#transgender makeup

[jessicareneeflower]

An amazing transformation! Those eye lashes are awesome.

[the-mira-life-project-mtf]

First Day - Post FFS Opt Makeup

Today was the first day that I put makeup back on; to see what my new complexion looked like.

It’s been about six months since I did an extensive makeup; and even now, I only did a partial makeup due to wearing a mask.

[makeup-beginner]

[foxgirlmoth]

Yo, so I made that makeup thing and edited it a bit (I think I'm bad at editing so I'm sorry)

This is all cheap dollar store makeup stuff and honestly just some basics I learned way long ago, I hope this helps out anyone who wants to present more fem! Trans rights!

You are you and that's ok. You are valid!

[sophisticated-angel]

does anybody have any tips/resources on makeup for trans men?

A friend of mine is looking for tips on how to utilize his makeup without everybody immediately thinking he’s female. He knows the basics like contouring, but he’s looking for ways to use things like highlighters and “good colors”. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!

~ Angel

[sketchbookofastudent]

In Which I Share my Discoveries in Makeup

So I have been pretty shit at wearing makeup in the four months since I went full time and if I left the flat most days I would just smear some concealer on ma face hair and maybe some eyeliner and lipstick if I'm actually making and effort... on some very rare days I would wear a full face of foundation but never really liked it...

BUT Ive had almost a month of feeling really depressed and reclusive and dysphoric and I think that’s partly down to me not really making an effort with my appearance and it damaging my self esteem...

So I've recently been doing self care in the for of cosmetics shopping and am am making an attempt to learn about and actually get good at makeup and find something that works for me... This is what I have discovered:

Foundation:

This is the big one for me. The foundation that I have been using since I started wearing makeup just doesn't really work for me, so I never ended up wearing it. I recently realised it also oxidises during the day so goes a shade darker and a little orange after a few hours - not a good look!! Its also a full coverage foundation that feels pretty heavy, I really don’t like it and so never really wear it...

In looking for an alternative I have found that my skin is actually surprisingly pale. My skin is pretty red and blotchy and i have big eye bags and beard shadow which disguises the fact that my skin is really light (as in lighter than the lightest foundation in most drugstores) which makes finding something appropriate difficult! On top of this, my skin is pretty sensitive and likes to get super oily when I’m in the warm and super dry in cold weather so I need a foundation that is both hydrating and mattifying! 

I think I have found a solution though. I am currently using (over a concealer for my beard and bags) a very very lightweight and also very pale CC cream. Its like a super lightweight sheer foundation (more like a tinted cream) which literally just blurs imperfections and hides some of the redness in my skin. I really like this as it basically just feels like you have put moisturiser on your face and it looks really good! Ive also got a powder in a pale shade that I use to set the cream and make it matt.

The sorta grunge aesthetic that I follow isn’t that big on foundation anyway to be honest. Makeup in this style tends to be like bold lipstick or bold eyeshadow but avoids the ‘flawless glow’ skin thing that it seems everyone wants. I guess its a kinda natural face look combined with natural eye or lips that I’m going for, so this minimal CC cream is a perfect option!

Concealer:

This is probably the most important one for me, since I have a lot to conceal! On lazy days, this is pretty much all I wear. I have been using a liquid tube concealer but I think its a little dark for my skin tone and because its pretty runny it can look cakey when put on thick, so I'm trying some new things.

Firstly, and this was a revelation for me, was to cover the dark blueish patches of stubble with red lipstick first. It sounds crazy but it brightens and neutralises the blue tones!! Also because I have really red cheeks and nose it kinda brings that area to the same colour as the rest of my face.

Ive tried a few drugstore concealers, little pots of hard creamy stuff and liquid stuff and the ones that come in a stick that you rub on but honestly pretty much everything from a hughstreet is too dark for my skintone. pretty much all areas i am concealing are darker than the rest of my skin so I want a really bright concealer to combat that. Ive got a liquid wand application one I bought online that is really pale so hopefully that should sort this issue! This bright concealer will probably also double as a highlighter too.

Contouring:

This is totally new to me and I still don't really know what I'm doing. My pale skin strikes again in that pretty much all contour kits I can buy on the hughstreet are way too dark and orange for my face. The highlighter is darker than my foundation!! Also because I'm pale orangey/bronze stuff looks weird on my face so the bronzer used for the shadows is no good.

Instead I've gone with using my concealer as a highlighter, found a pale blush online and I'm just using the lightest shade in my contour kit for cheekbones and stuff...

I really like what contouring does to my face when I get it right, foundation can make my face look a little flat and moon-like so its good to put a bit of shape back in. It can also be used to make stuff look thinner and smaller which is good for feminising features a little :) Blush is fun but I don't need to do this so much since I'm using a CC cream instead of foundation and my natural skin tones show though a little more anyway.

Eyes n Brows

Again something I'm totally new to. For the past ages I have literally just been doing winged eyeliner and that is it. Im pretty good at winged eyeliner now though! Anyway I have started doing a little with eyeshadow and I'm really enjoying it. I have to be really careful not to go over the top and look all drag queen-y but I'm learning. I have pretty deep set hooded eyes so you can't really see it anyway but putting highlights and shadows places can make them seem less deep set and a little bigger which is cool. I think dark bold eyeshadow kinda fits my grungey aesthetic so I’d like to get better...

I literally never wear mascara... I don't really like how it feels and I don't have eyelash curlers so when I do use mascara they don't point up and just kinda cover my eyes and look bad. Maybe I will return to them one day with better products - who knows!

I am literally shit and keeping up my eyebrows but I'm getting better and they make such a huge difference I really should pay more attention to them... I literally just have an eyebrow pencil and sketch over them to fill them in a bit. I should probably sharpen it and do a bit of experimentation with shape but whatever...

Lips

I literally own two lipsticks, red and purple. I never even wore the red one until i dyed my hair black. One is a classic cream stick and the other is a matte liquid. I really really like the matte liquid lipstick because you an be really precise with its outline and shape. That means when i am slightly overdrawing your top lip (my top lip is half the size of my bottom) i can be really precise with the shape. Because its matte it doesn't really fade its either on or off which is great because if you have overdrawn but its faded stuff can look weird. It does mean the inside of the lip can rub off more quickly and you get an ‘only wearing lipliner’ look which can be bad, so it needs touchups. 

I’d really like to expand my lipstick collection to more colours and nudes... Since I wear glasses and have short dark hair my lips can look a little lost so I need bolder shades. I hate pink lipsticks on me with an intense passion - they look awful! Liquid mattes are always expensive and I’m always too scared to commit to buying lipsticks in case they don't suit me... I guess I just need people to gift me lipstick!

Anyway I think thats basically it - these are my discoveries in makeup.

In all honesty, once I start e and my skin clears up, and once I get laser hair removal so I don't have to conceal my facial hair Im pretty sure ill hardly even use foundation - maybe just some eye bag concealer and a loose power - Its the lips and eyes where my attention is really, thats the fun bit, and the bit I'm looking forward to expanding on! 

Anyway I hope for anyone who has bothered to read this that it has been vaguely interesting or informative. This is literally all just based on personal preference and experience - if you wear loads more makeup than this or none at all its still all good! Like I said a lot of days I just wear concealer or even none at all but those are the days I'm usually feeling like shit about myself so I'm making the effort to lessen them.

[the-mira-life-project-mtf]

Oops! So, I’ve been Doing Make-up Wrong All This Time! (My MtF~HRT Journey)

    I am blessed to have such a wide support team educating me and assisting me during my transition and today I learned that I made a minor mistake that I want to correct here...

    So, learning make-up can be quite fun and quite challenging!

    Well, I personally find it fun and frustrating all at the same time!

    Weekly, I usually do a full make-up to test my abilities, learn new techniques and to keep practicing...for being a cis-male for 34 years really never had me once picking up a brush and lipstick...so I have to learn from scratch.

    The first time my friend taught me how to do professional makeup (See it here: https://the-mira-life-project-mtf.tumblr.com/post/187014259942/my-first-make-up-my-mtf-hrt-journey); as he is a private artist for gigs and works at Sephora. I was to say the least, overwhelmed. There was so many steps to remember!

    Wash, hydrate, foundation, concealer, contour, eyes and lastly, lips.

    It is a crazy amount to remember and learn...and to be honest, I terribly failed my first lesson!

    While going over my make-up, I was reading a comic that actually is a great visual aid for makeup and when the protagonist was taking about contour, I was like ‘What exactly is that?’

    I remember my friend talking about contouring while he was teaching me to apply make-up. He did up the contouring and I asked to photograph myself to see just how he did it:

     Over the year, I went home and practiced over and over and just could not seem to get the same results. I at first thought: ‘Maybe I am suppose to contour with my concealer?’ but made no sense as a concealer is designed to hide things you don’t want seen. And to say the lease, I only use a smidgen of concealer (mainly under-nose) as the stuff is fairly pricey!

     With concealer clearly the incorrect choice, I thought: ‘Okay, that just leaves foundation.’ So for a year, I used foundation and once again, I could pull off darker hues, but it didn’t blend well!

     The problem of using foundation all over is that is made the face look ‘flat’, not what I wanted. I would use eye-shadow powder to adds color back...

     Well, to say the least...I was wrong!

     Apparently there is a product called: Contour that you use to pull this off:

     Powders, Creams and roll-ons (which I use as a concealer for precision), I was reading this and totally...

     For a year!

     Wow...how embarrassing!

     Thank god I didn’t tutorial my make-up sessions. This is one thing that I’ve learned about being transgender...You will fail! But your failure will be measured by your willingness to quit! I just laughed and thought: well, I still looked nice in a few make-up sessions prior to dinners, New-Years and a wedding.

     To all the aspiring trans-women out there...don’t worry about worrying about failing. Make-up isn’t something you pick up on day one or day 365...it is like any form of art...it takes time!

     The goal, like your transition is to explore...have fun and be open to new things! Hopefully when I feel confident in my skills, I’ll start uploading my photo tutorials here for others to see.

[makeup-beginner]

Pride