Dear Marilyn

Today is a letter of appreciation for YOU! We met you just yesterday but our experience with you merits an open love letter so others can appreciate you, too. Showing AND telling is the best way I can express my gratitude!

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Dear Marilyn,

My daughter, Willa – age 5, and I were having such a fun girls’ day together yesterday. We ran some errands, did some shopping, had a girls’ lunch, and then came into your MAC store.

This turned into the highlight of our day!

She loves to put on makeup some mornings with me, and that same morning had asked me where I buy it. Knowing we’d be at the mall, I told her that I’d show her. Perfect timing!

Makeup has always intimidated me. As you and I talked about, I grew up in a no makeup house. My mom empowered us to “let our natural beauty shine.” On special occasions she would wear a tiny bit of eye shadow and lipstick, but that was it. In 8th grade I bought blue mascara and blue eyeliner but never quite knew what to do with them and didn’t know who, or how, to ask for help. To this day, I have never had the courage to ask for someone to help me learn.

I understand and appreciate the sentiment of having beauty come from within.

I understand and appreciate empowering kids to embrace their natural beauty.

But, I also understand and appreciate that makeup is FUN! And, it doesn’t have to be intimidating. If we approach it right, it can be a giant box of crayons, infinitely creative, visually transformative, and even magical.

Willa called it “getting her face painted,” because that’s how fun and accessible you made it to her. It wasn’t about improving or fixing anything, you made it 100% about having fun. And for that, I am exceptionally grateful.

I want her to grow up feeling confident to try anything she wants, including makeup. I want her to walk into a store and ask questions and sample things. I want her to whip out blue mascara and blue eyeliner and get creative with confidence.

Marilyn, you flipped the script on my childhood experience and helped form an indelible memory for both of us. We asked if you would do a tiny bit of something fun for her and you created magic! You let her choose every color of the rainbow, every bit of sparkly glitter her heart desired, and you made it SO. MUCH. FUN!

You brought deeper joy to an already fun day. You added even more rainbows to my rainbow girl. You helped us get out of our heads and “eat the toast.” And you held out your hand and welcomed a little girl into a fun, fantastical world.

She was so jazzed, we listened to Katy Perry, Roar on repeat the whole way home. She wore a huge grin and said she felt “very, very, very, verrrry, very happy to feel like a fairy and a princess.”

Thank you, Marilyn! May you always shine your light on everyone you meet.

Carey Martin

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