The Brussels Girl Geek Dinner was in Brussels, and it was Girls (or women) only for once. For good reason: the subject was make-up, something guys our age usually don’t really need or want.

Nice location: the B52, a relatively swank Brussels start of the century house, with high ceilings and plaster mouldings. As soon as we came in, a glass of bubbly was pressed into our fingers, and the morsels of food we got served were of very decent quality.

The night was sponsored by Nivea. So we got a presentation about the beauty products, of course – nothing earth-shattering there, and there was food on the table anyway – and then on to the interesting part: the make-up session.

Everyone got made up by a Nivea beautician, with corresponding advice. It was fun watching every one of us go under the brush, and come out, well, different.

The thing is: a very young woman with lots of make up can (arguably) be called “foxy”. As we grow older, it’s much more delicate: treading the fine line between softening the blemishes of time, and straying into looking like an old lech of the cougar variety. Layers of foundation screaming: “look at me ! I’m still young ! I’m still attractive !”

In my opinion, my make-up went slightly over the line. However, a more toned-down version can certainly be of use.

But it was definitely fun, like dressing up. And at the end we got goodie bags full of – guess what – Nivea products. Brisk trading followed, as we had different combinations “i’ll trade you that shower gel for that hair gloss product” etc.

Many thanks to Clo for organizing, although she unfortunately couldn’t make it, and Helena, Caroline and Karen for keeping an eye out for her. And to Melissa, Marie, Flo, Tineke, Gudrun and all the others for being good company.