Makeup Heaven for Teen Angels

Tony Hirsch had a revelation when he entered his stepdaughter’s bathroom and saw she had 79 nail polishes. “A lightbulb went off in my head,” he said.

Thursday, Hirsch and his wife, Patsy, launched a cosmetics and skin care shop for girls called SkinMarket at the Beverly Center. This won’t be their mothers’ store, and that’s precisely the point, Hirsch said.

SkinMarket is designed to be a hangout for teenagers. “The whole attitude is happy loitering,” he said, a place where girls can be girls. They can order custom-colored lipstick ($14.95 plus shipping and handling) and write messages to friends that will later be sunk into Zen soap ($9.50). Customers can also try on nail polish, listen to the latest CDs, read European fashion magazines and get a make-over.

“It’s a place to listen to rock ‘n’ roll,” Hirsch said, then corrected himself. “Of course, young girls don’t listen to rock ‘n’ roll anymore.”

Hirsch, who launched HMV Music Ltd. record stores in Canada and the U.S., was a marketing consultant who wanted to test his theories. The British native’s research found that “in [the U.S.], girls spend an average of $42 a month on cosmetics.” That’s second only to clothes.

Teen girls told him they like experimenting with makeup and such but that they are a little intimidated at department store makeup counters.

According to Hirsch, “The girls love this, but their mothers won’t.”

SkinMarket cosmetics, soaps, shampoos and nail polishes are in the same price range as BathWorks and the Body Shop--chains that cater to teen girls. And Hirsch hopes this will be the first of many SkinMarket stores. “Teenage culture is the same in Denver as it is in L.A., with a twist,” he said.

SkinMarket: (310) 854-6935.