Someday Funnies

Wearing T Tahari

Michelle out amongst the redwoods at a state park.

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.

Someday Funnies

Wearing StyleWe

Monique on a recent Saturday evening at the “Rainbow Crossing” on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Don’t Leave Home without It

I have had car troubles twice while en femme (a dead battery and a flat tire). In both cases, I was lucky and gentlemen came to my rescue. I did not have to lift a finger to get back on the road.

But gentlemen are not always available, so a girl should be prepared for the worst case scenario. Lifehacker.com posted an article describing safety tools you should have in your car. Here is a list of those tools, but I advise you to consult the Lifehacker article for the details:

• blindspot mirror
• tire pressure tools
• rechargeable battery booster
• flares, lights or other signals
• seatbelt cutter and window breaker

I don't have a battery booster in my car, but I do carry jumper cables (and I know how to use them). 

Also, I belong to AAA, so I guess a gentleman is always available if need be.

Happy Motoring!

Wearing Venus

Reading Femulate from north of the border is Robin Southern.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Elisabetta Franchi

Dawn Wyvern enjoying a summer day shopping in Exeter (UK).
Dawn blogs at http://dawn-wyvern.blogspot.com/.

No Way to Femulate

By Jenny Shaw

Christmas and New Year’s are already a passing memory! 

On Christmas Eve, I celebrated a year of living openly and predominantly as Jenny and it’s been absolutely wonderful – so many new experiences and so much acceptance and affirmation from friends old and new. 

One new and unexpected experience took place on 10th December. I had driven to a nearby village to accompany some carol singing for elderly residents. I had just tuned my guitar when I had the most awful tummy pain and broke into a massive sweat that thoroughly soaked my clothes and wig.  

A friend, who is a retired doctor, insisted that I be taken to the local hospital. I was duly driven there by his wife, interrupted by a short stop for me to be sick en route. Following a CT scan, I was diagnosed with pancreatitis caused by gallstones. I was then taken by ambulance to the County Hospital in Lincoln (UK) where I was put in a single-bed room and a gang of nurses helped me to defemulate. My sweat-sodden clothes, wig and prosthetics were stuffed into a plastic bag and all I had to remove my makeup were wet wipes – not very efficient! In the end, the irreducible minimum of outward femininity were my red toenails! 

I was there for nine nights, the first eight in a private room. It was some time before I realized that the private room had been assigned to me out of consideration for my transgender status.  Furthermore, although the paperwork was all in my male name, I was consistently addressed as “Jenny” throughout my stay - even after several days of facial stubble had accumulated.  

I have to return for two follow-up appointments in the next few weeks, but for simplicity will go in male mode.  I can happily report that the contents of the plastic bag were all restored to A1 condition after I returned home. Also, despite feeling under par, I did manage to spend a very lovely Christmas with some of my family.

It was a new experience en femme, but not one I would have chosen! However, as an object lesson in how the NHS in the UK treats transgender patients with respect and consideration, I couldn’t be more impressed or grateful.

Wearing StyleWe

Longtime follower of Femulate, Paula Davina Kennedy AKA Paul David Landry and feline friend. Femulate is the “first page I open in the morning.”

Someday Funnies: Gonna Need a Bigger Closet!

Wearing Venus

Regular reader of Femulate, Aunty Mae

Michael Scott: Crossdresser

I was a regular viewer of The Office during its original run (2005–2013). And I have been a regular viewer of Comedy Central’s reruns of The Office.

The Office does not offer much trans-wise. In the 2005 “Halloween” episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) mentioned that he came to work two Halloweens in a row dressed as Monica Lewinsky.

In a 2007 episode (“The Negotiation”), Michael mistakenly purchases a woman’s pantsuit from a bargain bin and wears the suit to work. Michael took some ribbing because of his fashion faux pas and that was the end of it... or so I thought. 

A few days ago, I was watching a rerun of a 2010 episode (“Nepotism”) that I had seen a few times in the past and for the first time, I noticed the following exchange between Michael and the office receptionist Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) when they discover an outgoing package that had been shipped.  

Erin: Oh my gosh – those are the pants you wanted to return to Talbots.

Michael: I'm reconsidering sending them back anyway. 

Erin. I'm sorry. Do you want to try them on again just to see...

Michael interrupted: I know they fit. It’s not about the fit.

Evidently, in this case, Michael intentionally shopped at Talbots, a specialty retailer of women’s clothing, shoes and fashion accessories. Go figure.

Wearing BGL

Jocelyn shopped, dined and took a short walk in the park. Of the thousands of people she saw in the city that day, she was the only person in a dress or a skirt.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Elisabetta Franchi

Barbara Anne Taylor doing what femulators love to do – shop for shoes!

Someday Funnies: The Ultimate Femulation

Wearing Boston Proper

Long-time Femulate aficianado Mindy