How to Start your Daughter with Makeup

I’m fortunate to have a friend who happens to be a professional makeup artist. Gina Pravlochak does the makeup for our TV show. Many of our viewers write to her for beauty help. Here’s a question I wanted to share here, from a mom who wants to help her daughter get started—the right way—with makeup:

Q. Hi Gina, at what age can I start introducing make-up to my daughter? She is 13. Some of her friends wear it and its dark and too much. Can this damage their young skin?

A. I get this question a lot on the web. There is no magic age for letting your daughter wear makeup. When you decide it’s right–for both of you—I would stress the importance of clean, clear skin first.

Start her on a cleansing, toning, and moisturizing routine. Then ease into the make-up one product at a time.This is so you can monitor and wait for her to master that before she moves onto another product.
Also stress the importance of make-up removal so she falls into the habit of thoroughly cleaning her skin before bed.

When to start with make-up is a topic that really seems to get people fired up! Some worry that allowing makeup means allowing their daughters to grow up too fast, look older than they are and causes long term skin problems. As a professional make-up artist, I feel that these are unnecessary worries if makeup is done properly! The key to beginner’s make-up is to look as natural as possible.

I would suggest clear or brown mascara, not waterproof. A lightly tinted lip-gloss. Look for the words sheer or tinted, that way they can’t overdo it. I would stay away from black eyeliners, foundations and bright shadows for now. The key to those products is learning to use them the right way. Makeup should always enhance and not try to take away from natural beauty.

Any of you dealing with issues like this?
j.