The last time I wore make up was years ago, when my girlfriend at the time (who was bi and extremely trans friendly) would either make me over for a Rocky Horror show or we were somewhere where I'd be safe to dress and act as I pleased. I learned very little, as she insisted on doing it, but the results were always great. I didn't care too much at the time, and didn't even pay attention to what she had used- all I know was 10 minutes in her hands worked miracles.

Now that I am rediscovering myself after throwing out everything years ago (I am an idiot- I lost some things that I can't find again), I realise that I should have paid more attention. For putting the make up on, that's easy. The make up itself, is the issue.

From what I've looked at, and from what I've seen on this forum- there are many options out there. The cheapest is not the best, and the best is far from cheap. Can anyone recommend a basic starter set/kit or just a great place to get the few essentials to get back into the world of painting my face without breaking the bank? Brands to avoid or go after?

Whoever said that cheap is far from best needs to re-assess their life choices
Expensive is not a guarantee, it won't always work, even if you use it correctly.

What look you're going for? soft and feminine? Do you struggle with beard shadow?
Where you from? I'm from Europe, don't know much about US makeup but hey ho.

I'd say:
Foundation: Bourjois. I think they're really good quality and colours. Find the right shade and you're good to go.
Brushes: get them from eBay, the ones from China are incredibly good, and on auctions you can get a whole sets for like few dollars literally.
Powder: I like Rimmel stay matte, but look for transparent, loose powders.
Blusher and lips: I love elf lipsticks, they're amazing quality, colour pay off etc. Use lipstick as a blusher, blend it with your fingers. Other good lipstick brands are NYX, but some of their shades are a miss.
Gel liner: Maybelline. Cheap and brilliant.
Mascara: Covergirl lash blast.
False eyelashes: Ardell or Red cherry lashes.
Eyeshadows? I wouldn't bother. Unless you got blue eyes, I don't think they do anything for the eye, stick to gel liner to elongate your eye and add dimension.

Good luck!

I'm looking to go soft and feminine, or at least just feminine. I have a heavy beard- pretty much a 5 o'clock shadow immediately after shaving. I'm in the US

Is your beard shadow blue? Youtube/google how to cover 5 oclock shadow drag tutorials

I'm not sure if I would call it blue, I think its more of a gray- dark hair on pale-ish skin. I just placed an order on walmart, getting most of what you recommended and a few other things. Stuff was cheaper than I expected

Told ya:D Makeup is and can be very very overpriced, so it's a case of browsing through a lot of it

Now I sit and wait for it to arrive, and then I see what I remember from my exs without stabbing myself in the eye. Granted, there's youtube videos, but nothing beats having a person show you that you can ask questions to

About half of it arrived today- i definitely got the wrong sized brushes- they definitely looked bigger in the picture. As for everything else, I did a quick test to see how water proof every thing that was supposed to be- and isn't, but the lip gloss I got that was supposed to be plumping definitely is- and even now, like 2 hours after i removed it, they're still plump. Definitely a winner there

Give yourself lots of time to try and experiment with new products and techniques. You don't need to get anything right the first time around. Makeup is a lot of trial and error, and there is no "one size fits all." Blend the advice and tutorials from others with your own intuition, and give yourself the freedom to try new things. Make the process fun.

A lot more arrived today, so I tried to experiment a bit. I had no problem with anything- except the eyeliner. My eyes kept twitching, and I tried open eye and shut eye. Coming from the outside, coming from the front- i'd start a semi decent line with twitch, nice streak wandering off

With non-liquid eyeliner, I do small, soft strokes all along. Sometimes I need to take a deep breath and loosen up my shoulders first. Haven't perfected the upper lid, but still doing the short strokes and some smoothing with my finger.