Mum lets teen get make-up tattoos

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TO TATTOO OR NOT: A portrait of Sophie Watson from her Facebook page.

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A British mother has sparked controversy after admitting that she gave her 14-year-old daughter permission to have semi-permanent make-up tattooed onto her face.

Sophie Watson, from County Durham, had liner tattooed onto her eyes and lips and her eyebrows inked-on according to the UK magazine.

"The whole thing took nearly seven hours and the eyeliner was the worst part," Sophie, who competes in beauty pageants, told the magazine.

"I started crying because the thought of a needle being that close to my eye freaked me out."

Sophie's mother, Joy Watson is a beauty therapist, and gave permission for the make-up treatment.

"I think she is old enough to be making these decisions with support from me." Watson said.

"It wasn't something we looked into lightly."

Watson said she could understand it might seem shocking to people who did not understand the procedure.

"When you say she has had her make-up tattooed on it sounds really shocking. But actually it is done very subtly," she said.

"It's done to enhance her features, it's not done to change her, to make her look like somebody else. It's not done to change the way she looks."

But a spokeswoman for the British children's charity the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said for vulnerable children it could lead to mental health problems.

"The danger is that a growing climate of sexualisation encourages a view of girls as sex objects," an NSPCC spokeswoman said.

- © Fairfax NZ News