First Steps

Hi, this is my beauty and fashion tutorial blog that starts with the very basics. Any pictures are not mine unless otherwise stated.

[firststeps]

How to Deal with Acne

I used to have pretty bad acne, but I got rid of the problem completely. Here’s how I did it. I’m gonna warn you that I am not a doctor, and that there are many different types of acne. I’m just trying to give advice for general acne that isn’t chronic or in need of prescription treatment.

I mentioned in a few posts that I sleep on a different pillowcase every night. More accurately, I sleep on a different medium men’s undershirt that I use as a pillowcase every night. I follow my skincare routine as well every day. If I am having issues with acne, I am particularly careful to make sure to not put on moisturizer until the stridex has been able to sit for at least 20 minutes.

I use an astringent as well, if I have big pores, clogged pores, or acne. I make sure to blot any oil off of my face throughout the day with blotting pads as well. I make sure to tan during this time, wearing a strong sunscreen, which helps as well.

I try my best to never pick at it. Even with whiteheads, if I can’t gently squeeze from very deep, I let it go.

I make sure to always use a thicker layer of primer when putting on makeup. My Tea Tree Primer is also particularly effective at reducing acne. I use concealer to get rid of any redness around a bump, but I don’t try to hide the bumps that have surfaced completely, because that can look pretty bad up close.

I also would use benzoyl peroxide for spot treatment. If using above a 2.5 percent, like this ten percent, you don’t have to use very much, but you also have to avoid going out into the sun with it on. This is the most effective over the counter treatment. For a slightly more natural approach, diluted tea tree oil can be applied, but this is very fragrant and takes a bit longer to show results. When my acne became chronic in high school, I had several prescriptions, but I’m not comfortable going into what those are. The right prescriptions for you are the ones your doctor prescribes you. Other extreme solutions I’ve taken include salicylic acid creams, in addition to the stridex pads and benzoyl peroxide, various clay masks, and buying a UV light to use in addition to general tanning.

If anything doesn’t work, be sure to stop immediately. Your skin might react to these treatments differently, and you shouldn’t keep trying in that case. If you find something that works at all, keep at it. Everybody’s skin is different, but between all of these, you can find the right solution.

[firststeps]

Eye Makeup

This is the second to last step, right after eyebrows and contouring for me. If there are any terms or items you don’t know, you can consult the Makeup Glossary, to see what products I use you can check my Makeup List, and to see how this fits in the bigger makeup picture, you can check out my Daily Makeup Routine.

Eye Shadow

I start by putting on my base. I usually do a light layer, like this, with a small foam applicator.

I use a NYX White Base. I put on very small amount for natural colors, like in the picture, and put on more for bright colors.

From there I put on my lighter color. I’m only going over how I do a two color combo. In general you want your lighter shade inside, and your darker shade outside.

Do your lighter shade first, and go a little bit further than halfway out. I do this with a broad brush. Then I use a defining brush for the darker shade, called the contour shade in this picture. I go past the halfway point for this one two, starting to blend them. I sometimes do this at a bit of a curve like in the picture, but usually not.

I keep the powder on the first brush and use that on my lower eyelid, as well as just around my whole eye a bit. I use it to blend in around my crease.

If you do one shade of makeup, its best to do these steps, but with one brush. Do it a bit lighter in the light shade area, and do it heavier in the contour shade area. I’ll do a write up on how to do it with three of more.

Eyeliner

For eyeliner, I go for a simple line, like in this picture.

When your eye is closed, this line should be perfectly straight. I started out by sitting down at a bathroom counter. I close one eye and open the liquid liner. I use Stila Stay All Day. I put my elbow on the counter to steady my hand and start at the halfway point and pull outward. I try to go slow enough that I don’t go past the edge of my eye, and fast enough that I don’t shake. It’s about half of a second usually. I try to hold the pen basically horizontal to my face, and almost parallel to my eye like in this picture.

I do the inside half next, from nearly the very inside edge all the way to halfway. Then I keep my eye closed and let it dry.

I use a pencil on my lower lash line, just very lightly, I apply this the same way, but hardly let it touch. I smudge it a little bit with a Q-tip sometimes, and use a Q-tip to clean up as well.

Mascara

I use Covergirl Lashblast Volume. I open my mouth up all the way first, and then open my eyes. I look upward, and put the wand under my main lash. I wink my lash down onto the wand and then brush out. Sometimes, for a darker look, I try to move the wand down into my actual lashline.

If I want more volume, I move the brush from side to side now. I wasn’t good at this at first, so I used to shake my head from side to side and hold the wand steady. I may do this one or two more times. I usually don’t apply mascara directly to my bottom lashes, opting instead to blink really hard to get a light coat on the bottom lashes.

When I very first started, sometimes I would just blink onto the wand over and over, which isn’t very effective and can cause clumping, but works while your still getting used to having a wand next to your eye. If there are clumps from this, or any method, or too many lashes are sticking together, you can ease them apart or get the clumps out with a Q-tip.

[firststeps]

How to Wash your Hair Part 2: Dry Hair

So, this has been in the works for a while. Over the last year, my hair has completely switched types. It doesn’t have any problems with oil or greasiness, except a bit on the top if I don’t shower for too long. The bottoms of my hair are constantly frizzing, though. My hair has become totally dry. Here’s a link to my old routine. And this is my new routine.

Washing

One thing is consistent in my hair routine. I still wash every other day. Sometimes I wash, then go two days without washing, then wash, go two days, so on. I still rinse every day, unless i’m feeling really lazy.

I’ve switched to Herbal Essences Hello Hydrating Shampoo and the matching conditioner. I use a small amount of shampoo, about two peas, and rinse it out immediately. I use a big amount of conditioner, a bit more than a quarter, and try to leave it in for five minutes, though. I’m not quite so religious about getting out all slipperiness anymore. If I have a lot of product, I will condition wash, which means I’ll do a wash with conditioner as if it’s shampoo. Then I do my shampoo and conditioner. I still mainly shampoo the roots, and still don’t condition the roots hardly at all.

My drying routine is the same as it was before. I blow dry my hair in a way that’s a bit more like a blowout than standard blow drying now, which I’ll write about in another post. This keeps it from frizzing up. I also do it on the lowest heat I can.

Maintenance

I’ve switched to Not Your Mother’s Clean Freak for my dry shampoo. I only use it on my roots, but using dry shampoo is still important, even if you don’t have oily hair at all. It helps bounce up the natural curls that come with dry hair I also use Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Smoothing Milk. I put in a bit less than a dime into my hair while its still damp, and basically use it as a leave in conditioner. Leave in conditioner helps with dryness, but not with frizz, which is why I went with the smoothing milk. I tend to only user on the lower half, because that’s where frizziness looks the worst. It’s okay to have some frizz and flyaways up top.

Also, getting a real boar bristle brush, which you can get anywhere, helps smooth out hair. I brush my hair with my normal brush, and then switch to the board brush just for smoothing.

Also, I rarely use a clarifying shampoo now. If I need to clean out something, I just conditioner wash before my normal routine. I still use clarifying shampoos after something like a camping trip or getting something gross in my hair, but it isn’t a regular part of my schedule anymore.

[firststeps]

My Makeup List

This is a list of all the makeup I own. Some of this makeup I love, and some I don’t. I would certainly not recommend just going out and buying this makeup list, or even the products I like from it, because everybody’s face is different. This is just to show you what a fairly average full kit of makeup looks like. 

You probably don’t need all of this, but after a few years of wearing makeup, you end up with all of it. I am very good at throwing out things I don’t use, so I use everything on this list, but some of it pretty rarely. If you have any questions about what all of this is, my Makeup Glossary will probably have the answer.

Eyeshadow

Covergirl Eye Enhancers in Blushing Nude

This was my go to eyeshadow palette for a while. It only had four colors, but I wasn’t getting too adventurous. I am out of one of the colors on it and don’t end up using it much anymore.

Maybelline Palette in The Blushed Nudes

I have a thing for blushed nudes. This is a twelve color palette as opposed to four and is slightly higher quality than the Covergirl eyeshadows. It is my new everyday palette because there are so many looks, but they all are in one consistent style.

Maybelline Expert Wear Eyeshadow in Night Sky

This is a black eyeshadow I use for really smoky looks occasionally. More often, I use it on a very small brush to darken up and matte down shininess in my eyeliner. 

Mascara

Maybelline Lash Sensation

I got this as a waterproof mascara to use at the pool and beach. It works well for that, but it’s hard to wash off so I don’t wear it when I’m not swimming. It doesn’t have the volume of my other mascaras.

Maybelline The Rocket Volume Express

This was my everyday mascara for a long time. It created a lot of volume. It did have a small problem with clumping which, while not bad, is the reason I moved on. I still use it for nighttime looks like clubbing and concerts.

Covergirl Lashblast Volume

This is the new iconic mascara you see everywhere now. The orange tube. I just switched to it because it is both waterproof and high volume. It is not quite as high volume, so no clumping problems, and not quite as waterproof, so it washes off easily. I still use my other two for swimming and clubs respectively.

Eyeliner

L’Oreal Carbon Black Telescopic Liquid Liner

This was my standard liquid liner for years until I finally splurged on a high end eyeliner. It is a great liner, but it takes a while to dry. It dries a slightly shiny black, like graphite, so I would do a small bit of black eyeshadow over it afterwards. It’s great for a drugstore liquid liner.

Stilla Stay All Day Liquid Liner

This liquid liner dries in ten seconds and is an incredibly deep black. It’s so waterproof that it doesn’t come off when I shower, I have to use makeup remover wipes or lotion or coconut oil. It’s easy to control and makes wings a breeze. I was hesitant to buy high end eye makeup, but it was one of my best purchases

Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner Pencil

This pencil has a built in sharpener and smudger. It’s a fantastic black and stays on the lash line much longer than most. I use it for subtle looks where I don’t want liquid liner, or for my bottom lash with liquid liner, since you cant use liquid liner on your waterline.

Rimmel Soft Kohl Pencil in White

This is a white eyeliner I use on my bottom waterline when I want to make my eyes look bigger. I think it looks a bit unnatural during the day, so I’m probably buying a peach one soon. As for now, I only use it at night for special events and clubbing.

Eye Primer

Elf Sheer Eye Primer

This is a quick and easy eye primer I use for more subtle nude eyeshadow looks if I’m concerned I’ll be sweating. It really doesn’t see that much use.

NYX White Eyeshadow Base

This is the primer I usually use. It’s a thick paste that i put on in a thin layer. Because it’s white, it really makes colors pop. I use it with nude eyeshadow to make pinks really pop out. It doesn’t work as well for smoky eyes, but it’s still my go to.

Foundation and Powder

Japonesque Luminous Foundation

This is my most expensive bit of makeup. It’s so important to get a foundation that is a perfect match for your skin, and sometimes you get lucky and can use revlon, but sometimes you have to splurge for something more specific. I love this foundation. Even professional makeup artists have been surprised when I told them I was wearing foundation. It’s practically invisible.

Rimmel Stay Matte Transparent Pressed Powder

This powder doesn’t leave much of a color. I just use a very small amount for making my nose less shiny and for prepping my pores for foundation. It is perfect for a subtle powder that you will be using in conjunction with a foundation.

Wet n Wild Coloricon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana

I use the bronzer as an all around powder and highlighter to pull attention to the center of my face. I’m probably not going to be buying it again, opting instead for my full contouring kit, but it worked well while it lasted. It could be a bit too shiny sometimes.

Base Makeup

NYX Incredible Waterproof Concealer

I use this on the occasional skin blemish, but usually I use it as an under eye concealer. It blends very well for a stick concealer. I wear it almost every day.

NYX Tea Tree Balance Skin Elixir

This is my primer. I put it on before I do any base makeup, no matter what. It makes my skin look and feel great, and makes my makeup pop. The tea tree oil is good for blemishes, too. It’s a must for me.

Contour and Blush

NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Face Powder in Sunny

This is a bronzer widely used for contouring. It has great color for it, but I eventually got a bit tired of blending it, as it tended to settle in my foundation quickly, and took a while to blend out. I still use it for broad contours.

ELF Contour Palette

This is my first contour palette, and I like it so far. I still use bronzer occasionally, but this is much better for my jawline, right under my cheekbones, and my nose. The highlighter works particularly well.

NYX Powder Blush in Dusty Rose

I always buy new blushes and then don’t use them because this one works so well for me. It’s my only blush and the moment. When I run out, I’ll experiment with some others, but probably also buy this one again.

Brows

NYX Eyebrow Marker in Medium

This has been my go to for eyebrows for a while. It is subtle and natural looking. I can put it on in small strokes that mimic my brows. Most people can’t tell when I wear it.

ELF Gel and Powder Eyebrow Kit in Medium

This is great for a less subtle brow. This is what I use for more stylized looks. It can be used for subtle looks as well, but I have been falling back on my eyebrow marker for those subtle looks still.

Lipstick

Covergirl Lip Perfection in Hot

This is a bright red lipstick that I love. I don’t use it much anymore, because I have a copy of the newer version, but I take this one with me for traveling.

Covergirl Colorlicious in Hot

This is just the new lip perfection. It’s the same bright red color. This is my everyday lip color. I know most people don’t usually go for reds as a daily look, but I love this red so much.

L’Oreal Color Riche in Tropical Coral

This was my go to lipstick when I was still scared to wear reds out. It was pretty natural on me, but tended a bit too pink. I still use it on rare occasion if I need some variety.

Lip Liner

NYX Lip Liner in Bloom

I use this as a lip liner that I smudge in for gloss only looks, but I also sometimes use it on my whole lips as a lip color. This is close to my natural lip color and so if i need something more subtle than red, it’s a good choice for me.

Covergirl Lip Perfection in Passion

This is the lipliner that matched my two covergirl lipsticks I like so much. Unfortunately, this pencil is almost impossible to sharpen. I end up not using this much, opting to brush on the lipstick around the lines first.

Rimmel Lasting Finish in Cherry Kiss

I like using a slightly darker lip liner and smudging it into the lips as a sort of lip primer. I only wear it at night. I put on my lipstick with a brush, and it’s an intense lipstick, so I don’t wear liner during the day.

Lip Gloss and Balm

Revlon Colorburst in Bordeaux

I don’t wear this lip gloss often, but it gets some occasional use. It’s a dark color but goes well over red. I use it for darker and smokier nighttime looks.

Rimmel Stay Glossy in Clear

i don’t like putting colored gloss over my red lipstick, so I usually do this one. It really makes the colors under it pop. 

Revlon Super Lustrous in Firecracker

This is a bright red lip gloss that I use with my red lipstick at night sometimes. It’s a pretty solid red, but because it doesn’t have the same type of purple undertones you can get in a lipstick, it looks a bit orange in the light. At night its just fine.

Unknown Lip Gloss

I don’t know what this is. It was given to me by a friend in high school and has no labels. It tastes like oranges and is really shiny. I sometimes use it by itself for nighttime looks, but the glitter’s a bit extreme. It pretty much only ever gets used at the club.

EOS Smooth Sphere Lip Balm in Summer Fruit

I use this lip balm over lip color, so it has some staining on it. It has a smooth finish that isn’t too glossy, but still adds some shine. I love the tastes of EOS lip balms in general, and my lips don’t get too chapped, so I don’t need something too heavy duty.

EOS Smooth Sphere Lip Balm in Sweet Mint

This is the same as my other lip balm, but in a different flavor. This one I never use with color, so I put it on when I’m wearing nothing else, like for going outside or if my lips are actually chapped.

Face Brushes

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

Actually, I have two of these. They are perfect for putting on foundation, blending, and work great at applying any sort of base around the eyes. I definitely have replaced foundation brushes with sponges because of these.

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush

This is what I use for most of my blending, as well as for powder when I’m using powder as my primary base. It’s soft and easy to keep clean. 

Generic Target Powder Brush

This was a generic brush that I got from Target a long time ago. I don’t know much about it. I usually use my expert face brush for powder, so I don’t have much need for a powder brush, but if I need to stipple my nose or forehead, this is what I use.

Ecotools Sheer Finish Kabuki Brush

I use this for highlighter, blending, occasionally for powder for my nose, or for blush if I want a very broad blended brush. I can often find uses for it. It’s really soft and handy.

Elf Bronzing Brush

I use this for blush instead of bronzer. The angle makes it great for shaping the apples of my cheeks. it’s the best blush brush I’ve ever used. I’m sure it’s great for bronzer as well.

Covergirl Blending Brush

I don’t really use this brush. Occasionally if another brush is dirty, I’ll use this to blend a specific area. I also use it to sweep off the excess powder from the lids of my powder, bronzer, palettes, and the like. It cleans well.

Generic Target Contouring Brush

I use this to apply bronzer for broad contours, like the hollows of my cheeks, or my hairlines. Occasionally I use it on my jawline as well. It isn’t the most comfortable, but it keeps clean well. I would replace if it weren’t for the fact that my new contour kit has largely phased out the bronzer I use it with.

ELF Small Angled Brush

I use this with my ELF brow kit for precise brow lines. It’s small and easy to work with, and longer than your average brow brush. I still use my brow marker often for very fine details, but this gives a similar type of precision.

ELF Small Angled Brush

This is the same as my brow brush, but I use this one for lipstick. I prefer putting on lipstick with a brush so that I can get very clean points on the two corners, and so I can have a particularly defined cupids bow. I think it’s easier this way.

Eye Brushes

Ecotools Eyeshadow Brush

This is a broad eyeshadow brush. I just use it for blending for the most part. It’s very soft, but it is a bit harder to clean than the other one.

Generic Target Defining Eye Brush

This brush isn’t particularly comfortable, but it’s very effective. This is the brush I used to use for applying eyeshadow carefully to just my lid. I just replaced it, but I still use it for smoky eyes so I don’t stain my normal brushes, which primarily are used for nudes.

Generic Target Eyeshadow Brush

I used this brush in conjunction with the previous one for apply color all around my eye and blend. I’ve replaced it, but it will probably also still be useful for smoky eyes.

ELF Eyeshadow Brush

This is my new brush for applying makeup all around my eye and for blending. It is longer and easier to control, as well as softer.

ELF Defining Eye Brush

I use this for lid color on my eyes. Like the target one, it can be used to apply color more precisely. Like the other ELF replacement, though, it is easier to control and softer.

Eye Crease Brush

This replaces my lost target generic eye crease brush. It applies my darkest shade right to my crease, allowing me to have fine control over the line their for things like cut creases and slight smoky looks, as well as just general eye defining.

Target Generic Eye Sponge

This little sponge on a stick is good for applying my NYX eyeshadow base. It picks up the cream well. I don’t use it for anything else, though, because it’s very hard to wash off.

ELF Mini Blending Brush

This is a very small, very thin brush. I only use it for applying black eyeshadow to my eyeliner line, because it’s so thin. It works very well for that. I don’t think it will see much use now that I have a liquid liner that already dries matte, however.

Tools

NYX Matte Finish Setting Spray

This spray holds all of my makeup in face. This one doesn’t leave any sheen and doesn’t feel sticky. It lasts for a long time. It’s all around what I’m looking for in a setting spray.

ELF Travel Eyelash Curler

This eyelash curler can’t reach all the way to the base, but it’s very small and impossible to hurt yourself with, so it’s great for using when traveling, in the car, or just to keep in a purse.

Revlon Eyelash Curler

This is just a normal metal eyelash curler. I suspect that these are all basically the same, they have been in my experience, but this is the one I bought when I first got started and I’ve never seen a reason to replace it. It works just fine.

[firststeps]

I’m back!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that this blog will be back to regularly publishing posts as of now. I’m so sorry about my absence. I got locked out of the email address I used to create this blog, and so I haven’t been able to log on. I’ve missed it though. It’s been a while, and I’ve learned a lot in that time. I’m excited to share it all with you!

[firststeps]

What Haircut to Get

Choosing a haircut is a big decision. It’s actually a lot of decisions. What type of hair do I have? What type of hair do I want? How long should it be? What salon do I go to? I’ll try to help you get started.

Hair Type

The first part of choosing a haircut is knowing what haircuts you have to choose from. To do this, you need to know your hair type. Is your hair straight, wavy, curly or coily (1, 2, 3, or 4)? Is it fine, medium or thick (A, B or C)? I highly recommend using this guide from Popsugar to figure it out. If you can’t figure it out, ask your hairdresser! (I am type 1B, just so you know what kinda hair I give the best advice about).

Now that you’ve figured out your type, you can choose hairstyles! I found out all the celebrities that had 1B, and I only get haircuts that I see on them. That still gives me hundreds of haircuts to choose from, so here’s how to narrow it down.

Framing your Face

T-tip: This entire following section is aimed at transgirls, but certainly works for cisgirls too.

Hair should frame your face in a flattering way. It provides a shape. Hair can change the way your forehead, nose, jaw, and entire face shape look. It’s probably the most important part of passing.

First off, most transgirls, if they don’t have a receding hairline (like I do), they have a masculine hairline. A masculine hairline is like a rectangle on the top of your head, but a feminine hairline is like an oval. Hormones will change your hairline over time, but your haircut can do just as good of a job. 

I recommend bangs. They completely hide your forehead and are very feminizing. If you don’t have a receding hairline, you can use sideswept bangs, which just sweep from one side to the other, but if you do have a receding hairline, you should have bangs that just fall straight down. You can have these thick, but I prefer mine a bit thin and transparent. These are called wispy bangs. (If you have a receding hairline, check out my post on growing your hair).

If you don’t want bangs, you can possibly pull off a middle part. If you have thick straight hair or curly hair or just hair that you are willing to style or curl away from your face daily, then this looks pretty good.

But if you have hair that is limp and flat like I do, this doesn’t work as well. In highschool, people called it a buttcrack part. It’s not a flattering term, but it’s unfortunately fitting.

I talked about having wispy bangs or sideswept bangs. The reason this is important, as opposed to, like, Zooey Deschanel bangs, is because really thick flat bangs put a lot of emphasis on your nose. If you have a perfect feminine nose like Zooey Deschanel, that works a lot better, but if you have a more masculine nose it doesn’t work as well. Glasses also make that look work sometimes, but that’s for a different post.

Lastly, and most importantly, hair frames your jaw. The idea behind this is pretty simple. Hair can either move towards your jaw or away from your jaw. 

We see here a great example of hair moving in towards the jaw. Kiera Knightley has a really strong jaw, and she uses her hair to frame it to look softer. The way her hair scoops in under her chine really slims her face, makes her nose look smaller, and, most importantly, makes her jaw look more pointy and rounded, and less squared off.

Here is a similar haircut, but the hair is moving away from the face. Anne Hathaway also has a strong jaw, but it’s not as strong as Kiera Knightley’s. Nevertheless, her jaw looks far more squared off and prominent, her face looks wider, and her nose looks bigger than Kiera Knightley’s. This haircut is framing her face very poorly, because it’s not swooping inwards.

Getting your Hair Cut

Okay, so once you’ve picked out what sort of haircut you want that will work with your hair type, now what? Going to a salon was really intimidating for me at first. I made sure to check yelp reviews and find a salon that somebody mentioned was LGBT friendly. Hairdressing has always been a profession that was very friendly with the LGBT community so don’t worry too much.

I think that nice boutique salons are worth the money, but some people disagree. What I would do, if you don’t want to pay for a boutique salon every time, is bring in pictures of the haircut you want to the boutique every time you want a new cut. If you want the same cut, just bring in pictures of yourself with that cut, from all sides, to a cheaper hairdresser. All that being said, I think paying 30 dollars twice a year instead of 15 dollars twice a year is well worth it. It makes a very noticeable difference.

When they’re cutting your hair, make sure you communicate. Hairdressers really do appreciate it if you’re actively helping them. It’s not rude to say, “Maybe not that short.” or, “I don’t think I want that.” Building up a relationship with a specific hairdresser who knows your style is important. I always make appointments with the same person.

Once they’ve cut your hair, ask them if they will show you how to style it! This is one of the big benefits of nice salons, every hairdresser I’ve used at a nice salon has been more than willing to show me three or four ways to wear my hair. They aren’t in a rush. Now that you’ve got your haircut and you know how to style it, you’re set!

[firststeps]

My Daily Makeup Routine

To get started, I figured I would let you know how I do my makeup day to day. (This is my heaviest look, if my skin is nice I may skip many of these steps). I will be posting more in depth tutorials on all of the techniques I do here, and as I do, I’ll add in links to them. This is just to give you a general idea of my workflow. You may want to refer to my makeup glossary if you come across terms you don’t know.

Base Makeup

I always start off my makeup right after I’ve finished my morning skincare routine so that my face is moisturized. The first thing I do is put on a primer. I use NYX Tea Tree Balance. I apply a really small bead to my hand and cover my whole face. Primer makes your makeup look less cakey and protects your skin.

Next I put on a very light coating of powder. I use Rimmel Stay Matte, which is a matte translucent powder. If I have any spots or if I have dark circles under my eyes, I use concealer. I use a NYX Concealer Stick. I usually put it directly on, and then stipple it with my finger.

T-tip: You may want a concealer that is bigger than this if you plan on using it on any shadow you may have on your chin or above your upper lip.

Then I apply my foundation. I use Japonesque foundation, but everybody’s skin is different and so I don’t recommend you get it simply because I use it. I would go to ULTA, Sephora, or Mac and get matched. Foundation is the one makeup to splurge on. I put on my foundation with a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, but I also like their beauty sponge. I put my powder on before my foundation, which is a technique a lot of people refer to as the Wayne Goss powder method, but most people put on their powder either after their foundation, or after everything.

Face Shaping

After that, I contour. I use NYC Smooth Skin in Sunny and Wet n Wild Color Icon in Reserve Your Cabana as my shading and my highlighter. I put them on with my fingers, but I probably should get a brush. I blend my contouring lines with that same expert face brush I used for my foundation, making sure to rinse it first.

Next I do my eyebrows. I fill them in with the NYX Eyebrow Marker in deep, and then I pat a little bit off with a tissue. I pluck my own eyebrows for maintenance, but I don’t ever shape them myself. I recommend getting them threaded.

Eyes

For my eyes, I don’t do eyeshadow most days, but I’ll tell you how I do it anyways. I start with NYX Eyeshadow Base because the white makes the colors pop. You’re probably noticing I use a lot of NYX. It’s kind of in between a drugstore brand and a high end brand, and so it’s cheap but high quality. Anyways, I’m always using eyeshadows from different palettes, but as far as drugstore brands go, Covergirl has my favorite eyeshadows. I use an E.L.F brush set that I don’t think they sell anymore, but I will probably be buying a Real Techniques set soon. I get my brush slightly wet before picking up the makeup so I don’t have to poke at it and it’s a bit more vivid. I usually do a pink or a peach on my eyelid, and then put a brown from the outer corner up into the crease. I’ll often use a cream on my browbone as well.

After eyeshadow, I use a Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Pencil for my daily look. I usually do a slightly thick top line with teeny wing, and then do the outer third of the bottom lash line, which I smudge over the other two thirds. I usually have to do some cleanup with a q-tip because its hard to control your smudges with gel.

After this I finish getting dressed and finish my hair.

Then I curl my eyelashes for ten seconds each, and then I apply mascara. I use Covergirl Clump Crusher, and I don’t use a whole lot. I put the brush to my eye set my top eyelash on the brush, and wiggle the brush back and forth decently fast. I then usually just blink over and over and blink it into my bottom lash.

Lips

I don’t wear lipstick day to day, but I always wear lip liner. I use NYX for all of my pencils and NYX or Covergirl for all of my lip colors, unless I got something from MAC as a present. I usually just use the liner on the middle of my bottom lip, and on my cupids bow. I use my fingers to smear it down from my cupids bow and up from my bottom lip just a bit so it blends in. Then I usually just use chapstick, usually EOS, over it. Sometimes I use lip gloss, just a light coat of a natural color, and I kiss the back of each hand to blot it.

T-tip: Using lip liner to define your cupids bow can really help your lips look more feminine. You can draw the lip line a teeny bit above your real cupids bow and a teeny bit below your real bottom lip and then smear it in to make your lips look even bigger.

Finishing Up

I do my blush last, which is weird. I think that my amount of blush is completely reliant on how balanced my face looks so far, though. I like doing it last to tie everything together. I use NYX blush, all in colors they don’t make anymore. I smile really big and I apply it to the apples of my cheeks, then I blend towards my ear. Once I’m done, I blend it around the edges with the expert face brush so it doesn’t look so harsh, like I did with the contouring.

I wash all of my brushes at the end. Altogether, it probably takes about 20 or 25 minutes, but I normally don’t do eyeshadow or lip gloss, so maybe closer to 30 with those. On days my skin is looking good, I probably take about 10 minutes. I took over an hour to do this when I first started though. I don’t recommend you follow my exact routine, Just a starting point if you have no idea what a routine should look like, because I didn’t. You should experiment and find a routine that works for you.

[firststeps]

Base Makeup

Base makeup is a term for first bit of makeup you do: the stuff concerning your skin. This includes primer, concealer, foundation, bb cream, and powder. This tutorial will go in depth on how to apply each of these correctly. I’m going to be teaching the order I use, but I will also describe the other orders you can do this in. The techniques remain the same. If you don’t understand anything, refer to my makeup glossary, or just let me know!

Getting Ready

I start after I’ve done my skincare routine for the morning. I put on my moisturizer, which marks my transition into my makeup routine. I leave my hair pulled up the whole time.

I immediately put on primer after I’ve moisturized. I want the primer and moisturizer to together make my skin a bit dewy. I use NYX Tea Tree Balance. It seems like a teeny tube to be that expensive, but you use such little amounts that it lasts a long time. Tea tree oil also helps fight acne. I apply a bead about the size of half a pea to my finger, and then I dot it on my chin, nose, each cheek, and on my forehead. I just use my finger to rub it in.

Powder

I immediately start putting on powder. This is not most people’s next step. I’m using a method often called the Wayne Goss method, after the beauty vlogger who popularized it. The video is below, and I highly recommend checking out his other videos!

I use a much bigger powder brush than he does, and I put on less. I also use a pressed powder, which is one solid block, instead of a loose one. Specifically, I use Rimmel Stay Matte.

The idea behind this makeup method is that it looks like your real skin, instead of looking like you’ve put on matte powder, which can keep you from shining when normal skin would. I get ridiculously greasy, and this method still works for me. I have met one or two girls who think that it makes them look a bit too shiny though, and so you may want to do the traditional way, which is put on foundation next, and then put on powder after foundation.

Concealer

Putting on concealer before foundation is another thing I do out of the average order. I use a heavy concealer, and a light foundation. There’s a concept called coverage. A foundation that covers up your skin completely has a lot of coverage, whereas one that lets your natural skin shine through has less coverage. Because my concealer has high coverage and my foundation has low coverage, I do concealer first so it doesn’t stand out.

I use a NYX Concealer Stick and just run it under each eye and dab it on any spots I have. I blend it by just tapping on it with my finger until it blends in. This is called stippling. Make sure you always stipple and never smear.

T-tip: You can use concealer to cover up mild beard shadow as well, but I would get a bigger concealer stick. You may want to get a large concealer stick specifically for covering shadow. If you do, get one a bit more yellow than your skin color. Always do this before foundation.

You can also do color correction here. You can buy concealer, either stick for spots or powder for areas, that comes in lavender, for when your skin looks yellow, and green, for when your skin looks pink. It can bring you back to normal shades if you’re subtle with it. Do color corrector before foundation, even if the rest of your concealer will be after foundation.

If you won’t be wearing lip color, then you can also use concealer to define the corners of your lips right now. If you are wearing color, though, it’s better to do this once the color is on. I will go over than in more detail when I talk about lip makeup.

Foundation

The hardest part of foundation is picking the right one. Do you want a matte foundation or one with sheen? Do you want high or low coverage? Generally if you are oily, you want matte, and if you are dry, you want sheen, but it’s also partially just a personal preference. If you have nice skin, you probably want low coverage, but if you aren’t as happy with your skin, your probably want high coverage.

I use Japonesque Luminous Foundation. I really like it because it comes in shades that aren’t common. It has more yellow and pink variations, and isn’t just a bunch of shades of tan. It’s a light coverage foundation, and you can neither see, nor feel it on your face whatsoever. It’s really incredible. It works without powder as well. It’s also really cheap for a luxury brand.

I wear it because it’s what I was matched to, most importantly. I requested a light coverage foundation and an ULTA makeup artist matched me to it. I highly recommend you get matched. I only get matched at ULTA. If you get matched at Sephora or MAC, they will match you only to their collections, which are limited and expensive. If you know you have the money, MAC has great foundation and good matching services, though. Foundation is the one thing to splurge on. The difference between drugstore and luxury foundation is incredible.

Now onto applying foundation. In the video, Wayne Goss applies foundation to his fingers. I did this for years. and it works well. I don’t like the technique he’s using though. He’s not rationing his makeup and he’s smearing it. He’s trying to go fast to make a short uninterrupted video, and it looks really good when he does it because he’s incredible. You should not be doing that though. I can’t even do that.

If you use your fingers, you should put on pump of foundation on the back of your other hand, and then use one finger to put two dots on each cheek, two dots on your nose, one dot on your chin, and three dots on your forehead. If there’s foundation left on your hand, just fill in the rest with more dots.

After you’re foundation is on your face in dots, spread it by stippling it with a finger or two. You can do some tiny smears at first to move it around, but try to cover your entire face just by stippling. If you miss anywhere, use any foundation left on the back of your hand to fill it in.

To put foundation on with a sponge you to it the exact same way, you just use the pointier end of the Beauty Sponge instead of your fingers. With a brush you can smear it a bit more.

To use a brush, which is how I apply foundation, the same technique generally applies, but with some changes. I use the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, but I’ve been using my Stippling Brush to do it sometimes, too. You can also get foundation brushes, but I’ve never used one. 

Because brushes can cover more area, instead of putting the dots on my face beforehand, I dip the brush into a very small bit of the foundation on the back of my hand (to make this easier, I make a line on my hand instead of a puddle), and then I begin spreading and stippling over an area. With brushes, you can wipe, and basically paint, your face instead of stippling at first, but to get even color, I would always finish with at least a little bit of stippling.

Once you’ve done that, you’re done with your base makeup. You can move onto contouring and blush, eyes, and lips. 

[firststeps]

How to Braid your Hair

I know people have been waiting for this one, but it’s finally here! This is an easy, starting guide to how to braid. I’m going to start with the basics of braiding anything, such as cord or rope, and then apply it to hair.

Braiding Technique

Here is a great picture showing the basics of braiding cord. The same concept applies to hair.

The first thing we see in the picture is that three pieces are selected. These three pieces are secured together at the top. Once secured together at one point, the pieces are spread out. First the right outside cord, the blue cord, is brought into the middle. Then the left outside cord, the orange, is brought into the middle. Then the right outside cord, this time green, is brought into the middle again. Then the left outside, now blue, is. This is repeated for the length of the cord. It will tighten itself, but sometimes you need to gently pull the three ends slightly sideways and let the braid tighten up.

Braiding Hair

Okay, braiding is easy enough with rope, but doing it to your own hair can be tricky.

The first thing to do is decide where you want your braid. For the first example, let’s start with a braided ponytail. This is sometimes called a rope ponytail. Use this ponytail guide I made for some help with that part. For a braid, you may want to use a medium or a low ponytail. You can go higher, but it is more difficult and you have to be tighter.

You start with the ponytail made where you want it. You have your hair all together banded, like the three banded cords in the braiding guide. The next step is to divide your hair in the ponytail into three equal sized sections, called wefts. From there, you just take the right outside weft, put it in the middle, take the left outside weft, put it in the middle, and continue like you did with the cord.

This is easier in concept than it is in practice. You have to think about your hands. When I start, I grab the two outside wefts with my bottom three fingers, and leave my thumb and pointer fingers making finger guns. I use my thumb and pointer to grab the strands from the opposite sides and pull them through.

You may want to do this part with me as practice. So say I have my left weft in my left hand and my right weft in my right hand, I would only use the bottom three fingers. Then my left hand’s top two fingers would grab my right weft. My middle weft is just floating there, so I grab it with my right hand. Now I’m perfectly reversed from my starting place. So my right hand’s top two fingers grab the left weft from my left hand’s bottom three fingers, and so on.

All girls have a different technique with their hands, so you just have to play around. I suggest actually tying three pieces of thin rope or something like that to a headband or hat, and practicing braiding them over your head until you get the fingers right.

Once you’re done with a braided ponytail, you can pull on the ends and tighten it up, or you can slightly pinch it apart all along the ponytail so it’s loose. You will usually want to tie off the end with a little elastic.

Other looks

If you want it to be really loose and flowy, you can cut off the little elastic at the top once you’re done. They’re worth about a penny each. You can then throw this look over one shoulder for a loose braided look that’s still flowy. Once you’re pretty good, you can do the whole thing without the elastic at the top to begin with, but I still think it looks better to use it then cut it off.

You can also use this same technique for just a single little bit of hair on the side of your face, or for long hair where your bangs would be so you can just make a braid and pull it out your face, pinning it to the back of your head. For this technique you can also just twist your hair loosely and pin it back.

For more on these teeny braids, as well as just a good demonstration of braiding in general, I highly recommend Ingrid Nilsen’s videos like this one below. She’s fantastic at teaching and only does pretty simple styles. If you slow down the youtube video to .5 speed or even to .25 speed, you can see an excellent example of how to use your fingers while you’re braiding.

https://youtu.be/XNDXjsaqd3Y?t=85

You can also do all these braids backwards. This is called a Dutch braid. You just take the side wefts and bring them under the middle hair instead of over it. It just creates an upside down, inside out looking braid. I’ll have another post on how to do a french Braid. Once you’ve mastered normal braids, you can try a French braid. This is a braid that goes along your entire head, incorporating a bit more hair at each point. It’s the basis for a lot of the very fancy braids you see in pictures. It’s very difficult to do on yourself, though. It’s oftentimes something you do for someone or they do for you.

[firststeps]

Someone asked “Can you post anything on making a simple braid?”

Sure! That will be my next one, okay? I’ll have it up in a few days.

[firststeps]

What Haircut to Get

Choosing a haircut is a big decision. It’s actually a lot of decisions. What type of hair do I have? What type of hair do I want? How long should it be? What salon do I go to? I’ll try to help you get started.

Hair Type

The first part of choosing a haircut is knowing what haircuts you have to choose from. To do this, you need to know your hair type. Is your hair straight, wavy, curly or coily (1, 2, 3, or 4)? Is it fine, medium or thick (A, B or C)? I highly recommend using this guide from Popsugar to figure it out. If you can’t figure it out, ask your hairdresser! (I am type 1B, just so you know what kinda hair I give the best advice about).

Now that you’ve figured out your type, you can choose hairstyles! I found out all the celebrities that had 1B, and I only get haircuts that I see on them. That still gives me hundreds of haircuts to choose from, so here’s how to narrow it down.

Framing your Face

T-tip: This entire following section is aimed at transgirls, but certainly works for cisgirls too.

Hair should frame your face in a flattering way. It provides a shape. Hair can change the way your forehead, nose, jaw, and entire face shape look. It’s probably the most important part of passing.

First off, most transgirls, if they don’t have a receding hairline (like I do), they have a masculine hairline. A masculine hairline is like a rectangle on the top of your head, but a feminine hairline is like an oval. Hormones will change your hairline over time, but your haircut can do just as good of a job. 

I recommend bangs. They completely hide your forehead and are very feminizing. If you don’t have a receding hairline, you can use sideswept bangs, which just sweep from one side to the other, but if you do have a receding hairline, you should have bangs that just fall straight down. You can have these thick, but I prefer mine a bit thin and transparent. These are called wispy bangs. (If you have a receding hairline, check out my post on growing your hair).

If you don’t want bangs, you can possibly pull off a middle part. If you have thick straight hair or curly hair or just hair that you are willing to style or curl away from your face daily, then this looks pretty good.

But if you have hair that is limp and flat like I do, this doesn’t work as well. In highschool, people called it a buttcrack part. It’s not a flattering term, but it’s unfortunately fitting.

I talked about having wispy bangs or sideswept bangs. The reason this is important, as opposed to, like, Zooey Deschanel bangs, is because really thick flat bangs put a lot of emphasis on your nose. If you have a perfect feminine nose like Zooey Deschanel, that works a lot better, but if you have a more masculine nose it doesn’t work as well. Glasses also make that look work sometimes, but that’s for a different post.

Lastly, and most importantly, hair frames your jaw. The idea behind this is pretty simple. Hair can either move towards your jaw or away from your jaw. 

We see here a great example of hair moving in towards the jaw. Kiera Knightley has a really strong jaw, and she uses her hair to frame it to look softer. The way her hair scoops in under her chine really slims her face, makes her nose look smaller, and, most importantly, makes her jaw look more pointy and rounded, and less squared off.

Here is a similar haircut, but the hair is moving away from the face. Anne Hathaway also has a strong jaw, but it’s not as strong as Kiera Knightley’s. Nevertheless, her jaw looks far more squared off and prominent, her face looks wider, and her nose looks bigger than Kiera Knightley’s. This haircut is framing her face very poorly, because it’s not swooping inwards.

Getting your Hair Cut

Okay, so once you’ve picked out what sort of haircut you want that will work with your hair type, now what? Going to a salon was really intimidating for me at first. I made sure to check yelp reviews and find a salon that somebody mentioned was LGBT friendly. Hairdressing has always been a profession that was very friendly with the LGBT community so don’t worry too much.

I think that nice boutique salons are worth the money, but some people disagree. What I would do, if you don’t want to pay for a boutique salon every time, is bring in pictures of the haircut you want to the boutique every time you want a new cut. If you want the same cut, just bring in pictures of yourself with that cut, from all sides, to a cheaper hairdresser. All that being said, I think paying 30 dollars twice a year instead of 15 dollars twice a year is well worth it. It makes a very noticeable difference.

When they’re cutting your hair, make sure you communicate. Hairdressers really do appreciate it if you’re actively helping them. It’s not rude to say, “Maybe not that short.” or, “I don’t think I want that.” Building up a relationship with a specific hairdresser who knows your style is important. I always make appointments with the same person.

Once they’ve cut your hair, ask them if they will show you how to style it! This is one of the big benefits of nice salons, every hairdresser I’ve used at a nice salon has been more than willing to show me three or four ways to wear my hair. They aren’t in a rush. Now that you’ve got your haircut and you know how to style it, you’re set!

[firststeps]

How to Straighten your Hair

Trying to deal with your hair, especially when it’s growing out, can be really difficult. The easiest, and often best looking, option is to straighten it. Let me preface this by saying: heat is bad for your hair! I previously talked about this with blow drying your hair, but it’s important to remind you of here. That being said, I will be going over the safest and healthiest way to straighten your hair, so the damage is certainly minimized. If you are straightening your hair right after you’ve washed it, you will need to blow dry it. I go over that in the link above (but now I have that allure hair dryer I linked to, and I love it). The big difference here is that if you are trying to straighten your hair, you don’t want the volume of the L’Oreal Boost It. Instead I recommend their Blow Dry It alternative. The Boost It will leave your straightened hair looking frizzy. If you’re not straightening right after washing, make sure you’re hair isn’t greasy. Also, make sure their are no products. Dry shampoo, leave in conditioner, hairspray, etc. all can cook into your hair if you run a straightener over them, leaving it damaged and gross looking and smelling. To straighten hair, you can use any flat iron. I use a Remington Flat Iron that was fifteen dollars at Walmart. The difference between it and the top line ones is hardly noticeable. I always set it to the lowest heat, because I have thin hair, but the lowest should be fine for normal hair as well. Even if you have thick hair, I would only ever set it to the middle heat. It’s better for your hair to go over it twice on a low heat than once on a high heat.

I spritz the heat protectant on my hairbrush and brush one side of my head, spritz again for the back, and spritz again for the other side. Make sure every tangle is out before your start straightening.

To straighten my hair, I take a bit of hair, one to two inch wide wefts, and I pinch the flat iron on the top and run it from the top to the bottom. This picture shows a good amount of hair being straightened properly.

I don’t squeeze with the iron, but just let it gently close. My hair is about eight to ten inches and I take about three or four seconds to get from the top to the bottom, but if your hair is,say, 18 inches, try to adjust and give it about six seconds to get from top to bottom. I go around my entire head and then sometime go back over the wefts right by my face.

Don’t try to get too much hair at once. If you need to, if you have thick hair, you can straighten the outside half of all of your hair, put it up in a bun, and then straighten the inside half.

If you do this, however, you may want to very gently run the flat iron over all of the straightened hair when you’re done so it blend back together. Or you could just brush it together if it’s not too difficult.

Around my face, I try to frame my face with my hair. I always make sure that tilt the flat iron towards my face at the bottom so that my hair is falling inwards, like I discuss in this post.

Once I’ve straightened my hair, I can put it in a ponytail, a bun, or curl the fronts and they will all look clean, feminine, and professional. Or I can just wear it down. After I have the look I want, I’ll spray with some dry shampoo so that it stays in place.

[firststeps]

Eyebrows

Eyebrows are one of the most important parts of your face. They have a tremendous impact on how you look. They also show off a certain level of style. Eyebrows aren’t just a makeup consideration, though. They also take grooming.

Shaping

I personally recommend getting your eyebrows professionally threaded, waxed, or plucked if you’re starting from scratch. Likewise, if you don’t like your eyebrows and you do pluck them, I would let them grow out and then get them professionally done. I recommend threading for this. Pick out how you want your eyebrows to look and bring a picture, just like you would with a haircut. Eyebrows go in and out of style, and so be careful following trends. Back in the 90′s, thin eyebrows were very popular.

We now look back on this trend and realize it not only looks ridiculous, but it also isn’t very flattering, and doesn’t do anything for your face. Nowadays the trend is toward what are called “power brows,” which are almost completely full natural brows colored in with very dark pencil.

We may end up looking back on this trend and wondering “what were we thinking?” Maybe not. Either way, this look also doesn’t flatter your face. You probably want eyebrows that are simply normal fullness.

As for shape, if you do decide to do it yourself, there are a couple of general rules.

This photo does a good job of demonstrating several of those rules. The most important is demonstrated in line 1. You’re eyebrow should start on the same vertical line where the side of your nose ends. People’s noses are different though, so you can go a little bit more in or a little bit more out. If you have a skinny face, you may want your eyebrows a bit further apart, and if you have a wide face, you may want your eyebrows a bit closer together. Never go very far from this line, though.

When I pluck my eyebrows, I literally get a ruler and a white eyeliner pencil and draw these lines on my face. After I’ve drawn the lines, I draw the outline of my eyebrow. I redraw it if I mess up. Then I begin to pluck everything not inside the eyebrow. I highly recommend this method if you’re plucking yourself.

The next important rule is shown by line 4. The bottom of the front of your eyebrow and bottom of the back of your eyebrow should be on about the same line. The back can be a little bit higher, but should never be lower.

The arch of your eyebrow, demonstrated by 2, should be directly above the outside edge of your iris. It can be a little bit further out if you have a skinny face, but it shouldn’t ever get to the outside corner of your eye.

How high this arch should be depends on your face. If you have a long face, then your eyebrow arch should be shorter. If you have a short face, your eyebrow arch should be taller.

T-tip: If you have enough eyebrow, you can pluck your brows to look taller. For example if you have a half inch thick eyebrow and you want it to be a fourth inch, pluck the bottom half and keep the top half. Women have higher eyebrows then men and this can really help

After you’ve plucked intensely this one time, you can simply maintain by plucking strays every few days. Once again, though, I recommend getting this professionally done. Look this over, though, so you can tell them exactly what you want.

Filling

This is the actual makeup part.  Once your eyebrows are the right shape, you want to make sure people see them at their best. Plucking your eyebrows can really bring your face together, but only if its properly emphasized. If you have dark hair, you may not have to fill very much. You may only fill for special occasions, and even then just do a light brushing. But for a really light blonde like me, you can’t tell what my eyebrows look like at all without a bit of makeup. You can use a pencil, a little gel and brush kit, a powder and brush kit, or a little mascara type brow enhancer, but I use a brow marker. Out of all of the options, it is both the easiest and most precise. I use the NYX Eyebrow Marker. It’s a fine tipped marker that dries immediately and lasts all day. Before that, I was using pencils, but I found that they smudged and were hard to deal with on corners and points if you didn’t sharpen them before every use. As for color, if you go to Ulta, you can just ask them. If not, just get the one closest to your hair color. They don’t get very light, so if you have blonde hair, just use the light brown. To fill in your eyebrows with the marker, or gel, or powder, or pencil you just color it in. It’s really simple, just make sure that you’re doing it very lightly. With pencils, and especially with the marker, there is another option though. You can color it in by making little teeny lines, as if your were drawing on individual hairs. This actually doesn’t take very long. Think about it like pontilism, the painting style where you paint a bunch of dots. You just color it in by drawing little lines. It looks incredibly natural and gives it the perfect amount of color.

You can finish off your brows by brushing them into place. You can buy little mascara wands (they’re actually called spoolies), but I just bought a travel toothbrush that I do it with. Alternatively, you can just smooth it down with your finger, but don’t press down; you’ll smudge your makeup.

[firststeps]

How to Make a Ponytail

Making a ponytail is easy, in theory, you just put your hair through an elastic loop. Making a good ponytail, though, is much harder. You want your ponytail to be well placed, voluminous, and tight. I’ll go over exactly how to do that.

First, you have to choose your placement. There are three real placements for ponytails. High ponytails, normal ponytails, and low ponytails.

The high ponytail, seen above, is the most fashionable ponytail. It is at a 45 degree angle from the top of your head. It sits perfectly between the very top and very back. It’s a stylish choice because it follows the lines of your face and looks like you put in more effort.

The normal ponytail, seen above, is a bit more limp and sits in the back of your head, usually slightly above the very back. This is the average ponytail that people tend to use the most.

The low ponytail, seen above, doesn’t pull your hair up and isn’t formed against the scalp. It is a bit looser and is often far more casual.

T-tip: The low ponytail is the hairstyle of choice for many men with long hair, so it can hurt your chances of passing.

To get started, I use a thick elastic like these, I like the kind with no metal, and I start by putting it around my right hand, like a bracelet.

Then I bend my whole body over, flipping my head upside down like I’m touching my toes. (I don’t actually need to do this anymore, but it’s best to start this way). I use my fingers to brush through my hair. Once it’s straight, without tangles, I gather my hair with my thumbs and pointer fingers, holding them in two “L”s and moving them in together. I close my fingers around it until it’s all together in a ponytail sized giant strand.

I make sure to do this near my scalp, so it's tight, and I make sure to do it at or near the placement I want. 

Once it's bunched together like that between my thumbs and pointer fingers, I grab the entire thing with the rest of my right hand and make a fist around it. If it needs tightening or a better grip, or if there are hair I didn’t catch, which there always are, I run my left hand, in its L shape, across my scalp, catching the extra hair, then I grab the ponytail tightly from underneath my other hand. I repeat this with my right hand and then continue.

Once I have a solid right fist around it I'll use my other hand to slide the elastic off of my wrist and over my fist, still holding my hair. My hair bunch will move through it, sometimes with a bit of help, and I'll end up with a loose elastic at the bottom of the almost ponytail. I grab the elastic with two fingers and twist it around once into a figure eight, and then put my hand through the loop of the figure eight. I use my left hand, through the loop now, to grab the ponytail in a fist again. The I just pull the ponytail through the loop.

Now I have a ponytail, very tight, with no flyaways exactly where I want it, held in place my a double looped band. If you have thin hair, you may need to repeat an extra time and triple loop it.

I use bands my hair color, but you can use ones that match your outfit, or whatever ones you want! 

Some girls pick a small weft of hair (like a small group of hairs, or a lock), probably about a half an inch wide, from the side of their ponytail and they wrap it around the band a few times and tuck it in so you can't see the band. You can see this in the first photo. You can also use scrunchies, which are those giant scrunched up hair elastics from the 90's. I love them.

I usually don't like a perfectly clean ponytail, so I’ll pull on my hair running across my scalp so it’s a bit loose. If you have a low ponytail, you want to do this, but also want to pull your elastic down a little bit so it isn’t against your scalp. Or you can just do the whole process without doing it against your scalp and tightening. I also stick my finger in above my ear and pull out the wefts that fall in front of my ears, like in the picture below.

T-tip: It's super helpful for transgirls to have those pieces in front of their ears to frame their face.

To get a lot of volume in your ponytail, which is always a good thing, you may want to curl the bottom half of your hair before you start. A lot of girls want a lot of volume in their ponytails, though, because ponytail can be kind of bland. This is especially true of high ponytails, which look a bit funny without volume. Most girls shoot for a bit of a bump in their high ponytail, like in the picture below.

To get this bump, start by throwing you ponytail forward in front of your face. Then, get a hairspray, one that both holds and volumizes. I use Garnier Fructis Volumizing Hairspray. You also want a comb. I like, the quite unattractively named, rat tail combs, but any comb or even brush will do. On the bottom of your ponytail, spray some hairspray and then comb it in by combing back and forth really fast on two first inches of the bottom of the ponytail. This is a process called teasing, but it’s a kind of unique form of teasing. I’ll go more into teasing in a later post. Then, use the tail of your comb, or your fingers if your comb doesn’t have a tail, to split your ponytail horizontally about a fourth of the way up. Let the bottom fourth fall down and let the top three fourths stay flipped forward. Repeat the hairspray and teasing on the bottom side of the top three fourths of your ponytail. Divide again at halfway and then at one fourth of the way from the top and repeat this process each time. Once you’re done, you’re ponytail will be thick and healthy looking

If you get a tight, high ponytail, let the wefts fall on the sides of your face, wrap hair around the band, and volumize the whole thing, then your ponytail goes from a lazy hairstyle to a stylish look you can wear with anything.

[firststeps]

Blush and Contouring

I was traveling for the holidays, so this is my first post in a few weeks. I’m picking up where I left off after I talked about Base Makeup. After base makeup, the next step is blush and contouring. Blush, or rouge, is for bringing some color to your cheeks, and contouring is a technique to shape your face. If there are any terms or items you don’t know, you can consult the Makeup Glossary, and to see how this fits in the bigger makeup picture, you can check out my Daily Makeup Routine.

Contour

After you’ve applied your base makeup, the first thing to do is contour. You can do things in any order you want after this point, really, but contouring first will let you see how much blush, brows, eye makeup, and lip makeup your really need. To contour you need to things: a contour, or shading, and a highlighter. A contour is a powder darker than your skin tone, and a highlighter is a powder brighter than your skin tone. For my contour, I use NYC Smooth Skin Bronzing Powder in the color Sunny, and for highlighter, I use Wet n Wild Color Icon in the color Reserve Your Cabana Contouring is based around the idea that dark things appear smaller, or further away. For example, if you have a big jaw and small cheeks, you would use contour on your jaw to make it darker and less prominent, and you would use highlighter on your cheeks to make them brighter and more prominent. You’re contouring should follow roughly this pattern.

The main areas that you want highlighted are the bridge of your nose, your cheeks, your upper lips, and your forehead, the areas that you want contoured are right under your cheekbones, the sides of your nose up into your eyebrows, the perimeter of your entire face, and your neck. T-tip: Transgirls may not want to do the entire perimeter of their face, as contouring on the jaw may emphasize and beard shadow. Also, transgirls have a more square hairline usually, so you can do extra contouring on the corners to round it out. To contour, apply all of the contour, and then apply all of the highlighter. I use my fingers to apply and it works fine, but you can buy contouring brushes that probably work better. I always recommend Real Techniques brushes. Most of your contouring will be fairly easy; just follow the picture. For your two big cheek contours, it gets a bit more complicated. First you need to find out where your cheekbone is. To do this, suck in your cheeks and look at the natural dips that creates. There are three ways to contour your cheeks: deemphasizing your jaw, emphasizing your cheeks, or doing both. To deemphasize your jaw, suck in your cheeks and contour right in the dip. This will create a line that essentially runs from right in front of your earhole to your dimples. You should use this method if you have a rounder more plump face or a very strong jaw. To emphasize your cheeks, suck in your cheeks and contour above the dip. This will create a line that runs from the top of your ear over the bottom of your cheekbone and ends about an inch out from your nose. This will make your cheekbones look higher. You should use this method if your want to feminize your central face and deemphasize your nose. You can also do a very wide contour that starts where the first contour is and goes all the way to to where the second contour is. This contour is more obvious and harder to blend in, so people will be able to tell that you’ve contoured your face, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Once your contour has been spread on in lines like warpaint, you can blend it in. I use my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush to do this, but any brush, sponge, or even your fingers will work. Start by brushing, or smearing, along with the line over and over, spreading it over the area. Then start doing small circles along the edges that get bigger as you go on. Stop blending when you can’t see any edges of the contour or highlighter and they blend together. Now you can start your blush.

Blush

Blush is the quickest part of makeup, but one of the most important parts. Choosing the color and placement of your blush is very important. Blush goes on your cheekbones, not your cheeks. If you have a wider face, your blush goes closer in, like closer to the apples of your cheeks. If you have a narrower face, it goes on the outside of your cheeks, along the middle of your cheekbone. If you have a very wide or square jaw, it goes right over the entire apple of your cheek, like a Raggedy Ann doll. If you have a very long face, it goes in a diagonal stripe over your entire cheekbone. If you’ve contoured higher up, then you may want to do it over your entire cheekbone regardless of your face type. Likewise, if you’ve contoured lower, you may want to do it right over the apple of your cheek regardless of your face type. A blush brush, I use an Ecotools one that they don’t make anymore, is the best way to apply blush. Fingers work fine as well. Usually you want to apply blush in an oval where you want it. Start with a very little bit and then add more after you’ve blended if you need to.

To blend blush, I usually do five or six swipes toward my ear along my cheekbone. Then i just do big circles that cover the entire area over and over until I can’t see where the blush starts and ends. To choose a color of blush, you should be aware of what colors look best on you. An old rule states that if you are doing subtle lips and eyes you should do colorful blush, and if you are doing colorful lips, or colorful eyes, you should do subtle blush. You don’t have to follow that, though many people still do, but if you do colorful lips or colorful eyes, make sure that if your blush is also colorful, that it matches well. On most light skinned people, pink, salmon, and peach blushes look better than red blushes, and on most dark skinned people maroon, purple and mauve blushes look better than red blushes. In general, red blush doesn’t look great on most people. If you think you can pull it off, you should try though. 

Blush often takes a lot of experimentation. So does contouring. I recommend practicing right before you get in the shower a few times a week. Once you’ve tried a few different ways and found which one looks best on you, start wearing it out! 

Blush and contouring really change the shape of your face, and drag queens and makeup artists can make themselves look like completely different people just by using blush and contouring. They’re powerful tools in your makeup toolbox, and that makes them really fun to play with, so play with them!

[firststeps]

Bottoms

Immediately following up on my post on tops, I’m making a post on bottoms that serves the same purpose. This post will be an introduction to all of the options available for bottoms in your outfit.

Pants

Pants are the most simple type of bottom, but there are a few differences to keep in mind. The first major difference is the cut of the leg. There are a few different cuts, most of which are shown here.

Skinny

The skinny cut is quickly becoming the most common cut for women’s pants. It fits the leg perfectly and is often stretchy.

Slim

Not quite a skinny cut, but still fits fits tight and follows the leg’s natural contours.

Tapered

A tapered cut starts off baggier, but is skinny by the time it reaches the calves.

Straight

A straight cut is often used for dress pants. It falls in straight lines easily because of it’s usually light material.

Bootcut

Bootcut is a variation on slim cut where it’s not quite as tight in parts and the fabric doesn’t bunch up. It allows for the bottom to be tucked into boots.

Wide Leg

Wide leg cuts still fit to the thigh, but are looser towards the bottom.

Flared

Flared pants are a type of wide leg that gets even wider by the ankles. It’s called a bell bottom if it’s a very sharp flare.

Gaucho

Pants with a gigantic flare starting a bit above the knees. Sometimes used for capris.

Pants can also be differentiated by where the waist starts. They can start at the average height, or they can be higher or lower.

This image shows a few variations on where pants can start.

High Waisted

High waisted pants, called high rise in the image but usually called high waisted, are very fashionable right now. The super high waisted ones, sometimes called mom jeans, start right above your belly button, while the normal high waisted one start right below your belly button.

Medium Rise

Medium rise pants are always in style, and are the standard for for most pants.

Low Rise

Low rise pants come in style sometimes, and can work very well on a select few body types, but are becoming harder to find.

There are also certain specific types of pants that have other traits that define them, short of their cut and waist. There are the obvious ones like jeans and khakis, but there are more obscure ones as well.

Jeans

Any pants made of denim. Usually light blue, dark blue, and black are the common colors, but they can be any color and still be jeans.

Dress Pants

Any pants designed for dressy wear, usually straight cut and high waisted, with thin flowing material. Often have a sharp fold down the front, in which case they are pleated pants.

Khakis

Dress pants made of Khaki material.

Cargo Pants

Pants covered in pockets, usually tan capris. They are not very popular anymore.

Capris

Pants that cut off halfway down the calve instead of at the ankle.

Harem Pants

A style of pants that is becoming popular consisting of really loose thin fabric that droops down on top and tightens on the bottom.

Balloon Pants

The opposite of harem pants. These pants are really loose thin fabric that is tight up top, and then loosens and “balloons” at the bottom.

Overalls

I don’t know if these are really pants, but overalls are pants that strap over your shoulders that occasionally come in fashion.

Leggings

Tights sometimes designed to be worn as pants. Common as jeggings, or jean leggings.

Yoga Pants

Pants that are like tights up top, but are looser starting around the knees. Worn during athletics, particularly yoga.

Shorts

Shorts are similar to pants in many ways. They have the same variations in cut, waist height, and material. The only differences I’m going to outline are the lengths. I’m using inseam for the lengths. Inseam is the distance between the bottom of the crotch, and the end of the shorts. You can reference inseam length on the chart below.

Short Shorts

Now the most popular type of shorts, short shorts are any shorts that have an inseam shorter than 4 inches. Sometimes flat across, but sometimes cutoffs, which look torn on the ends. With short shorts and hot pants, there are two styles. Either the ends are flat on your legs, or they are at an angle to your legs. If you lay the shorts flat on the ground, the flat ones will form a straight line on the bottom ends, and the angled ones will form a V on the bottom ends.

Hot Pants

Short shorts that don’t extend past the butt. The inseam is less than 2 inches. If they are jean cutoffs, they are sometimes referred to as Daisy Dukes. The angled, V shaped hot pants are known as cheeky shorts, and purposefully show some butt. They are usually intended to be beach ware.

Classic Shorts

These have an inseam of about 6 inches. They used to be standard, but now short shorts and Bermuda shorts have largely replaced them.

Bermuda Shorts

Straight cut shorts, often colored, that cut off about 3/4 of the way down the thigh. They have an inseam of about 8 inches.

Long Shorts

Long shorts cut off right above the knee, and are almost exclusively jean shorts. They also used to be popular before Bermuda shorts eclipsed them. Their inseam is about 10 inches.

Skirts

This is the most complicated category within bottoms. Skirts are timeless and always fashionable. They are easy and comfortable to wear, but they are hard to shop for, as there are so many styles. I’ll start with lengths.

Most skirts are either miniskirts or above the knee skirts. For an office scenario, above the knee skirts are appropriate, though many people are still wearing midi skirts to the office. Midi skirts can stop either right above or right below the knee. Also, max length skirts, now called maxi skirts, are gaining in popularity.

There are dozens of skirt types, and most are unimportant outside of very formal situations, but I’m going to put this fantastic guide here that introduces you to most of them.

Out of all of these skirts, there are only a few that you are likely to wear aside from special occasions. I’ll be going over those, as well as the important ones that this infographic missed.

A - Line

This is probably the most basic skirt. It is thicker and has a good amount of flare to it. It usually is above-the-knee length.

Tube Skirt

This is a skirt that fits tightly around your thighs due to being made of stretchy material. It usually finished just above of just below the knee, which are the two common variations on midi length skirts.

Pencil Skirt

This is the standard office skirt. It is usually part of business wear, but it can also be used as a fashion statement. It usually sits high on the waist and finishes at above-the-knee length, but can also be found in the shorter midi length.

Maxi Skirt

Maxi skirts are loose flowing skirts at the maxi length. They are the only skirts at the maxi length that are common, and are usually a summery, bohemian type of style.

Mini Skirt

Any skirt at the mini length or above is technically a mini skirt, but this term usually refers to skirts at the micro mini length that do not flare.

Skater Skirt

This is probably the most common casual skirt now. It is usually about mini length or a bit longer, and it starts high on the waist. It’s made of a thick material with slight folds and ruffles and tends to flare dramatically.

Hi-Lo skirt

This skirt is short in the front, usually mini or a bit longer, and long in the back, usually maxi. It’s made of loose, flowing material and has become very popular recently.

Those are all of the bottoms you are likely to encounter. Don’t worry too much about remembering all of the names, the important part is just to look at the different types and figure out what you like. That way, when shopping, you can know what to look for. Fashion is all about figuring out what you like, but knowing the names and the styles available can be really helpful.

[firststeps]

hi there! when using strides or any bha product it's often helpful to incorporate a wait time so that the acid has time to work to the fullest extent. this only takes at most twenty minutes! using a ph adjusting toner prior to application can help as well. Paula's Choice and Cosrx both make a liquid bha that is suitable for all skin types but especially dry types! (Tho I prefer the pc one myself) + wear sunscreen everyday because exfoliation makes your skin more vulnerable to the sun. 💖 bye!!!

I’ve heard about this, but, to be honest, have always been too rushed and never done it properly. I’ll give it a try though!

And yes, not mentioning sunscreen was a glaring oversight on my part! I wear multiple things with sun protection built in, and so I completely forgot. I’m going to edit my post to include this because it’s so important!

Thank you so much!