Susan's Place Transgender Resources

So my next therapist visit I really want to just put some makeup on and really just see me as me, since I do not have any real opportunities currently at home. For the first time makeup pur->-bleeped-<- wanting to try it out what do you suggest beyond lipstick. Eyeshadow? blush? I kind of have an idea of how to use it from videos online but im not exactly sure what would be a good place to start. The plan is to grab some from the drugstore on the way there.

I kind of feel like when I started painting warhammer models. I started with 5 paints and now I have 137 paints and technical aids.

Hello Generalchaos
I don't think grabbing some makeup on the way to your therapist and applying it all on for your first time possibly might not be the way you want to present yourself to your therapist.
   I think it's wonderful that you want to discover what makeup can do but I believe your therapist still will see the real you without any makeup, your therapist is trained at this and if you're just honest sincere and cooperative your inner identity will shine through without makeup.
I would recommend getting familiar with it first where you feel comfortable instead of trying to get everything right in a vehicle.
And for the first time I would stay away from the pricey name brand stuff as much as you can because it'll really add up.
But I think a good start list would include Foundation that matched your skin tone, eyeliner mascara eyeshadow in your choice of color and there's quite a selection there,
lip liner, lipstick and then some powder to take away any shine and set your makeup would be a decent start.
More importantly it's how you use it not what you have that counts more.
more is not better the idea is to have it as subtle and natural so it augments your features and doesn't overwhelm them.  unless it's Halloween or something I would try to keep it toned down as much as possible you don't want to look like a drag queen  which is about opposite as you can get from the way that most women and especially trans women use it. I think most trans women want to keep it toned down and looking natural not only will this reduce attention to you it's really not the way that trans women want to project themselves it kind of leaves some negativity to the public that we really don't want.
I am far from an expert on makeup it's really super complex perhaps the beauty Forum here will provide  you good information.
Check out some makeup tutorials they're all over the place and practice practice practice.
Just remember less is best until you really get the hang of it.

best wishes love Tatiana

You should begin with good skin care. Get your skin as clear as possible by exclusively using liquid soap on your face. Have you begun electrolysis? If not, tweeze all of your facial hair to prevent a five o'clock shadow. All but the darkest skin is translucent and will show a shadow even before epilated hair has reached the skin's surface. Very light blonde and gray hair are the exceptions.
The less make-up you wear; the more natural you're going to look. Buy a concealer that's, maybe, a shade lighter than your own skin tone and apply it to the corners of your nose; the middle of your chin, the area(s)where your facial hair grows; the inner corner's of your eyes; the cleavage between your brow ridges(more pronounced in post-pubescent males).
If you're post-pubescent, a bang helps. Post-pubescent males tend to have larger brow ridges. Rembember; the less colorful make-up your wear; the more natural you'll look. Take the hormones. Hormone usage will brighten your skin and slow down facial hair growth.
In fact , you may want to consider plastic surgery and/or hormone use to achieve a more female like facial appearance instead of make-up.

Hi! Looks like you have gone the youtube route. I would suggest getting into a place like Sephora and ask for a make up lesson. They have shown great support for trans clients and will give you all the ideas and how to's you need. I went in at the beginning for a make up lesson and have never regretted it. I wanted a natural look and the woman helped me showed me how to get the most with the least make up. She also helped on what basic tools you need (brushes) and I appreciated that she did not push more than what was necessary.

I would also recommend that going to a good aesthetician for have a foundation set for your brows is never a waste of time or money.

Have fun, and all the best with your next therapist appointment!

Hugs,
Kelly

Quote from: Tatiana 79 on June 13, 2018, 05:16:48 PM
Hello Generalchaos
I don't think grabbing some makeup on the way to your therapist and applying it all on for your first time possibly might not be the way you want to present yourself to your therapist.
   I think it's wonderful that you want to discover what makeup can do but I believe your therapist still will see the real you without any makeup, your therapist is trained at this and if you're just honest sincere and cooperative your inner identity will shine through without makeup.
I would recommend getting familiar with it first where you feel comfortable instead of trying to get everything right in a vehicle.
And for the first time I would stay away from the pricey name brand stuff as much as you can because it'll really add up.
But I think a good start list would include Foundation that matched your skin tone, eyeliner mascara eyeshadow in your choice of color and there's quite a selection there,
lip liner, lipstick and then some powder to take away any shine and set your makeup would be a decent start.
More importantly it's how you use it not what you have that counts more.
more is not better the idea is to have it as subtle and natural so it augments your features and doesn't overwhelm them.  unless it's Halloween or something I would try to keep it toned down as much as possible you don't want to look like a drag queen  which is about opposite as you can get from the way that most women and especially trans women use it. I think most trans women want to keep it toned down and looking natural not only will this reduce attention to you it's really not the way that trans women want to project themselves it kind of leaves some negativity to the public that we really don't want.
I am far from an expert on makeup it's really super complex perhaps the beauty Forum here will provide  you good information.
Check out some makeup tutorials they're all over the place and practice practice practice.
Just remember less is best until you really get the hang of it.

best wishes love Tatiana

I dont plan to put it on to impress my therapist ( i made her cookies for that! =P), I want to put it on while I'm talking to her. I'll have to wash it all off when I leave however. She has seen me as a woman since we started and we already went over pronoun use and everything. I just want to feel more comfortable when I talk to her. I guess I always feel....ugly, so maybe a little something on the face may liven me up. Its an experiment to say the least! At the moment because I am not out to my wife I do not have any way to really express these kinds of feelings until I do.

Quote from: Post-Operative Lady on June 13, 2018, 05:54:40 PM
You should begin with good skin care. Get your skin as clear as possible by exclusively using liquid soap on your face. Have you begun electrolysis? If not, tweeze all of your facial hair to prevent a five o'clock shadow. All but the darkest skin is translucent and will show a shadow even before epilated hair has reached the skin's surface. Very light blonde and gray hair are the exceptions.
The less make-up you wear; the more natural you're going to look. Buy a concealer that's, maybe, a shade lighter than your own skin tone and apply it to the corners of your nose; the middle of your chin, the area(s)where your facial hair grows; the inner corner's of your eyes; the cleavage between your brow ridges(more pronounced in post-pubescent males).
If you're post-pubescent, a bang helps. Post-pubescent males tend to have larger brow ridges. Rembember; the less colorful make-up your wear; the more natural you'll look. Take the hormones. Hormone usage will brighten your skin and slow down facial hair growth.
In fact , you may want to consider plastic surgery and/or hormone use to achieve a more female like facial appearance instead of make-up.

Thank you! thankfully I currently only shave maybe once a week and its mostly blondish hair, so I do have a good start there! I don't plan to paint my self up like a hooker to say the least, I just want a little bit to accentuate my features, definitely a nice lipstick and maybe highlight my non existent cheekbones.

Buying make up....where do I start?

Before I got nail polish or makeup, I got nail polish and makeup remover.  ;)

Sorry Generalchaos,
I was unaware of a lot of the information you told me after I responded to you. I really don't know your story. I do admit that I'm probably the worst member out here  to ask for this kind of advice and I probably should have stayed away from this one I merely tried to help as best I could.
Sincerely Tatiana

Quote from: Tatiana 79 on June 13, 2018, 07:21:21 PM
Sorry Generalchaos,
I was unaware of a lot of the information you told me after I responded to you. I really don't know your story. I do admit that I'm probably the worst member out here  to ask for this kind of advice and I probably should have stayed away from this one I merely tried to help as best I could.
Sincerely Tatiana

No worries! beside any help you give simply means you care. I appreciate it, and I admit, my case is somewhat unique in that I have a pretty great therapist who REALLY wants me to transition fully, she's great!

One solution that might work for you is to go to an Ulta, Sephora of Macy's Mac counter and have them apply makeup and you can study how they do it. You may have to spend a few bucks on makeup but if you can come out looking good and understanding what you just learned. Also there are many, many tutorials on YouTube. The most important thing is making sure your foundation matches your skin tone. Nobody wants to look like they are wearing a mask.

Quote from: DawnOday on June 13, 2018, 09:40:54 PM
One solution that might work for you is to go to an Ulta, Sephora of Macy's Mac counter and have them apply makeup and you can study how they do it. You may have to spend a few bucks on makeup but if you can come out looking good and understanding what you just learned. Also there are many, many tutorials on YouTube.

Im thinking this may be the case, I understand Sephora is doing a trans workshop in my area so when I come out I will definitely find myself there (and they have free samples!)

If you can take some make-up classes it will help you not buy too many things, and deploy the things you buy quite a bit better. For instance, they will stay on longer without smearing or clumping up.

Every class I have been to has emphasized skin care and preparation, which is the easiest bit to neglect and the most difficult to maintain systematically. You don't see results as quickly as you do with the pretty bits - but after a night's dancing when you still look cool and fresh, it shows.

If you take a class, be ready to take pictures and notes. Particularly at Kryolan classes you get a tremendous amount of information quickly while you are also trying new technical tricks, and sometimes it is easy to miss the significance of a step. Later you may want to remember a setting powder you didn't have and the pictures will help.

hello hello

as much as there are tons of make ups out there and probably your excitement may be too much to contain, it's really not that complicated.

i started out with lipsticks then followed by eyeliners (im gothy/emo-ey) then concealers/powder and that's it :D

to think nowadays i have to wake up an extra 2 hours early to doll myself up before work.......it's fun though

Quote from: IamJoannaAndJohn on June 14, 2018, 04:29:11 AM
hello hello

as much as there are tons of make ups out there and probably your excitement may be too much to contain, it's really not that complicated.

i started out with lipsticks then followed by eyeliners (im gothy/emo-ey) then concealers/powder and that's it :D

to think nowadays i have to wake up an extra 2 hours early to doll myself up before work.......it's fun though

Wow...you spend 2 hours getting yourself ready? Is that just applying makeup or the whole bemoaning what to wear, making coffee, cooking eggs, etc.. lol.  I probably spend about 15-30 minutes applying makeup, sometimes a lot less.  I don't ever have someone compliment me on my makeup... because I go for the subtle look. Maybe its TOO subtle, I don't think it is though.

Good advice here, but don't get overwhelmed.  Tone, Foundation, Concealer for the bad spots, Countour foundation if you really want to (don't really need to), Mascara, lipstick are your basics.  Most day I bypass lipstick as it dries my lips and and you have to reapply usually.

I would avoid doing your makeup in your therapy session as without a mirror, you will have a really hard time doing a good application and focusing on that task will take your focus away from what you're there for.

Properly applied, makeup is quite invisible, this will take some practice, however you can easily aim for an application that's going to enhance femme features (& hide the masculine ones) while not actually being visible. So when you don't his, there's no reason not to walk about in public.

This month I'm giving a go to wearing full makeup often and much enjoying that process. I can do application from sunscreen-foundation all the way to eyes and lipstick in about 7 minutes.

Look at Sephora for the series of classes they're doing for trans women right now.

I would suggest you start...

...at the foundation.

[emoji41]

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Quote from: FreyjaValkyrie on June 15, 2018, 01:08:53 AM
I would suggest you start...

...at the foundation.

[emoji41]

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

Quick, que the Who!

BB cream is like foundation, it's really easy to apply, it adds some coverage, and evens out your skin tone very well; and you can wear by itself, or apply some basic eye makeup and lipstick if you want to.

If you're doing the trans class at sephora I think it would help to try to plan to do another one. You get the bare basics from it and to really make your look "pop" you need the details like lips, eyes... I like to think of contouring, highlight and blush as very similar and probably best to not over do all together/at the same time. I used to make that mistake. I'd post a photo show what NOT to do but I'll probably be turned into a cringey meme. [emoji28]

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Quote from: SadieBlake on June 14, 2018, 05:50:00 AMLook at Sephora for the series of classes they're doing for trans women right now.

This must be regional. I really want to try this, but I can find only one class here in Florida. It's on a single date and four hours away.

I may just give up and attend a class for ciswomen. I doubt they'd turn me away.



Stephanie

Orofluido Asia blush is actually really good

Stephanie, couldn't hurt to ask the local Sephora, preferably have a few trans women also interested. My class had 6 women attending, they didn't have staff to deal with many more.

Also, yes, they'll accept you in any class.

As other have said, YouTube and helpful counter folks will get you a long way. I would add, though, to concentrate on mastering one aspect of makeup at a time, eventually doing it all. Something like skin care, then concealer and foundation, then eyes, then lips and so forth.

So I got a chance to try on some makeup at my therapists! I just put on some lipstick and eyeshadow, but I gotta say it felt extremely liberating! I felt pretty, she said i've never smiled that big before! Im liking everything that Im donig so far and I can't wait to fully embrace my femininity. I cried from happiness the whole way home. Which is a big milestone since ive felt dead inside for years

Now if I could only practice at home, I really suck at eyeshadow. Also purple when done poorly looks like you have a black eye

So what color are your eyes? My very first make-up class at MAC showed me that blue/green eyes like mine do really well with copper inside/purple outside, and I have three shades of purple to go with the copper depending on time of day.

Quote from: xuexue on June 16, 2018, 02:09:21 PM
So what color are your eyes? My very first make-up class at MAC showed me that blue/green eyes like mine do really well with copper inside/purple outside, and I have three shades of purple to go with the copper depending on time of day.

Thats the thing....

I have hazel eyes so it really depends on the day what color my eyes are

Quote from: generalchaos34 on June 16, 2018, 01:21:35 PM
So I got a chance to try on some makeup at my therapists! I just put on some lipstick and eyeshadow, but I gotta say it felt extremely liberating! I felt pretty, she said i've never smiled that big before! Im liking everything that Im donig so far and I can't wait to fully embrace my femininity. I cried from happiness the whole way home. Which is a big milestone since ive felt dead inside for years

Now if I could only practice at home, I really suck at eyeshadow. Also purple when done poorly looks like you have a black eye

Congratulations; it's very special when we get to see the first glimpses of our true self the way we see ourselves on the inside😊
Do you have any trans support groups in your area? Some support groups have makeup classes, and other events that are very helpful. And if you arrive early for a regular meeting, you may be able to practice applying makeup before it starts. 

Quote from: MissyMay2.0 on June 16, 2018, 02:29:04 PM
Congratulations; it's very special when we get to see the first glimpses of our true self the way we see ourselves on the inside😊
Do you have any trans support groups in your area? Some support groups have makeup classes, and other events that are very helpful. And if you arrive early for a regular meeting, you may be able to practice applying makeup before it starts.

Supposedly they have a group the town over, ill see if I can sneak out to see it! Honestly I can't wait till I come out to my spouse so I can finally do all of these things right. Its going to take time, and I will definitely have to do it right and not rush in.

Gc34, so glad to hear that went well for you! Congratulations on making that step :-). I've been wearing makeup a lot myself lately and it feels good to go out and have people say nice things about my makeup job specifically -- which several have this week.