When I do my makeup I look absolutely nothing like the woman in the picture above. (Edit - actually it is my picture, I have gone back and changed my posts to only include my own pictures, or pictures which I have permission to use them, just FYI.) Though at times in my life that is what I thought it should look like when you apply mkeup. I'm not really sure why I thought that. I suppose it is what crossdressers often think about when they try to emulate women. They often do not try and look like women really do, they end up looking like a massive exaggeration of what a women looks like. This often just ends up making crossdressers look like skanks instead of actual women.
When I do my makeup I try to make it look as natural as possible. I don't like the look of extra thick foundation, garish lipstick, overdone eyes, and cherry red cheeks. Part of my goal in the clothes I choose to wear and the way I choose to do my makeup is to blend in. I don't want to stick out anymore than I already do. I'm a guy in a dress, I don't need to give people other reasons to stare at me.
So here is my routine:
1 - I apply a light foundation. The lighter it is the better it looks. Most guys want the foundation to help cover things up, like a beard maybe? The best way I have found to hide my beard is a really close shave. I tend to shave regularly, then shave against the grain, then I touch things up with an electric shaver.
2 - I use a very light dusting of powder, just to set the foundation. The lighter you do steps 1 and 2, the less your wrinkles will show up!
3 - I put on a very light, very light, extremely light dusting of blush on my cheeks.
4 - I use a light colored eye foundation just on my lids.
5 - If I am going out during the day on my eyes I use a four color combo on my upper eyelids. Clinique just came out with a new shadow campact that shows you where to put each color.
6 - If I am going out at night I will use a light line of eyeliner, normally on just y upper lids, but occasionally the lower one also,
7 - Now I will put mascara on my upper lashes, and normally my lowers ones, but not always.
8 - Lastly I like to use clinique lipstick.
My last piece of advice within this entry is to say, practice, practice, practice! Oh, I almost forgot, at the end of the day, I like to use a couple of makeup removers, also from Clinique.
Enjoy! What is your routine? Do you have one yet? Have you ever had your makeup done at a counter?
How long does your beard cover up last? Could you go into the beard part more? I have a sparse beard but it is dark in color so it shows up fast. Maybe I'm just not very good at covering it up yet. I also get a lot of bumps and irritation on my neck from shaving so close.
ReplyDeleteGood question! Thanks for asking. I will try and do a post that goes into more detail about how I handle covering my beard.
DeleteIn general when I am dressing I am done shaving in the morning by about 7 or 8. By about 5 or 6 that afternoon I have a few whiskers showing through. But I have never done a second shaving in the same day as I have heard some will do. I just mentally cope with knowing some whiskers are showing. Oh well!!!
In general though, I am very fortunate in that I do not have a dark beard to have to cover up and I get to use regular foundation from Urban Decay. I have heard of some tips from other cross dressers about how they cover their beards with makeup.
Some brief ideas are to use a red color to counteract the blue of the five o'clock shadow. I have also heard of some folks using a product called dermablend.
For razor bumps I have not found a lot that helps. I too seem to suffer from razor bumps. A couple of things I do is to shave my face normally, in the shower, and then use an electric razor when I get out of the shower. Also I shave about 5 or 6 days of the week. The more you shave the more your skin gets acclimated to it.
I will try and do a more detailed post on this matter in the future.
Thanks so much for the question and for stopping by!!