Makeup Artists for a Day

• June 1st, 2008
• View Comments (7)

As promised I am writing about my experience providing makeup for a dance recital. What a rewarding experience! The recital was held in the theater where I danced when I was age 6 to 13. I also participated in musical theatre there every summer. It was such a trip down memory lane! It seemed as though nothing had changed in there for 20 years! My high school class also used that stage for graduation since our high school had no auditorium and no air conditioning in the gym. Oh the memories!

There were 5 of us doing the makeup for the girls. This was a good number. There were lots of girls! The age range was 3 to 13! The dance instructors told us most of the girls would be in the basement. Two of us went to the basement, myself included. The youngest dancers were getting ready in the basement. My first makeup recipient was a 3 year old.  She had been overcome with stagefright during rehearsal. Her mom told her she could wear makeup as long as she wouldn’t cry on stage again. She was a doll!

The task of getting everyone made up wasn’t as chaotic as I’d feared it might be. It was not too difficult to keep the girls in line. Many wanted to watch as their friends got made up. “She’s pretty!” they would say. They were full of questions. One girl said her grandma “works for Mary Kay.” As I was doing the makeup another girl asked, “Who is Mary Kay?” I said, “Mary Kay was an old woman who started her own makeup company and now her grandchildren run the business.” They thought this was fascinating. “Wow, my grandma never told me that!” responded the girl whose grandma works for Mary Kay.

There were also dance questions. I used to dance. I told them I used to do shows on the same stage and I used to get ready in the basement, too. They commented on their eye makeup and I told them this was how I did my makeup for stage; to which one girl responded, “you did your OWN makeup?!” Yes, the dance world isn’t quite Hollywood — it’s very DIY!

I was also asked how long I danced so I told them I started dancing when I was 4 years old and I was about 27 when I quit. Of course the next question was, “how old are you now?” I told them and the response was, “well, that wasn’t too long ago, then.”

The experience was a lot of fun and I plan to do it again next year. It has also been brought to my attention that the school is looking to expand its curriculum to include ballet and they are looking for ballet instructors. I’m looking into this!

What were my Mary Kay results? Well, I have 3 new leads from the event. Two are already MK customers who need a consultant. We’ll see how that turns out, too. The most important thing about this experience was how much fun it was and the new friends I made within my MK unit and having that blast from the past to remind me of my showbiz days! It was a truly rewarding experience.

Tags: Cosmetics, NaBloPoMo, Networking, Paycheck of the Heart