Got Links

During the past few weeks, I collected a passel of pertinent links that I am passing along to you today.

Pageants on flickr

Aunty created a new flickr group just for womanless beauty pageant photos. There are some great femulations in her huge collection along with the inevitable bearded femulators, so you will have to separate the wheat from the chaff yourself.

Daily Makeovers

Recently, Daily Makeover had some great articles for girls like us. I recommend subscribing to their daily e-mails so that you don't miss anything.

• Tricks to Take Your Makeup from Day to Night Without a Redo ― Revive your morning application in minutes.
• 25 Tricks That Make You Instantly More Gorgeous in Pictures ― Don't pose for another photo this season until you read these tips.
• 10 Hairstyles That Make You Look 10 Pounds Thinner ― Create the illusion of a slimmer face with these hairstyles suggested by a top New York stylist.
• Tricks to Make Your Eyes Appear Bigger ― No one has to know those big eyes are just an optical illusion.

Life from New York

New York magazine often has good reads for women though male.

• Jumpsuits are the topic of discussion by fans (like me) in this recent New York piece. 
• "Growing Up Meant Learning How to Wear Red Lipstick" by Glynnis MacNicol is a cute story that all lipstick wearers will appreciate.

First Event

Billed as "The Premier Transgender Conference of the Season," First Event is fast approaching. If the stars align properly and there are no snowstorms in the forecast, I plan to attend at least one day of the conference.

 

 

 

Wearing Delia’s. Sadly, Delia’s is going out of business. Although their clothing line was intended for teens, I and many other mature girls purchased items from this retailer and it will be missed.

 

 

 

Model Riera Manuel Ivan.

Short Femulations

Happy Labor Day! May your weekend be long and your shorts short!

Teen Tidbits

Some of us are late bloomers and are the equivalent of teenage girls discovering the world of feminine fashion and beauty.

With that in mind, I often pass along tidbits that I hope will help us get through those awkward teenage years and become beautiful young woman ASAP. So here is a tidbit from this week's Daily Makeover: 7 Makeup Mistakes You're Making.

Opera En Femme

Aunty Marlena wrote, "I think your readers would be blown away at the amazing femulations done in an opera by two  counter-tenors some years ago. They were performing in an 18th Century Italian opera called  Artaserse which had been performed originally with castrati in the female roles (because the pope at the time decreed no women could perform in any opera in Rome). When the opera  was revived in 2012, it  was done with the counter-tenors playing the parts of the king's daughter and her friend, the top general's daughter."

See for yourself here and here.

Deal Breaking Heels

Commenting on the short suit I wore last week, Pat wrote, "I simply love your outfit and thinks your legs are gorgeous! I’m also a tall girl and reluctant to wear heels because of it, but you’ve now given me courage!"

I wrote back, "Thank you for the kind words. My mother often remarked that with my shapely legs, I should have been a girl! (Guess what, Mom?)

"Anyway, my attitude regarding heels is that being 6 feet 2 inches tall, wearing flats or heels is not going to be the deal breaker as to whether I pass or not."

As a result, I wear the highest heels that I can stand!

 

 

 

Wearing Bebe.

 

 

 

Singer Arturo Valls femulates Shakira on Spanish television’s
Tu Cara Me Suena (Your Face Sounds Familiar) (2013).

About Mascara

Of all the cosmetics I use, I find that mascara is the most problematic. Not so much applying it; most of the time, I get it on without a problem. Rather, I have issues with the product itself.

Mascara is very inconsistent from brand to brand. Some mascaras are too thick, some are too clumpy, and some are just right. And the few that are just right have shelf-life issues, that is, they dry up or go bad (get clumpy) too quickly.

I was glad to see Daily Makeover's recent post "10 Mascaras That Will Not Clump (No Matter What)." Nice thing about the list is that some of the 10 recommendations are not expensive ($10 or less), so a purchase won't put a big dent in your purse.

By the way, I have been an Avon lady for 18 years and have seen a lot of Avon mascara products come and go. I have tried most of them over that time.

Early on in my Avon career, I did not find any Avon mascaras I liked --- I would try them once and swear them off after that initial use.

Things changed for the better and over the last half dozen years or so, I have been very satisfied with Avon mascaras and they are what I use almost all of the time.

But your mileage may vary.

 

 

 

Wearing JustFab.

 

 

 

Rocker Jai Brooks femulates for the Real Girls Eat Cake music video (2014).

Color Me Upset

Colors

This week, Daily Makeover had an excellent article, "How to Find the Most Flattering Makeup Colors for You." The article is short, but full of excellent tips about finding your best colors. I learned a few things after reading it and I am sure you will, too.

Upset

On the way to work today, two rabbits, a turkey, and a turtle crossed my path. The rabbits and turkey were not an issue and went on their merry way into the woods after crossing the pavement in front of me, but I dunno about the turtle.

When I came upon the turtle, he was half way across the road. I slowed down momentarily to see if could do anything to accelerate his crossing, but the road is narrow, heavily traveled and worse, there was no place to pull over to park. I did not know what to do except continue on to work, but I was upset (and I am still upset) that I wasn't able to help this guy.

I hope I don't see his carcass on the way home this evening.

Femulating Mom

Fortunato Castro femulating his mother

A lot of us femulate our mothers to some degree. I, for one, wear styles that my mother would wear. And growing up under her tutelage, I act like the lady she was.

A 27-year-old artist named Fortunato Castro femulated his mother for his senior thesis at Cooper Union. He "turned his lens on himself, for a series of powerful self-portraits. But, unlike most self-portraits, he posed in an unusual way: as his mother.”

You can read all about it and see a slideshow at The Cut.

Anti-Aging

On Tuesday, Daily Makeover had some excellent advice about makeup mistakes that make you look older. I don't know about you, but at my age, I want to look younger, not older, so I am taking their advice to heart.

Daily Makeover is a good source for good advice on hair and makeup. I subscribe to their daily e-mails and I recommend a free subscription to any girl who wants to improve her femulating skills.

Nailing It

I am a big fan of the Kiss brand of pre-glued press-on nails. They go on quick, stray on forever and are large enough to cover my Amazonian finger nails. But lately, they have been scarce.

I usually purchase my Kiss pre-glued press-on nails at CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreen, but for the past month or so, they have been missing from the racks of those stores. They have other Kiss brand nail products on their racks, but not the pre-glued press-ons that I know and love.

The Kiss website stills show them, so either my stores are no longer carrying them or there was a big run on them during the holidays.

My personal stock of nails is running low, so I wanted to find out what was going on. I went online to check the stores' websites and bingo! I struck paydirt at the first website I visited. Walgreen has them in stock and they are on sale: $3.17 per set.

I cannot recall them ever being that cheap, so I ordered enough sets to qualify for free shipping ($25 minimum) and await their delivery in 3 to 5 days.

Stop Me If You Heard This One Before

Meanwhile, here is a story about me buying Kiss nails at Rite Aid last year. (This is a rerun, but some of you might have missed it.)

The cashier was a middle-aged woman like myself and as she rang up my purchase, she joked,

"Doing your nails?"

Although I knew she was joking, I responded, "Yes, they're for me. I do drag."

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. I wish I had a photo to show you."

I don't know if she believed me or not, but since then i made sure that I have a photo of me en femme handy on my iPhone.

Professional femulator Billy Bigwood in 1921.

Wearing Nha Khanh.

Out with the Old

If you are not en femme 24/7 like me, you do not use cosmetics on a daily basis. As a result, you probably do not use up the cosmetics before they should be trashed.

Some makeup should be thrown away sooner than other makeup, for example, mascara and liquid eye liner should be trashed after three months. On the other hand, you can keep some makeup for years.

Recently, Daily Makeover described what to keep and what to toss. 

Since I am an Avon rep, I am always trying out new products that they offer; some are keepers, some are not. Either way, the stuff fills the huge tackle box (photo right) that serves as my makeup box.

I usually go through my makeup every six months or so discarding stuff that is old or stuff that I tried once and did not like. (And still my makeup box is overflowing!)

I’m gonna need a bigger box!

German professional femulator Hansi Sturm, 1930.

Wearing BCBGMAXAZRIA.

Makeover Your Eyebrows

If you are a regular reader here, you know I have a thing about eyebrows.

Of all the makeup skills, doing my eyebrows correctly was the last one I conquered. Actually, I have not completely vanquished my eyebrow issues yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

With that, I point you to another useful article on the subject from Daily Makeover.

By the way, I have not completed answering all your questions and addressing all your suggestions that were the result of my call for your input last week. I just thought a break in the action was called for and I will return to your questions and suggestions real soon now.

The Riddle of Blush

Blush is still a bit of a mystery to me.

I have two shades of blush that I use interchangeably. Both came to me when I had makeovers; the makeup artists recommended the shades for me and I took their word for it. After all, they were the experts and I went to them seeking their advice.

But how did they decide those shades suited me. I did not ask and I do not know.

Daily Makeover to the rescue! Their "How to Choose the Perfect Blush" uncovers the mystery and I recommend it to you if you are as blush clueless as I was.

 

Best Brows for You

Grocery shopping on Saturday, I inevitably conclude the experience eyeing the periodicals displayed for sale on the check-out line.

As I unloaded my shopping cart, I noticed the October issue of Vogue with the lovely Keira Knightley staring back at me with her most amazing eyebrows!

We are hardly separated at birth, but I liked her brows so much that I shaped mine to match hers.

Last week, Daily Makeover tackled the subject of the best eyebrows for your face shape, so see for yourself if your eyebrows should match Ms. Knightley's or some other glamorous film star.

Weekend Washouts

My blogging this weekend and last was limited.

A relative took up permanent residence in a convalescent home and my wife and I are her only living responsible relatives. (There are two other living relatives, but one is residing in the same convalescent home and the other is totally irresponsible.) As a result, my wife and I spent the last two weekends emptying my relative's apartment.

When we weren't dealing with that, we were catching up with other matters that were neglected while we were dealing with that. As a result, the blog took a hit the past two weekends in case you didn't notice.

I promise to return to our normally scheduled programming ASAP. Meanwhile, I leave you with this item from Daily Makeover: 10 Ways to Look Instantly Sexier!

Best Brows for You

Brows can either make or break your entire look. But with so many options--thick, thin, arched, straight--how do you know which brow shape is right for you?

Daily Makeover has the answer.