Old Dog – New Tricks

By Sally Stone

I am always looking for opportunities to improve my use of makeup, so I am continuously on the lookout for new techniques or a technique I haven’t tried yet. Over the years, I have learned that many of the makeup hacks that work well for cis women, aren’t quite so effective for me. I have also been disappointed by many of the techniques offered for transwomen. Ultimately, finding techniques that work for me individually is hard work and involves lots of trial and error. In fact, most of the time, a technique that works well for me is one cobbled together from a combination of hacks from both cis and transwomen.

Lately, I have decided I am not happy with my long-standing method for camouflaging beard shadow. The common solution is to use a correction type concealer that neutralizes the blue undertones created by whiskers under the skin. For a long time, I have used an orange concealer to neutralize my beard shadow underneath foundation.

While the orange concealer does neutralize the blue, there is a tradeoff, that is, now I have to apply an excessive amount of foundation to cover up the unnatural orange undertone. This results in foundation that is way too heavy and isn’t very natural looking. If I go light on the foundation, then the orange undertone isn’t covered properly. What is a girl to do?

Experiment is exactly what I did. Instead of the trans hack, I thought about the cis method of using concealer, that is, apply concealer over the foundation.

Obviously, you can’t apply a correction concealer or you’ll end up with areas of the face exactly the same color as the concealer. Since I would use orange to correct the blue, I’d end up looking like an Oompa Loompa. 

To use concealer on top of foundation on an area of the face you don't want to alter the color of, it is important to select a concealer that matches the shade of your foundation. And, if you aren’t going to neutralize the blue undertones of beard shadow, it is imperative you find a highly pigmented concealer that adequately covers beard shadow, but also blends well.

So I went on a search for a high-powered concealer that matched the shade of my foundation.  That was hard, really hard, but I did find one. I use L’Oreal Infallible Total Cover, shade 308 as a foundation.  It’s called “Sun Beige” which isn’t very helpful when trying to compare shades. Even L’Oreal’s concealers don’t use shade descriptions that make it easy to match their own foundation, so I resorted to a personal search to find a concealer, any brand, that matched the L’Oreal foundation.

 Honestly, it was stroke of luck that I found a concealer from the makeup brand “Benefit.”  It is called “Industrial Strength” concealer and their shade #3, medium, turned out to be a near perfect match for my preferred brand of foundation.

Now, I could do the rest of my face with foundation and then cover my beard shadow with concealer. Since the two products were nearly an identical shade, all I had to do was to blend them extremely well. This was the breakthrough I needed. No longer did I need to put a lot foundation over the orange corrector and since this new concealer was super-pigmented, I could use it sparingly resulting in an intense, extremely effective coverage without piling on a lot of makeup. 

Using a high-quality foundation brush, I feathered the concealer into the foundation creating a uniform all-over shade that completely covered my beard shadow, but didn’t result in a heavy, caky face. After blending foundation and concealer, I did my normal contouring and then set my makeup.

Clearly, this new beard cover technique turned out to be a very effective combination of techniques that I never would have stumbled upon without resorting to a lot of research and a lot more personal experimentation. It only goes to show that makeup techniques are supremely personal. While you can learn a lot from what you read or what you watch on the Internet, experimenting with individual or combination techniques is the only way to find what works best for each of us. You must always be willing to try something new. 

Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks!

Source: Rue La La

Gracie doing her weekly grocery shopping.

Makeup Prep

Sally Stone has kindly written a series of articles about makeup and makeup application that is specifically targeted for girls like us. The second installment of her series addresses prepping your face before applying your makeup.

By Sally Stone

Prepping the face for foundation is a process that begins way before sitting down in front of the makeup mirror. The daily facial regimen should include cleaning, toning and moisturizing and it’s important to do this even on the days when you won’t be wearing makeup, so that on those days you do, your face will be ready.

Another consideration for keeping your face ready for makeup is to use some type of wrinkle cream. I have used Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair for as long as I can remember and while I haven’t noticed any reduction in the wrinkles I already have, it is possible regular use has staved off any additional ones – who’s to say? What the anti-wrinkle cream has done for me though, is to significantly reduce the coarse appearance of my male-pattern skin and I believe this is the real magic of any anti-wrinkle cream.

File ID 94537684 | © Dmytro Flask | Dreamstime.com

The next part of the process is to ensure your face is free of facial hair. I won’t go into the various ways that you can make this happen, but obviously, being whisker-free is pretty much a necessity if your objective is to have a flawless complexion.

I moisturize every day, whether I’m putting on makeup or not, but I also moisturize right before I start applying makeup and just after shaving. On makeup days, I recommend a moisturizer that is formulated to wear under foundation. Generally, it should absorb completely into the skin and not feel greasy afterwards. Beyond it being compatible with your foundation, I can’t really recommend one brand over another.

Moisturizer hydrates and plumps the skin, which helps prepare it for makeup. You might be inclined to believe that because moisturizer is important you should use a lot of it. Actually, less is more. Apply just enough to cover the entire face and neck, but not so much that the skin can’t absorb it all. It will take a few minutes for complete absorption, but in the end, your skin should be a little dewy, but not tacky or sticky.

Next comes primer. For the longest time, I didn’t put much stock in primer. Perhaps my youthful skin didn’t need it, but as I’ve aged, primer has become my best friend. It really does help my foundation go on easier and adhere more firmly to my skin. Don’t be fooled into thinking primer has to be expensive to work well. It doesn’t. I rarely spend more than ten dollars for the primers I used and they have never failed me.

Most primers look like lotion, but do not apply them like lotion. Instead, press primer deep into the skin. You want it way down into the pores, not just clinging to the surface of the skin. It can be pressed in with the fingertips or it can be pressed in with a brush. I have a special stippling brush that I use only for my primer. And where primer is concerned, less is once again, more. Prime all of the skin where you plan to apply makeup and then let it dry completely. You’ll know it is dry when it is no longer tacky.

A lot of makeup artists actually mix primer in with the foundation. It could be that for male skin, mixing isn’t a compatible option because I haven’t had much luck with the method.

There is an additional prepping step that may be necessary for those that tend to have a darker beard shadow and that is, some form of beard cover. Those of us that still have facial hair, will always have some beard shadow even after a close shave. The darker or coarser the facial hair, the more noticeable the shadow.

Beard shadow can be covered with foundation, but if the shadow is pronounced, it will require a lot of product, which would ultimately look unnatural. The more effective tactic for dealing with beard shadow is to neutralize it, because neutralizing requires a lot less product. Beard shadow is blue, so to cancel it out, you need a color that lies exact opposite from blue on a standard color wheel. Blue’s counter-color is orange.

You’ve no doubt seen or heard of girls using red lipstick as a way of camouflaging beard shadow. It’s effective because red has orange in it. The problem with lipstick is it tends to be somewhat greasy, keeping it from blending effectively with foundation. Because of this, lipstick often leads to premature failure of the foundation it is blended with.

Orange concealer is sometimes not easy to find because it is not a color most cis-women need. Still, it is readily available from many online makeup vendors and some of the larger brick and mortar stores.

Apply the concealer sparingly, but be sure to cover the entire area where beard shadow is present. Then, using a stippling brush, work the concealer way down into the pores. Orange concealer is also perfect for hiding under eye circles or other dark areas around the eye. When the concealer is stippled in good and deep, let it dry, usually around ten minutes and then you are ready for foundation. The foundation tutorial will be in the next installment.

Don’t undermine your makeup routine by skimping on the preparation steps. If your objective is to have a flawless complexion after putting on your makeup, your skin must be in the best possible condition beforehand. Prep also contributes greatly to the ease at which your makeup goes on and it helps make it longer wearing.

Wearing Rue La La

Hermann Thimig femulating in the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria. which was remade as USA film in 1982 titled Victor Victoria.

Under Cover

I occasionally receive e-mails asking me what beard cover (if any) I use.

I use and recommend a beard cover produced by RCMA (Research Council of Make-up Artists, Inc.). Their BC-2 is the color I use.

I bought it online in 2006 for about $8. I checked here today and the price is now $27. But a little goes a long way; I am still using the same tub I bought back in 2006, although I now need to use less of it since my beard has turned white/gray.

Womanly Yours,

Stana

almost perfect

I received an e-mail this morning from a girl overseas, who is hesitant about going out en femme because she wants to make sure she passes. (Crossdressing in public can result in a jail term in her country of residence.)

She attached a photo to her e-mail and asked if I could offer any advice.

She looked absolutely beautiful. Her hair and makeup were perfect. Her femulation was almost perfect, but there was one telltale sign that gave her away: her beard.

I assume she shaved as closely as possible, so what appeared in her photo were the hairs of her beard just beneath the skin. They are more obvious in photographs, but they are also likely visible with the naked eye and might give her away if she goes out en femme.

So, I recommended that she use a beard cover under her foundation.

Beard cover is readily available stateside, but I don't know about its availability where she lives now. I wish her the best of luck.

(By the way, the photo accompanying this post is not the photo of the girl who asked me for advice.)

Dear Staci

Your beard cover and upper arms?

Dear Staci,

You do look stunning...I have 2 questions for you.

a) What do you use for beard cover?

b) How do you keep your upper arms looking so feminine?

MonicaM

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Hi MonicaM,

Thank you for the kind words!

For beard cover, I use BC-2, an orange-colored product of The Research Council of Makeup Artists, Inc. (RCMA). I bought my tub of BC-2 from Alcone years ago and it will probably last me for another few years.

One of the few good things about getting old is that much of my beard has turned gray. Those parts don't require concealing, so these days I only have to use a little beard cover above my upper lip and on my chin where the beard is still dark.

For my upper arms, I remove hair and that is all I do. My arms are thin and not muscular, so maybe that is why they look so feminine.

Best Wishes,

Staci

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Do you need advice concerning femulation or other crossdressing-related matters, then e-mail me and I will happily give you my opinion on the matter. My e-mail address is staci-staci at sbcglobal.net.