Saturday, January 2, 2016

If it Looks Clown Like and Trashy...You're Doing it Right

I spent a couple hours, minutes off and on, helping DD#2 practice her hair and makeup for Show Choir.  She is currently at a full dress rehearsal, makeup, hair,and full costume, in preparation for the season preview show Monday night. While this might be mundane in other households with daughters, this is a new test of my and her endurance.  Even growing up in the big hair 80's, I managed to avoid the the full makeup and big hair look.  I was a lady at home in my early twenty's when the grunge music and look came.  With DD#1, the closest we got to dance and the show look was her Lion King mane and tail as part of a gymnastics costume the year we put her in that to help with some coordination issues she experienced young. 

We received an e-mail with two pages of instructions for each hair and makeup.  The hair had several methods from the spongy rollers to a curling iron. We opted for the spongy roller as I figured once set, she could brush out an use massive amounts of hairspray to hold in place, and neither of us would have to fuss.  The make up was a whole other issue to tackle. Full makeup for me might be a touch of blush, a little mascara and lip color.  I rarely wear makeup to work, keep my hair in a no fuss style, and can get in and out of the bathroom in the morning, ready for work in less than 15 minutes. My daughters are the same way, though DD#2 is pretty good at costume, stage, and film makeup for her profession. 



We looked over the directions several times to make sure we even knew what item was what.  Fortunately the specific colors were provided, and we just had to supply foundation and extended length mascara. At one point the instructions read "this is not a daily look makeup.  If you feel like you look like a clown or somewhat trashy, you are getting the right look." I know stage lights wash out the most defined features, so makeup is a necessity, but no one wants their baby to intentionally look "trashy". In the end, I think she looked more doll like-not trashy, but definitely overly made up. 

It was a team effort, and one I hope gets easier for her, as she and her friends will help each other when they have to hit the road at 4:00 a.m. for competitions that are hours away and start at 8:00 in the morning. She loves it though, and the talent of these kids, and their competition is immense. I hear from friends who have grown kids that they miss the show choir days.  Despite two older, this is new territory for us.

 I'll leave you with this image.  DD#2 wasn't quite this extreme, but darn close. 


Mimi-Drew Carey Show www.fanpop.com


12 comments:

  1. My best friend has two girls who are in dance class, and she's mentioned the struggle on getting the girls to look cute under the lights, without looking like streetwalkers. ;-) I got a good chuckle out of your description from the instructions. With the boys, this isn't a challenge I have. I barely wear any makeup on a daily basis (mascara, a little eyeliner - I have tiny eyes) & lip gloss. That's it. And sunblock. I'm a real glamour queen. ;-)

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    1. Oh the boys wear a bit as well I'm told-not to the extreme. I'm sure the kids in dance had this well in hand but she was sweating!

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  2. To make you feel better, years ago I catered for every act that came through my home town, so I met everyone from Pavoratti to members of boy bands. The riders always had specific requests and my favorite was one gentleman who shall remain nameless who requested in writing that no one look at his face. (Kinda hard to do since backstage is a flurry of activity form 5 in the morning until well after midnight and you don't keep your head down just in case you run into "the Star") We finally figured out why he had it in his request; he had on more makeup than a 15 dollar street walker, and honestly it looked about the same.(Especially the 3/4 inch eyeliner. I did go to the front of the house while he was singing and low and behold, you could see no makeup but you could see his features, which I assume would have been invisible if he were not caked with paint.

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    1. That is interesting. You would think in show business he would have gotten over it. Now I'm curious to whom but I know you can't tell.

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  3. Thank goodness I don't have a daughter. As a non make up wearer applying make up it could easily look very trashy indeed!

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    1. We went for extreme Barbie doll-maybe the same but I felt better.

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  4. I hope that she had an amazing time - I had no idea that the competitions required every member of the choir to look so 'uniform'! Jx

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    1. This is just the beginning. Tomorrow is preview show and then competition season starts. All are the same but the frilly dress they go half red half white. This is the entry level-by the time she is varsity it is even more "polished". Her school has several national championships and it brings a lot of enjoyment to many so I guess thats good.

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  5. I know people that look so much like mimi, its almost scary. I go super light on the makeup so sending my daughter off like a clown would be a bit upsetting.

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    1. I'm going with doll as opposed to clown to make me feel better. To each his own in the makeup department.

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  6. Oh man, I echo everyone else's sentiments. So much work! I had no idea either and the "instructions" (I can't even believe there are hair and makeup instructions) saying that looking trashy means you're doing it right. Gasp! Anne cracks me up though. I guess if you can't see the caked on layers of make up when they actually get out there on the stage... wow, so crazy!

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    1. Just dropped her off after trying to salvage hair. Her sister helped her and lets just say it was a valiant effort. Her friends will all help each other with make up. Curtain goes up at 7:00.

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