MY DAD DID MY MAKEUP
Bewildered by Sephora, fathers to tweens are getting schooled on lips, liners & lashes
THEY’VE got their fathers’ eye makeup.
On a recent Sunday, five intrepid dads gathered at the new Blushington beauty bar on the Upper East Side to help their tween daughters learn to take care of their skin and apply ageappropriate makeup.
“Every dad should know this stuff before a big event because [the girls] come out looking like they shouldn’t look,” says one of the participating dads, Seth Rosensweig, 46, an accounting consultant who lives with his wife and two daughters on the Upper East Side. “You have to be involved . . . You don’t want to sit on the sidelines.”
The $50 class is the first of several that Blushington plans to hold in response to demand from dads who want to better help their YouTubemakeup-tutorial-obsessed daughters navigate concealer and contouring, especially if Mom isn’t around. The 90-minute class is divided into three parts: lip preparation, skin care and makeup application. Each dad is paired with a makeup artist who watches and instructs him on how to cover acne with concealer, subtly highlight cheekbones and perfect a glossy pout.
The program was inspired, in part, by a popular hairbraiding class for dads offered at Cozy’s Cuts for Kids, an uptown salon not affiliated with Blushington. Some participating dads are divorced, while others are happily married but have wives who travel often; Blushington also anticipates the class appealing to gay fathers and widowers.
“It’s bar mitzvah season — two to three per weekend. If my wife is away on business, what do we do?” says Michael Covino, 50, a married dad, as he sweeps Opal by Becca highlighter on his 12-year-old daughter, Sky.
Covino, who works in multimedia, came to the class with a six-pack of beer to foster bonding with the other dads and keep him from stressing out too much as he learned the “windshieldwiper” eye-shadow application technique.
“It calms the nerves,” he says.
Meanwhile, daughters sip virgin strawberry Bellinis while giggling and admiring their dads’ handiwork.
“He’s very secure in his femininity,” says Sky.
Divorced dad Steve Hirsch, 49, signed up for the class after his first foray to Sephora. He was overwhelmed by the offerings and realized he needed help.
“Sephora is absolutely confusing,” he says. “This class is like a consultancy.”
By the end of the session, he felt much more confident in his ability to navigate Sephora’s aisles with his blossoming beauty hound.
“I dabbed a bit, I blended,” he says. But there’s still more to learn. “When it came to [eye]liner, I wasn’t allowed [to apply it].”
Raymond Thorne, 59, a social worker living in The Bronx, also struggled with eyeliner.
“[It] was the hardest part,” he says. But overall, he’s happy with what he’s taken away from the training.
“I had respect for what women went through before coming here,” he says. “But I have a lot more respect now.”
His 12-year-old daughter, Clarissa Thorne-Disla, is also pleased with what her dad has gotten out of the class.
“I trust him [now with helping me with makeup],” she says.
Covino is thrilled with what he’s learned.
“This just expanded our relationship to a new level,” he says. “I can’t help [my daughter] with hair, but this? Yeah, I can do this for her.”
“I would trust him now more than my sister,” says Sky.
Amelia Hirsch, 10, is less effusive in her praise for father Steve’s potential.
“I would maybe let him do my concealer,” she says.
Lew Schlosser spritzes green-tea setting spray across the face of his 12-yearold daughter, Emma, and takes a moment to admire his skillful application of Stila Matte ’n Metal eye shadow on her lids.
“She’s perfect. It’s subtle, which fits her personality well,” says the 44-year-old forensic psychologist from the Upper East Side. “She’s not a Kardashian.”