Beauty Lesson: Kids Do Their Moms' Makeup

Some lucky little kids got to get their hands into mommy’s lipstick and mascara this week for a BuzzFeed project, “Kids Do Their Moms’ Makeup,” but it was actually just an elaborate, adorable lesson on inner beauty. For the tactile experiment, a handful of cuties ranging in age from 4 to 9 got to do up the faces of three good-sport moms — to hysterically disastrous results (think: creepy clown). “I’ve seen people do it on TV,” assures one 5-year-old girl before swiping mama’s cheek with blush — while another attempts to cleverly pass the buck. “The boys are making her look pretty bad,” she warns.

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After the makeup session, one of the moms explains her intention: “One thing I want my kids to understand about beauty is that there’s beauty in difference — that people of all different shapes and sizes can be beautiful, and that we can feel beautiful because of how we feel about ourselves, about our self-esteem, and about what we do. That beauty is more about doing than about looks,” she says.

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“I want her to know that beauty comes from within, and that all of this is just surface. It doesn’t really matter, it’s what’s in here that matters,” notes another mom (this one with a wide smear of mascara on her forehead) as she pats her 4-year-old daughter’s chest.

Said daughter, however, seems to have clearly understood the message from the outset. “Anyone can be pretty,” she declares at the start of the video. “A banana is pretty!” Excellent point.