I started watching makeup tutorials after school. I learned about foundation, color correction, and the different products people used to make scars less noticeable.
I spent my allowance on inexpensive brushes and practiced techniques on my own face.
At first, I was terrible.
Then, after checking with her doctors about what was safe for her healed skin, I asked my mother to let me try.
She sat reluctantly in front of the bathroom mirror.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I want you to feel beautiful again.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
She let me begin.
I worked slowly, asking if anything hurt and stopping whenever her skin felt uncomfortable.
The first attempt looked so bad that she burst out laughing.
I laughed too.
For the first time in weeks, we stood together in front of a mirror without crying.
We tried again another day.
Then another.
Eventually, I learned which products worked for her and which irritated her skin.
