Day three of makeup -FAIL!

[ShawnaLeigh]

OMG ladies I have been riding a cloud numbered 9 for a few days now with so much positive feedback and compliments.  I feel so accepted and special.  I feel like a beautiful women and see this in the mirror.  (Yes I have a huge ego still-sorry)

I am NOT even close to do my makeup perfectly just starting for the first time four days ago but I try, and research, and I watch YouTube videos and try new things, and on and on.

Well yesterday it was a swing and a miss.

I looked close to Beatle Juice if that's any indication.  LOL

I just tried to do to much to soon.  I definitely learned I total suck at eye liner and apparently you can put to much bronzer on.  Especially when it has a shimmer effect to it.  yea I looked like a shiny over tanned old lady who had to black eyes.  Just simply terrible.

Yea I was something special to look at in natural lighting that's for sure.  

 

Not only this but I was on about day three with zero moisturizing and you could see how dried and desiccated my skin looked.  Like 10000 lines every time I smiled.  "Yikes! Stop smiling you idiot!" I kept telling myself.

I had no comments either way so at least those who saw me were courteous.  

Today I knocked it out of the park so I am feeling better.

Light and breezy for a bit and then I can try some glam later.

[MiraM]

YouTube videos can be a source of inspiration but have to be taken with a grain of salt at times.  While a lot of the 'influencers' can create some very stunning looks, most of them have no formal training in Makeup Artistry and can lead you in to developing some bad habits.  Also, the looks they do are generally not something you may want as your everyday look.  I don't know which channels you watch, but I would suggest that you seek out some content creators that are working in the industry as well.  Three that come to mind are Wayne Goss, Robert Welsh, and Angie DiBastista.

 

Also, not everything they do is going to be appropriate for your face/eye shape or skin type.  You need to learn classic technique and they you will be able to adapt it to you, instead of trying to copy what they are doing.

 

Another thing to remember is the environment they are filming the videos in.   They are all using high powered studio lighting that most people do not have in their home.  That intensity of lighting is going to mask and blur imperfections and make it appear as though they have this perfectly smooth and flawless skin.  Some of them might, but in reality, most do not.  Real skin moves.  It has lines and wrinkles.  It has pores.  You can minimize the appearance of them some, but they are always going to be there.  Be careful not to fall in to the trap of comparing yourself to what you see in a video filmed under ideal lighting.  It's not a realistic expectation.

 

The most important thing to do is get a firm grasp on the basic, classic techniques and practice, practice, practice.  And that doesn't necessarily mean continually doing a full face of makeup.  Practice your eye shadow blending on the inside of your forearm.  Practice liner on one eye, remove it and do it again.  Do the same thing with a basic eye look.  The more you repeat one thing, the better you will get.  Also, it i helpful to learn color theory as it relates to makeup artistry.

[Jackie C.]

2 hours ago, ShawnaLeigh said:

Not only this but I was on about day three with zero moisturizing

 

You can do that? I basically steep in moisturizer. My skin really wants to be dry if I'll let it so every square inch of me gets moisture bombed at least once a day. Usually one in the shower and then another for just my face morning and night.

 

My makeup palate is otherwise empty but I absolutely moisturize and keep well-hydrated.

 

Hugs!

[Maid In Bedlam]

Practise. Practise and some more Practise.

 

No one has perfect skin and no one can look like a glamour model without 3 hrs in makeup and realtime photoshop.

 

Ive been doing mine for 30 years and still some days i think i look like shrek in a dress.

 

Your always your own worst critic.

 

Im sure you think you look worse than you actually are.

 

Youtube videos. Theres a few i follow but many are just to ridiculous to even contemplate. With there lighting effects and such like.

 

The advise i give to you is. Get some really good brushes and quality makeup. A lot of those over the counter cheapies just dont cut it.

 

If you check out my thread Here This is what i use to conceal what time has made us. I swear by it.

[ShawnaLeigh]

Yes I have been doing searches that are doing makeup for trans and most if not all are in there own homes based on pets and other stuff in the background.  I do have really good lighting in my bathroom and maybe a bit to bright.

 

As for what I am searching and watching I go for a very specific topic not an over all makeover video.   I search for a little part like "eye shadow for hooded eyes".  Or "Trans face makeup-foundation".  Concealing male bone structures.  Stuff like that.  I pick and chose what I think will work for me and give it a try.

 

One area that is tough is my eyes.  My eyes are not the best configuration for a beauty makeup job and they are not only hooded (double crease over each eye lid) but my brow ridge hangs over then my a dang ball cap.  I can not curl my upper lashes at all as it hangs over so much and they will contact the brow ridge and makes a mess. Plus it feels like I am getting things in my eyes all day long when it is just a few eye lash hairs that touch.  Its a pain. 

My lower lashes seem to be just as long as my uppers though, which I have gotten rave compliments on my mascara look without eye liner.  So I have ditched the eye liner for now as you barely could see it if I look straight forward, some but very little, and not enough to be worth the frustration.  I can not tell you how many times I put it on and it completely transferred to my eye lid/s above and show two curved black lines.  It sucked having to do a clean on that.

 

However with all that I have found a way to make my eyes look dark and Smokey with a touch of cat look on the outer corners and I personally like the look on me.  I still struggle a tad with the dang toilet brush sized mascara brushes though.  LOL

 

My issues have been smoothing and concealers.  I have not done anything to do this other then basic foundation from my hair line to the nap of my neck and blended well at all edges.  I am still learning on what I need for a complete daily makeover too.

I am seeing that makeup primers are a trans-girls best friend as it conceals big pores and lines and flaws of the male shin and also helps with beard shadows under the skin.

I had said easy-breezy earlier but this is still a 45 minute process when I have to add in the morning shave and drying afterwards before makeup.  

I am lucky in that too since I do not have enough visible beard shadow showing threw the skin after my shave as most of mine are now very light or grey-white hairs.  I do not need a color corrector thankfully. 

I do not need to really do brow makeup either as I am told I have "raging thick and lovely eye brows"  LOL  (raging was the word she used-I laughed at that).  I keep them tweezed and shaped but that's it. 

So yes I fully agree Practice, Practice, Practice!  

[VickySGV]

The late Kevyn Aucoin who was a noted makeup artist published several books, two titled Face Forward and Making Faces were books I used in my early Transition, they had easy to understand instructions and showed stages in the individual make overs.  There is also a line of cosmetics with his name on it, but I got very good results with more "ordinary" brands I could get at Ulta or Sephora.  The Sephora chain is Trans friendly and has special free make-up classes for Trans folks a few times a year, and this month, with Trans Day Of Visibility on March 31, and then in June for overall pride month are their usual dates for those events.  Ulta actually has Trans employees who do their make-up demonstrations in store as well.

[Sally Stone]

Shawna,

 

I have very hooded eyes and always struggled to get my eye makeup right until I stumbled across a technique by professional makeup artist Wayne Goss.  His technique, which is explained in detail on YouTube, is called the "Straight Line" technique, and it really enhances hooded eyes.  Even better, the technique isn't too complicated.  You should check it out.

 

 

 

Hugs,

 

Sally

[ShawnaLeigh]

44 minutes ago, Sally Stone said:

Shawna,

 

I have very hooded eyes and always struggled to get my eye makeup right until I stumbled across a technique by professional makeup artist Wayne Goss.  His technique, which is explained in detail on YouTube, is called the "Straight Line" technique, and it really enhances hooded eyes.  Even better, the technique isn't too complicated.  You should check it out.

 

 

 

Hugs,

 

Sally

OMG Thank you!

My current issue is not so much the double eye lips or that they are hooded.  Its the dang caveman brow ridge that shades the entire eye socket.  I have found some ways to deal with this and I think it looks fairly good.  The look is deep, dark and mysterious.  LOL

 

 

[Maid In Bedlam]

49 minutes ago, Sally Stone said:

I have very hooded eyes and always struggled to get my eye makeup right until I stumbled across a technique by professional makeup artist Wayne Goss.  His technique, which is explained in detail on YouTube, is called the "Straight Line" technique,

 

 

 

 

I use to watch him to.Mainly for the reviews. But he does show you how. Small world he is pretty good.

 

 

 

[ShawnaLeigh]

LOL

Yes this is the tutorial I had found a few days ago and it is how I have doing it.  Though my eyes are so much deeper then his.  You almost do not see the shadow on or around them unless I blink or close the eye.  I have to bring it way up to get a slight hint of it when my eyes are open.  Its hard to not get into the brow hairs actually. 

Its my challenge but whatever.  I will work with what I have been given and like it!

I still feel and (I think) I look pretty after I am done and that is what is important to me.

 

[Sally Stone]

Hey Shawna if you are really brave, you could try shaping your eyebrows into a more feminine arch.  It may help to minimize the look of your brow ridges.  Surely not as effective as surgical modification but way less invasive.  I think because typically male brows grow right along the brow ridge, they tend to make the ridges look even larger than they are.  Brow shaping might really help.

 

Hugs,

 

Sally

[Maid In Bedlam]

36 minutes ago, Sally Stone said:

 if you are really brave, you could try shaping your eyebrows into a more feminine arch. 

 

that is actually one of the main things to a more feminne look. thats a great point. Sally

 

only thing i can add. is perhaps first time get them shaped by a pro.  Once they are done you can just keep them in the shape with a pluck when the removed hair starts to show.

[ShawnaLeigh]

2 hours ago, Sally Stone said:

Hey Shawna if you are really brave, you could try shaping your eyebrows into a more feminine arch.  It may help to minimize the look of your brow ridges.  Surely not as effective as surgical modification but way less invasive.  I think because typically male brows grow right along the brow ridge, they tend to make the ridges look even larger than they are.  Brow shaping might really help.

 

Hugs,

 

Sally

I have been "chipping away" at them and refining the look of them.  I have some unique hair pattern on my right brow and it does not exact match the left brow. The left brow lays down and in the proper direction but the right is unruly and its a challenge for sure.  I have been using a pencil to line them a bit as I seem to load them up with foundation badly.  I had to add a whole brow cleaning step.  LOL

 

Though I have noticed a lot of celebrities' sporting these huge caterpillar brows lately and they are stunningly beautiful so it is not absolutely necessary.  

Though I get it. 

As a MTF you do everything you can to appear as feminine as possible.  Its our thing right!

It took me a long time to explain this to my wife. 

She was always trying to show me that women wear this or that or do this or that and it was basically unisex clothing or even men's clothing women wear.  Yea I get that IF you are already completely Cis female and completely viewed as such.  So it was a struggle to get ther to leave me alone with ditching all my guy clothing too.