Welcome to 13 Going on Beautiful!!

So I've been thinking for a while about starting this blog...not because I think I know everything there is to know about makeup - because I don't! - but because I wish I'd had someone to seek makeup advice from when I was in my early teens, and just starting to experiment with it all. It's sort of like learning anything new, and sometimes it takes a while to figure out how everything works. I hope to use this blog to answer questions about makeup and to offer advice on application so that no one else has to endure the embarassment of looking back at high school photos and thinking "Oh my GOD, who let me out of the house looking like THAT?!?!" Believe me, you do not want that.

That said, I want to get one basic thought out before I really get into things here. In my ideal world, 13 and 14 year olds wouldn't really be interested in wearing makeup becuase they'd be too busy playing Barbies to care about how they looked, I'm pretty sure those days are behind us. I've done makeup on some young ones - 8 year olds for fashion shows, 13 year olds for photo shoots...so telling them they don't need makeup is in one ear and out the other. Maybe you're hearing the same thing at home, that you don't need it or aren't allowed to wear it. But the truth is, if you want to wear it, eventually you will wear it, so my main concern is that you're wearing it correctly. I am a big fan of age-appropriate makeup, and I know this is a phrase I'll be using over and over on this site. Lots of young celebrities -like Hayden or Miley- wear makeup, and lots of it! But their "red carpet lips" aren't necessarily appropriate for your Sunday family dinners, and the "sexy smokey eye" is probably a bit too much for school. The trick is to consider the occasion, and then decide what is ok and what will probably raise an eyebrow. I'll talk more about this later, but in the meantime, just keep in mind that during the day, simple, natural looks are best - save the drama for nights out with your friends, or special events like prom or birthday parties. You are not a vampire. All-over black eyeshadow during the day is really not a good look. On ANYONE.