by Jen Myers

Brow gel, lip liner pencils, eyeshadow pallets, blending sponges, and a long table set up with light-framed mirrors. This is not a Broadway backstage dressing room or the makeup counter at Nordstrom. It is the cafeteria at the Sullivan Middle School.

It is 8 a.m. on a Friday morning and eight middle school girls anxiously sit in front of the mirrors, cleansing and moisturizing their faces. They are about to engage in a two-hour make-up lesson with professional makeup artist and educator Barbara Rodriguez, founder of Barbara Rodriguez Co.

“Makeup isn’t to make you pretty, it is to enhance your features; you are all already pretty,” Rodriguez tells them.

She is sure to stress the importance of proper skin care. Use cleanser, toner, serum, and moisturizer, every single day. Exfoliate once a week.

Next they move onto eyebrows.

“Brows are what shape and frame your face,” Rodriguez says, explaining that brow gel is trending pretty hot right now and can immediately give your face shape. In her opinion, it is “one of the best things ever invented.”

She tells them all they really need is a little brow gel; she uses a brow pencil on hers because when she was younger, she waxed her eyebrows too much and made them too thin, in the process losing several hairs. She warned the girls about going that route.

The lucky students were nominated by their teachers. This opportunity was a way to give a little mid-year boost to those who may be in a bit of a funk, experiencing attendance issues, or just need something to break up their routines. In exchange for the privilege of attending this exclusive lesson, they promised to make up any work they were missing.

“God has put me into places where I can give back with my career,” Rodriguez, a Lowell resident said when asked why she jumped at the chance to provide makeup lessons for middle school girls. “I find myself in unusual places at unusual times (including providing make-up instruction to women in a correctional facility in Salisbury), but it always feels good to give back.”

Cafeteria workers, busy prepping for the upcoming lunch surge, pause from time to time to listen in on the lessons. Teachers pop in between classes to pick up a couple of tips and tricks.

Community Schools Manager Gayl Hurley, who brought Rodriguez to the school, was impressed by the amount of information and the number of techniques Rodriguez was teaching the students – quickly realizing that she has been doing her own makeup “wrong” for years!

“I don’t use a brush, I use my finger,” Hurley says when Rodriguez advises the girls to use a brush to apply concealer to their eyelids.

“Don’t talk like that in front of me,” laughs Rodriguez. “Brushes are everything.”

She explains that the concealer prevents the eyeshadow from creasing. She instructs the girls to gently press it onto their eyelid, not wipe it across or they’ll just remove it.

The one time you do use your finger is to apply shimmer shadow, gently pressing it onto the middle of the lid and inward.

Rodriguez demonstrates how she applies mascara, bringing the wand up to the lash root and blinking. This lifts the lashes up and covers them evenly.

Always do your eye makeup first, she says, because there is a lot of fallout from eyeshadow that needs to be cleaned up before moving on to the rest of your face.

Because they are young, she tells the girls they do not need to use a full cover foundation – a tinted moisturizer will do the trick of smoothing out their skin tone and covering blemishes.

“The point of foundation is not to look like foundation – it is to look like skin,” she says.

Throughout the session, Rodriguez spends time with each student helping them pick the correct colors for their skin tones, showing them how much of each product to apply to brushes, and helping them perfect their technique. She also provided each of them with a goodie bag of products to use at home.

Middle school girls can be tough to read. Are they happy? Are they sad? Are they bored? Are they angry?

As the lessons go on, their facades begin to crack and their smiles start to shine through. They all did a great job applying the lessons they were taught and stepped away from the table with their natural beauty shining through and a rejuvenated pep in their step – looking their best for Algebra class.

This makeover session was clearly more than skin deep.

For more information about Barbara Rodriguez, including her services, classes, and how to purchase items from her product line, visit https://linktr.ee/barbararodriguez.co You can follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/barbararodriguez.co