Make Up — How you may or may not apply it

I am going to stick my neck out this month and talk about makeup. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” For people like me makeup can be very tricky. Women are almost born to it. One sees very young girls trying their mother’s lipstick and mascara etc. and it grows with them. As with every subject there is a body of knowledge with which girls slowly become familiar as they grow up, coupled with the skills required to apply makeup. We of course, come to this art form much later so we have a lot of catching up to do.

Where does one start? In my case I learned what I could by watching other trans girls, women, TV and YouTube. After I met Gail, my now wife, it became a little easier. She would do my eyes which helped a great deal. Eventually I took this task over myself. Although she still does them for special occasions.

The golden rule, as I understand it is — clean face thoroughly with a good quality soap. If you still have to, shaving your beard helps a great deal.

Talking of shaving. If I have a special reason I shave once with my cheap Remington razor and then again with a regular razor, this really works with the hard spots. Obviously the shaving soap acts as a cleanser. Don’t forget to shave your ear hair. Of course if you are one of the lucky ones who doesn’t need to shave, wash thoroughly as previously stated.

The next step is moisturize, moisturize, moisturize, one cannot over do this. There are lots of good quality moisturizers on the market. Find one you like. This is true of all makeup items and I am going to resist mentioning brand names where I can.

Primer is the next item. This is applied before your foundation and one should follow the instructions on the container.

Once your face is primed the next application foundation. Selecting the correct one is very important. One has to take into consideration one’s skin tone. If your are caucasian like me you need to use a foundation with a pink tint. I like one that is a shade darker, or I look like a refugee from Halloween. Latin, Asian, and dark skinned girls have to buy appropriately shaded foundation. Don’t be too liberal with it otherwise your face becomes caked which doesn’t look nice. My wife gave me a small item one lightly dampens and as it is made of a soft material it is used to spread your foundation evenly on your face. [Makeup sponges are readily available in the beauty section of most drug stores.]

Now we are getting into dangerous territory — eyebrows. Male eyebrows are usually much coarser than female versions which is a problem in its self. I have found the most successful way to deal with them is waxing. This way they can be shaped how you want. I don’t know if it is possible to do this yourself. When I get it done I go to the nail salon we use and they do it. As a result it doesn’t get done as often as it should. So I commit a serious crime, I trim them with my nose trimmer.This causes them to thicken slightly. Again selecting the color of your eyebrow pencil is a personal thing. It is possible to buy a selection of eye shadow which includes plastic templates for eyebrows. Personal selection of color and shades also applies to eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara.

Lips fall into the same category. With younger girls the shape of the lips is usually well defined. As one get older the lips tend to shrink somewhat so it may be necessary to use a lipliner. Please try to make it the same color as your lipstick. In my humble opinion contrasting shades of lipstick and lipliner do not look nice.

There is a technique known as contouring. The object of this is to slightly change the appearance of one’s face. If you have a long face and you wish to soften its appearance contouring will do it. It will modify the appearance of the shape of any face, be it long, round, or diamond. It is possible to buy kits which include face powders such as brown, light tan, and blush. The container usually has diagrams which show you where to apply the different shades depending on the shape you are looking for. As usual some are more descriptive than others. My face tends to be on the long side so I try to make it appear rounder.

Pauline and Gail dressed up for Halloween.

So where to buy al this stuff. Here I must generalize. Individually I am sure some girls have been very successful in many different types of makeup vendors. Obviously drug stores or department stores are an easy choice. Their makeup department is usually placed close to the entrance as makeup is very profitable and they want to make it easy for you to buy what you need. Staff are usually qualified in makeup art in some form and are usually TG friendly and helpful. One can get basic application help in these types of outlets. Compared to the exclusive makeup stores drug stores are usually not quite as competent. This includes service and product availability.

I have had two serious makeovers. One was in Ogonquit, Maine at a function call the Maine Event. This was a small organized gathering or get together for trans girls which in itself was very nice. My makeover was done by the women who organized the event, she is a professional makeup artist. During the course of the makeover she used a wig cap and adhesive tape to pull my face into shape. The end result was excellent. This I had to pay for.

The other makeover I have had was at our local Sephora outlet. The girls in the store are terrific, they work on commission and are not allowed to accept tips. If you make an appointment they will do a makeover for you. It doesn’t cost anything but you are expected to buy product. It is not difficult to spend over $100. Obviously they push their own brand and one has to make their own mind up about which of their products are okay. They also sell most proprietary brands and plenty of it. I have no qualms about recommending them.

I once heard a joke whereby a women asked a NYC cabbie how can she get to the opera. He replied by saying “practice, practice, practice”.

Applying makeup has the same philosophy.

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Tags: crossdressing, featured, makeup

Category: Makeup, Transgender How To