makeup

Dressing up and pretending to be an adult is a natural part of childhood. Adults (just like fairies, kings, or queens) hold a bit of allure and enticement for young kids, making it a treat to pretend to be them for a while.

Yet, in today’s consumer-driven culture, the notion of "aging up" kids is happening in a way that has taken all the fun and pretend out of it. Clothing that is marketed towards kids, especially girls, looks less "girly" and more like smaller versions of outfits found in the tween and teen sections of stores.

Have your preteen's looks suffered with age? GeoGirl can erase her wrinkles in time for that last year of grammar school!

Wait...what?

White lipstick called "Ghosttown," a greyish nail polish called "Factory," and an eyeshadow called "Sleepwalker," were just some of the products of the MAC/Rodarte Fall 2010 makeup collaboration themed around the Mexican bordertown of Juarez, one of the most dangerous cities in the world, where 400 women have been murdered and gone missing (and that's just the reported cases--actual statistics are probably much higher.) The faux pas has finally hit the fan though, and while MAC almost immediately backtracked and said they would donate all proceeds to Juarez groups, they just announced that they are not continuing with the line at all.

Makeup giant Maybelline has a newsletter of sorts in which consumers answer a few questions and get tips on choosing products most suitable for their look. An Asian-Canadian blogger who uses the moniker Rasilla was happy enough to answer Maybelline’s questions about her appearance. But after choosing "brown" for eye-color, Rasilla was asked to select the shape of her eyes. Her options? Close set, wide set, hooded, Asian, almond, down-turned, deep-set, prominent and centered. Let’s backtrack for a moment. One of the options was Asian. That’s right, Asian. Rasilla wasn’t too pleased about this.