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Lots of little girls love to play with make-up and there is nothing wrong with that. There are little kits with clear lipglosses and peel-off nail polish. It's like pretending to be a grown up when you're little (yay for imagination <3).

For pre-teens, there was always stuff like Lip Smackers and stuff that would give you a little hint of cuteness. Nothing wrong with this either.

However, having a full face of make-up as a preteen is just ridiculous. Last year when I saw my 12-year old cousin at first glance, I though she was her sister who is 18 because she was wearing so much make-up...the foundation, the eyeliner, lipstick, everything. She is young and beautiful without the make up and all it does is make her look old in a not-so flattering way.

I'm not going to be a make-up Nazi if I have kids, but I'll at least encourage any girls I have (if there are any) in a better way, like using more when going out or dressing up, but less for everyday and school. I'd be more than happy to buy make-up for them that is appropriate for the age as a means of growing older and stuff.

I think that it really depends on the situation and the maturity of the girl. My dad has a deep red face which turns even darker when he gets mad. If I go a little out of my way to do an excersize, laugh too hard or I just get angry, my face will make me look like I sat on a beach for six hours withought any sunscreen. I got made fun of so much when I was younger because of this, I would come home crying some days. My mom then showed me cover up (when I was about 10) so the other kids would stop making fun of me.

Perhaps I have a slightly different perspective than some. I was a child actor from the age of three. As you probably know, any time you go on stage, you need to wear makeup. If you don't, the bright lights will make your skin look sickly-pale, like a flat white nothing. So, I've been wearing stage makeup since I was three years old. I started putting it on for myself when I was about six.

But my parents made it very clear that makeup was only for work, and had to be washed off right after curtain call. I was never allowed to leave the theater with makeup on.

I always got chapped lips, so my mother got me some clear lip balm. When I was ten, she let me upgrade to clear lip gloss. At twelve, I was allowed to pick out a VERY lightly tinted gloss instead -- the color was almost indistinguishable from the color of my actual lips.

The summer after eighth grade, she took me shopping for makeup again. This time it was a very subtle blush, very subtle brown shades of eye shadow, and a very subtle lipstick. All of them provided barely any more color than was already in my skin. Mom showed me how to put them on and use them to enhance my eyes and lips, to downplay my acne or the shape of my nose. Mostly, she kept repeating, "This isn't for the stage. For the stage, it has to be very strong and sharply defined. For real life, people should see YOU, not your makeup. If they can look at you and see that you're made up, you're wearing too much."

Now that I'm an adult, that's still the benchmark I use. My little nieces come over cometimes. One's twelve and the other is fifteen, and their school forbids makeup for students entirely. I think that's a good idea, personally. But when M or N come over, I show them how to put on makeup in very subtle, neat, clean ways, so that when and if they get ready to wear it with their parents' permission, they'll know how not to look like painted whores or clowns with makeup smeared all over.

I think girls should wait till they at least hit high school. I'm not a big fan of makeup but I do wear some. I wear mascera on the top eyelashes & a tiny bit of mascera on the ends of my eyelids. That's all I need. I started wsearing makeup in grade 11 & I don't wear it everyday either.