CNJ+ June 2023

MAKEUP ARTIST AND AUTHOR TALKS ABOUT BEING PERFECTLY IMPERFECT By, Mark Krajnak

With her light pink hair, side shave and sleeve of tattoos, New Jersey makeup artist Lauren Vena may not be your typical Girl Scouts guest speaker. But one of the first things a young Girl Scout, from Troop 714325 in Al lentown, New Jersey, said to Lauren even before she started her talk was “I love your hair!”

ing speaker for her Girl Scout Troop. "Many of the girls in the troop are starting to think about skin care and having fun with makeup," Kahn said. "We've been talking to them about women's roles, stereotypes, and real beauty. One girl even wants to become a makeup artist! I thought it would be great to have Lauren come in, share her experiences and tips, but also talk about how beauty comes from the inside." Vena has been doing makeup for more than 20 years. Many days, in cluding weekends, she’s booked to do makeup for proms, weddings, bat mitzvahs and celebrity photoshoots

Vena, from Marlboro, NJ, was asked to be a guest speaker, not because of the way she looks, but because of all she does — Mom, Wife, Small Business Owner, Au thor, Volunteer, Dog Rescuer — and the important message she wanted to com municate to these fifth graders. And that message is…being perfectly imperfect is perfectly fine. In today’s TikTok culture and #BoldGlamour filters, young girls and young women are inundated with videos touting the best diet to eat, the best fitness program to do, the best clothes to wear. The best way to do their makeup. And if, as per these online influencers, the girls don’t do this, they won’t be LTBL — Living Their Best Life. Vena spoke to these young women about how doing what everyone else is doing is really not the best thing. Even putting their makeup on. She was asked to speak to the Girl Scouts by her grade-school friend (and Troop leader) Jacey Kahn, a former classmate whom she recently re-con nected with on Facebook. Kahn saw Lauren’s posts about the makeup jobs she was doing for teens, moms and celebs, the book signings she was doing

for magazines. This past spring, she even did the makeup for the cast of High School Musical , the Marlboro Middle School play her daughter, Chloe, and son, Travis, both starred in. The message she delivered to these girl scouts was that it's ok to not be per fect on the outside. Beauty comes from within. She underscored this mes sage with a project she had the girls do — to draw on faces any way they saw fit, whatever they thought was beautiful. “I gave them a sketch of a blank face and, using their imagination and creative side, I wanted them to really focus on beauty from the inside out. Using crayons, cut-outs from magazines, whatever, and then signing their faces with a name or quote to really make it theirs,” Vena said. “Makeup is fun and colorful. They shouldn’t have to feel like they have to wear it at this age, but to be creative with it.” At the end of the exercise, the group decided to call it Perfectly Imperfect . Of course, Lauren did give them some makeup advice — but age-appro priate tips — and they tried out what they learned. She feels a little makeup at their age is OK — if parents are ok with it — but she sees too many girls using too much. She told them her personal view of makeup…and comfort. “I’m a makeup artist for a living and even I don’t wear makeup all the time,” said Vena “My favorite outfit is a onesie, and my hair is always a mess! And that’s ok!” In addition to her makeup career, Vena also is a twice-published chil dren’s book author. She wrote her first book, My Mom…The Best Mom Ever , during COVID lockdown. She wrote her second book, My Dad…The Best Dad Ever …soon after. Both books carry a similar theme: Parents are always trying their best, even if they aren’t perfect. Mom may set a small fire in the kitchen when cooking, or Dad may not quite fix that leaky pipe, but they are trying their best. And in the end, their kids still love them. By the looks of the smiles on the girls as they did their project and the engagement they had with Lauren, it looks like she was the perfect speaker for Troop 71435. Photo credit: Mark Krajnak

at local bookstores, the volunteer work she does (Lauren started an initia tive called Mommy Makeovers where she and a team, in cluding hair stylists and photographers, provide a day of glam for moms that may need a beau ty transformation) and the three res cues (two golden retrievers and one corgi) that are part of Lauren’s family, and thought Vena would be an inspir

26 CNJ+ | FORMERLY THE MILLSTONE TIMES

JUNE 2023