I started sneaking makeup in about the 6th grade. This was the time of Cindi Lauper, so it was bright blue eye shadow.
I would wash it off every day before I went home, but I forgot one day - OOPS!
Sometime between 8th and 9th grade I was allowed to use it, and it looked much better then, because my mom took me to get lessons on application (no more sky blue!)
My daughter is 10. She has done some modeling and is on a competitive cheerleading team - so she has worn makeup already for these events. And I will put a little bit of sparkly shadow on her for picture days (a little lavender shadow makes her brown eyes pop!) And lip gloss. And I'll let her use a spritz of my Pink (smells like pink grapefruit - very light) perfume if we're going to a wedding or something special.
She has gorgeous lashes, so I told her I'd kill her if she started wearing mascara and ruined them.
But we've settled on 13 for her to wear "real" makeup. And she knows that on her birthday we'll go to Ulta and get a makeup lesson - she's really looking forward to that.
I'm hoping that by letting her have a little now, on special days, she'll be content. And that her 13th birthday will be her special day. Plus, the stage makeup for competitions is such a pain, she's already feeling the downside of cosmetics.
As for cleansers and her skin... she has already started getting a few pimples on her nose. But I don't want to ruin her skin with harsh chemicals, so we just use Noxzema - heck I still use noxzema for every day cleaning!
She's already going through puberty at 10 (ACK!). She's needing to wear a sports bra and hair has started beneath her armpits and other places. Her period's probably coming within the year I would guess. Now I get to teach her how to shave - oh joy.
