of your favorite facial moisturizer, good skin care goes hand in hand with a good makeup job. A great skin care regimen can wipe out the need for half the makeup you own! “I start my girls at age 11 on skin care to prove they can wash their face before they’re allowed to start makeup. At 11 1/2, they get to start wearing clear mascara, to practice. At 12, they can wear lighter eye shadows and mascara, as long as they’ve been practicing good skin care for a year,” says Renee. If a girl is responsible enough to wash and moisturize her face, she can likely be trusted with a little enhancement. Mary Kay offers a fantastic product, called Velocity, for youth. It’s affordable and goes a long way, stretching that dollar. Of course, there are hundreds of products to choose from – just be sure you aren’t buying water with a few extra ingredients added to it. “Fillers”, as they are referred to in the industry, can empty your wallet and have little to no good effect on your face. Renee likes to compare it to ice cream – does your typical store-brand ice cream taste as good as Ben & Jerry’s? If you’re thinking, “no”, it’s likely due to the “fillers” added on top of {and before} the real cream, sugar, milk and eggs!

Just remember a little makeup can go a long ways towards making a girl feel independent but teaching restraint and proper technique can keep your blossoming daughter actually looking her best. We asked Morgan Stubbs to model eye application technique. A little bit of shimmer without all the glitz keeps her looking natural and her age.

BRING-OUT-THE-EYES TIPS & TIDBITS:

#1 - EYELINER TIP:

Use small, short strokes applied to the lash line or just a trace under it. Blend with an eye shadow sponge applicator or liner brush – not your finger. Your liner will stay put longer and smudge less.

Better Brands:

Mary Kay Eyeliner 10.00

Clinique Quickliner for eyes 14.50

BareMinerals Big & Bright Eyeliner 14.00

#2 - EYE SHADOW:

Everyone needs at least three eye shadow colors – A highlighter color, midtone color and accent color. There are so many ways to apply shadow, but I’ll go with my favorite, timeless, works-every-time technique:

• Start with the accent color and using a nice (and small) shadow brush, make your way from the inner corner to the outer corner, along your lashline. Blend a touch, but not too much…

• Brush most of the color off onto a tissue. Load your brush with the midtone shadow. In the crease of your eye (basically everywhere your actual eyeball is, but not above it), blend it across in the same way, but covering more area and blending with the accent color.

• Finally, after getting as much color off the brush as possible (onto a tissue), load up with the highlighter. You may be out of your comfort zone, but trust me! As long as you are using a very light color with either a little shimmer or no shimmer, you’ll get compliments on the result! Starting at the inner corner of your eye, use medium strokes and apply highlighter up and over, going under your brow – all the way across. Blend with the midtone and accent colors, wherever they touch. You’ve got yourself a natural looking shadow job, but looks like a pro did it. Renee knows: A highlighter works for EVERY eye shape and makes your brow-bone pop!

Renee’s Pro Pointers:

• Never put anything dark on your eyebrow or browbone or if you have small lids, stay away from dark colors.

• Keep the inner part of your eye light as possible.

• Keep darkest colors towards the outside of your eye

There are a few subtle changes you can make to adjust the intensity {the amount of shadow} depending on what you’re doing and where you’re going. “If you’re going to the MTV music awards, the dramatic, thick black eyeliner all the way around the eye works, but if you’re going to Canyon View High School, use a soft black eyeliner like Mary Kay’s Steely,” says Renee. She also pointed out that the same celebrity, when seen at the Grammy’s will be wearing softer, less intense colors and a classier look altogether, while at the Music Awards will sport dramatic, heavy, black eyes and red lipstick. Which one should be your every day look vs. your special occasion look?

• For nighttime – go heavier on the darkest colors

• For day – Keep all three shadows close in color, just a few shades off (for example, a dark bronzey gold as an accent color, a shimmery light gold for the midtone and a creamy ivory for the highlighter.

• For play – Swipe a single medium hued (use a midtone) color gently over your eyelids, starting at lashline and ending below the brow, blending with your eyeliner at the lashline, but keeping it light by your brow.

Better Brands:

Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color 6.50

bareMinerals Mineral Eyecolor 13.00

MAC Mineralize Eye Shadow (Duo) 19.50