Make-Up & Style Review

Go ahead and start making your jokes, but I've committed to covering each and every new Nintendo download that comes along in this new eShop era – so that includes make-up simulators targeted at little girls. Make-Up & Style is exactly what it seems to be, a virtual interface for girls to play around with applying lipstick, eye shadow and rouge to digital faces.

I don't see the point of it. This kind of cosmetics play absolutely has a place in a young girl's life, but that place is when she sneaks into her mom's, her aunt's or her older sister's bedroom, finds their make-up collection and sits in front of a mirror practicing on herself. If you've got a young daughter, niece or sister in your life who's at the age to want that kind of experience, she's probably already had it – or you could sit down with her and share the time together so she doesn't feel like she has to sneak around in secrecy about it.

The game itself does little to argue against my initial dislike of its very concept, as its characters seem creepily lifeless and its "missions" don't convince me that this is really a game at all. Its photo-taking feature is just odd, too – you use the 3DS or DSi Camera to take a picture of your girl's face and it applies her image to one of the in-game models. Again, why not just go use the bathroom mirror?

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