Being a girl

When I was pregnant with Lizzie, I was positively terrified that I would have a boy. I had no idea what to do with a male child. Could I teach him to knit, I thought? I worried that I'd have the most feminine boy on the block. I realize now how silly my thinking was. I'm sure a boy would have turned out just fine.

However, my fears were groundless. Lizzie was a girl after all and I have to say, having a girl is the cat's meow. Especially for a girly-girl like me. Luckily, she has her dad to balance out the sugar and spice.

This past Sunday, Lizzie and I enjoyed a completely girl trip to Calgary, specifically so Lizzie could have a teen-appropriate makeup lesson at Sephora. We are trying to avoid the "raccoon-eyes" that seem to be so common with young girls these days, especially around here.

I know Lizzie is lovely and doesn't really need to wear makeup, but wearing makeup is JUST SO MUCH FUN.

Here's my Lizzie prior to her tutorial. Such a beautiful, little face, a pretty smile and fantastic skin.

And after.

Just as pretty, but a bit more polished. And no "raccoons" to be seen.

Our makeup artist was lovely and very helpful, keeping to the slightly less expensive Sephora products. She respected Lizzie's wish to keep the makeup light and had some great tips. She also mentioned that we could go back anytime for ways to update her look as she grows and matures.

And here's another pic of Lizzie in full Halloween mode. Grrrr!

_____________________________________

On a side note, here in Canada, one of our drug store chains have in-house Beauty Boutiques in many of their stores. They are like mini-Sephoras. Not quite as good of an experience but good enough for a quick cosmetic fix and I've always been happy with them.

I took Lizzie here first before decided to head up to Calgary (3 hours drive away). The salesperson was what I will call a grandmotherly-type. When we asked for some help with learning how to apply makeup, the woman tilted her head to one side, looked at Lizzie, and said "oh dear, you don't need to wear makeup". I persisted, agreeing that, "yes, Lizzie is very pretty without makeup, but that she would still like to wear some, so can you please help us?" Many girls do, right? The salespersons reply, "how about just a touch of mascara and gloss?". clearly reluctant to help us. Lizzie's little face fell. She's knows how to mascara and gloss but wanted some more advice. So we left, and probably won't go back.

The whole experience left me completely unsatisfied and a little bewildered that any salesperson would give up a guaranteed sale. Plus I felt like this woman was making a judgement on whether my daughter should wear makeup or not.

So now we'll just have to make more road trips to Calgary.