Making up is hard to do | Cosmetics & Makeup | Says, Mears, She, Makeup, Her

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Making up is hard to do

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Making up is hard to do
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Brooke Houston started wearing eyeshadow last year, when she started Grade 7 at Spencer Middle School. Before that, the 13-year-old wasn't allowed to wear makeup. She is easing into the privilege carefully.

"This year I tried out eyeliner and mascara," Houston tells me at Gloss Beauty Bar on Johnson Street. "My mom showed me how to do it properly."

Wearing makeup is a rite of passage for young women. It is the first step toward independence of style, self-expression and even sexuality.

Some take it too fast and too far. I had a friend in high school who slopped half a bottle of foundation on her unblemished face every day.

Another used black liner to get "sexy eyes" but ended up looking like Marilyn Manson's teeny-bopper twin.

I was more unconventionally garish -- using Vaseline to paste my eyelids with craft glitter for "the fairy look."

The new, exciting, grownup world of makeup gave me a chance to explore my individuality. But, like a lot of teens, I could have used a few tips.

This is why Dionne Mears from Gloss Beauty Bar will be running a teen makeup seminar at the upcoming Spring Fling Splurge Shopping Show at the Victoria Event Centre, May 10.

"There are a lot of teens who come in here with friends and moms," Mears says. Indeed, several pairs drop in while we talk -- looking for a specific mascara or testing new shades of eyeshadow.

"Teens don't need a lot of makeup. They have a nice glow already. So we're just showing them a few tricks to accentuate," Mears says.

She has invited Houston and her grandmother to Gloss for a test run. Houston will be the model for the Splurge event, a spring offshoot of the popular fall shopping parties featuring independent designers. This all-day event has a mother-and-daughter theme for all ages, in honour of the Mother's Day weekend.

"We'll show girls how to properly cover up blemishes and bring out their natural features," Mears says. "We also stress the importance of taking care of your skin, especially in the sun."

Houston is keen to learn any makeup tips that will help her capture the look of her favourite television personality, Hannah Montana.

"She is cute and pretty but not overdone," says Houston, who is happy to flaunt her freckles and pink-lined braces. Now that she has given up her paper route, she'll have to use her allowance for things like makeup. She receives her age in dollars every two weeks and likes to browse at Shoppers Drug Mart. "I like the nicer, natural-looking products best."

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