I Love My Lipstick

By Susan King, Transitioning into Tomorrow

For me, my lipstick is a fashion necessity. However, it also has some additional benefit:

•     It supports lip hydration
•     It can be a good sunscreen 
•     Can improve your mental health 

Many lipsticks have moisturizing additives to help keep your lips soft and hydrated. Adding a lipstick with a good sunscreen can protect your lips from the harsh sunlight. Finally, studies support the "Lipstick Effect," which indicates that when the economy is bad, women spend more money on items like lipstick.

To increase the effectiveness of lipstick, do you exfoliate your lips and do you know which colors work best for your skin tone?

Below is a video on a DYI lip exfoliate, followed by a chart showing which lipstick shade works on the which skin tone.

Wearing La Redoute.

Cassandra Moore, professional femulator

Blogging Maturely

Hi Stana,

I like your new theme on your blog: the older you. The future you, clad in black, platform sandals, beads and a cute hairstyle, is sexy and attractive. In this older woman vein, I have found inspiration at the website Style at a Certain Age... you may very well know of it.

Your devoted follower,

Beth

∞ ∞ ∞

Hello Stana,

There's no shortage of older women style blogs...

For example try Not Dead Yet Style (I love that title) and also see her list of her favorite blogs.

Best regards,

Susan

∞ ∞ ∞

And then there is Ginger Burr's Total Image Consultants Blog that contains useful articles and tips on how to present a more fabulous mature you.

Wearing Madeleine.

Jerzy Grzechnik femulates Adele on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzm Znajom.

His-sy Fit

Wearing Boston Proper.

Alex Mathias, Vadim Oleynik and Artem Meh on Ukraine television's Yak Dvi Kraplі.

Femulate Her or Her?

The Femulate Her spot in this blog features nicely clad women, typically, models wearing the latest styles.

The women I choose for the Femulate Her spot are women I want to femulate and I imagine, you readers would like to femulate some of these women, too.

There is one problem with my selections; there is a big disconnect regarding age... about 40 years!

Most of the models are probably in their 20s and are modeling clothing appropriate for young women. I am in my 60s and my guess is that many of this blog’ readers are right up their with me age-wise. As a result, we can dream about femulating the young models that I choose for the Femulate Her spot, but the reality is that such femulations are beyond our reach.

After publishing Friday’s post, My Future, I mulled over what I wrote and realized that my so-called future may be now! Instead of femulating a young model from Bebe or somesuch, I should femulate women who are more mature.

What a concept!

Wearing Madeleine.

Marcin Rogacewicz femulates Halina Frackowiak
on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzm Znajom.

My Future

I found this photo of a fashionably-dressed woman on the Internet. My guess is that she is in her early to mid-70's. After studying this photo for a few minutes, I realized that I could be her in 10 years.

Her style, both hair and clothing are out of the Stana Playbook.

Her face and body resembles my mother's face and body at that age. (Did I ever mention that I look just like my mother?)

So it is entirely possible that I will look like this woman in the future.

Not bad! It's almost something to look forward to.

Wearing Bebe.

Michal Grobelny femulates Jennifer Rush on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzm Znajom.

High Heels are Good for You!

Ever since I began sashaying in shoes of stupendous height, all I ever heard was how bad they were. A parade of experts claimed that high heels caused one bad thing after another. They were the cause of all that was wrong with our feet, as well as being responsible for some of society’s ills as well. 

Well, I have some good news for high heel fashionistas. Contrary to popular opinion, wearing high heels is good for your physique and your psyche, according to studies recently uncovered by Team Femulate.

In one study, a British doctor performed tests using special scales and the results indicate “that high heels throw the weight onto the heel rather than onto the toes… which eliminates slouching, produces more healthy breathing, and adds inches to the bust.”

"But the greatest effect is the psychological one," the doctor added, "...long legs are admired and the high heel gives the impression of greater leg length... a sensation of slimness."

In another study, British scientists gave high heels a clean bill of health. “Instead of being unhealthful, high heels are actually easier on the body than low ones. In spite of the present vogue of high heels, there is no evidence that corns, flat feet, or other disorders are increasing.”

Works for me!

Wearing La Redoute.

Michal Grobelny femulates Maryla Rodowicz on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo.

My Favorite Things Come in Pairs

The first item of women's clothing I ever wore were a pair of my mother's nylon stockings. I recall looking in the floor-length mirror mounted on the inside of her closet door and admiring my pre-puberty hairless legs believing that they looked just like women's legs!

With my mother's closet door wide open, I noticed the stack of shoe boxes on the closet floor and I suddenly felt motivated to try on a pair of her high heel pumps. I opened a random box and found a pair in a floral fabric with a 3-inch heel. I slipped on the heels and they fit perfectly.

I looked in the mirror and the combination of nylons and high heels was exhilarating! Not only did my legs look like women's legs, but now they looked shapely and sexy, too!

I have been a big fan of high heels ever since. When en femme, I seldom wear anything else on my feet. Unless the occasion absolutely screams for flats, I wear heels.

Once upon a time, I thought that at 6-feet-2, wearing heels would make it more difficult to pass. But I came to the realization that if I can pass at 6-foot-2 wearing flats, then I can pass at 6-foot-6 wearing 4-inch heels.

I love wearing heels. They make my legs look more shapely and more importantly, I feel more feminine, more lady-like wearing heels. I know it’s my late-1950s/early-1960s socialization that makes me feel this way, but that's me and I'm not changing shoe styles at this late date.

Genetic females often compliment me about my proficiency in walking in heels and ask if it was difficult learning how. Truth is that I took to heels like Daisy Duck took to heels.

As a child, my mother often mentioned that I walked on my tiptoes. I assumed that walking on my tiptoes was not the way a male was supposed to walk, but nobody ever taught me the "correct" way to walk. So I took the path of least resistance and continued to walk on my tiptoes.

I believe that my penchant for walking on my tiptoes made walking in high heels a natural thing to do. True or not, from day one, I never had a problem walking in heels.

Heels hurt. I have high heels that begin hurting as soon as I slip them on and I have heels that I can wear all day with little or no pain. I discovered that the height of the heel is not critical as far as pain is concerned. Some of my most comfortable shoes have 4-inch stiletto heels. Go figure!

Wearing heels makes my femulation complete. Despite the pain, I will never give up wearing heels; you will have to remove my high heels from my cold, dead feet.

Wearing Miguelina Camelia top and skirt and Rag & Bone hat.

Roger Sloman femulates in British television's Eastenders.
(Thank you, Meg, for suggesting this femulator!)

Man Wearing High Heels and Skirt

This young man seems so happy wearing high heels even on a rainy, windswept day that I had to share his joy with you. His photo appeared on the now defunct High Heels For Men blog.

Wearing Madeleine.

Marek Kaliszuk femulates singer Hanka Ordonówna
on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo.

Compliments

By Susan King, guest poster and renowned blogger

I have been reading about women who, as part of their daily life, feel harassed by men while in public (called "street harassment").

It happens to us as transwomen and we do not understand that part of our daily harassment is something women feel almost everyday since probably their early teens. As a male teen in the 1960's and 1970's, it was considered part of showing off your manhood by verbally "harassing" women.

Of course, we did not look at it that way. But I remember being with friends in public and saying suggestive things to women in public. Or yelling out of a car window while passing women.

Now that the heels are on the other foot, I understand the unwanted attention and why some women dress down when out in public.

I now want to be part of the solution.

So now when I see a woman who has taken the time (I know about that) to look nice. I will give them a "womanly" compliment. I am not trying to "hit on them," but I want to say something that will hopefully make their day. I will say something positive about their hair color or style, clothes, shoes, nails or overall appearance. It's usually quick and no response is required. However, most women smile and say thank you.

I hope my compliment will offset some jerk who may harass them during the day.

Thanks to the success of the LGBT movement, 99.99% of people say nothing to you during the day when in girl mode. But that one person who gives you that look or says something negative can mess up your whole day or at least throw your confidence off.

Then it occurred to me that when I see a transgender person, I should go out of my way to give her a compliment whether I read them or not. I may be wrong that they are trans, so I compliment them just like any other women.

I was at a restaurant in guy mode and my waiter was a thin young man, who was broadcasting female signals through his mannerism and overall style. I first complimented him on his eyes. Later, I told him I was a transwoman crossdressing as a guy :-}. (I was on my way to my electrologist.) That was the first time I just came out and told someone in a matter-of-fact way.

He asked if we could talk for a few minutes. We did and I gave him my history and what it was like in the 60's, 70's and 80's for transgender people. As we talked, I realized that it is important that we need to come out (even in guy mode) so that we can help each other, especially the younger ones.

I did not preach, but I told him the importance of higher education and how it helped me. I told him about my cousin, who was my age, quit high school and later prostituted, only to die of AIDS in 1984.

I really felt good after our talk. We exchanged phone numbers and I told him he can call me anytime even though I doubt he will. I hope I had a positive impact on his life.

So now I compliment women all the time, especially seeking out transgender women. It helps me feel closer to womanhood and hopefully make someones day.

Wearing Nic and Zoe.

Robert Rozmus femulates singer Dani Klein on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo.

Doing the right thing (pun intended)

Wearing Madeleine.

Luis Montalbert (center) femulates Kylie Minogue on Costa Rican television's Tu Cara Me Suena.