'Makeover' a bit addictive

Game title: "I Love Beauty: Hollywood Makeover"

Platform: Nintendo DS

Studio: City Interactive

Rated: E for Everyone

Score: 6 of 10

THE REVIEW: "Weirdly addictive" is how my 12-year-old daughter — a tomboy no less — describes this strange girls-only offering. But it's clearly geared for even younger girls who might be enthralled by the magic of makeup.

THE GAME PLAY: It's actually not so much a game as development of a particular skill set — in this case, the ability to accurately apply eyeliner or pluck brows and shade cheeks. There are 36 different cosmetics to apply in various combinations along with jewelry to get that perfect look. There are also four different modes. You can own the salon and style your clients, you can customize, enter contests or just free-play. But watch out for that curling iron. It's hot.

GRAPHICS: The graphics are nice, but after a while, it all looked the same to me. My 10-year-old was more forgiving.

AUDIO: Background noise. Definitely not the strong point.

THE WRAP-UP: Girls — especially young girls who want to be big enough to play with makeup or who just want a simple game to play on the DS will enjoy this.

PARENT'S TAKE: There's nothing objectionable, as long as you don't mind an obsession with perfect makeup and nail polish and jewelry.

FINAL WORD: There's not much here to stretch your imagination and there's virtually no story, if that appeals to you. But there is something kind of soothing and, yes, addictive about plucking and plucking and plucking those eyebrows until DS rewards you with a "perfect!"

E-mail: lois@desnews.com