Umm, that's lots of parts of parts. :)
This is part 3 of my Transgender Makeup series. It's been way longer coming than I anticipated due to other topics, but I wanted to get back to it as these kinds of things have helped me quite a bit during my transtion. As I've said elsewhere, I'm by no means here to teach anyone how to use makeup as there are LOTS of people far better at it than I am and that's really better meant for Youtube as you can see what they are doing. Rather I'm simply providing my thoughts on shopping for makeup and what has worked FOR ME, obviously your mileage can/will vary.
I've mentioned some foundation from Sephora in previous posts, two actually - the first was the CoverFX foundation and it works well. However, late last year - September I believe - on a trip to Columbia to see Dr. Swenson (my HRT doctor for those that haven't read earlier posts), M who went with me that day and I stopped at the Columbia Mall Sephora which is located inside the JC Penny's there. We wanted to try their ColorIQ system for foundation matching. It didn't work well for me since my face was irritated from a laser appointment a few days earlier and the requisite shaving to look nice. However, the young lady there that helped us (Jordan) was a sweetheart and took a fair amount of time to manually find one that worked well for me.
We settled on Makeup Forever's Mat Velvet+ "30" which is a heavier liquid foundation. Perhaps I'd be okay with something not as heavy; but even with the laser appointments I have a good amount of shadow to cover still so I specifically asked her for something like that. I cannot say enough great things about it. It's not cheap, I believe between $30-$40 for 30ml (1.01oz); but it doesn't take much so it's lasted a good long time for me. I normally use about a dime sized amount to cover my entire face and neck area. Now at Sephora, she applied it with a sponge and used a brush to blend it in for hygiene reasons; but she recommended that when I went to do it myself that I should put it on my hand (the triangle area bordered by the thumb, index finger, and wrist) as she said it would warm it some and make it go on better. She also suggested applying it with my fingers and then using a sponge to finish up. Now I'm not really one for sponges so I use a brush for it all - an Eco Tools Flat Foundation Brush that I got from my visit to Ulta to get my Dermablend a long time back. It's a cheap brush; I think it ran me about $6 or so, but I really like it. I tend to dab several tiny spots all over my face and neck and work down - well that's not entirely true, I work up to my hairline first and then down. I probably don't need to go up that high as my wigs come down further than that, but I've been lectured by both M and J that I don't want to miss spots so I figure better safe than sorry. Truthfully this has always been my weak point as I was always afraid that I wouldn't do a good job and as such would stand out; but even I can't seem to mess this stuff up.
Moving on, lets get to some more things I really like.
- Milani's Lipstick HD Advanced - Specifically color 106, Lovely Rouge. Unfortunately this line has been discontinued; M had gotten me a tube at one point - I believe 114, Candy Apple, and I never used it as while I like red I avoided it since I thought it would make me stand out. I finally gave in one day and loved it and by then it was discontinued. However, recently I found several shades at Dollar Tree. Among them were 111, Cotton Candy; 113, Ignition; and the 106, Lovely Rouge. I ended up giving the Cotton Candy to J and we split the Ignition, but I kept the Lovely Rouge. In the tube it has a very purplish look to it, but it goes on me with a more red tint and I really like it. It's a shame they discontinued it; I went and hit a few Dollar Tree's to get what I could - at $1/tube it was hard to pass up since it wasn't overly cheap originally. I kind of hate to bring this one up, but if you can find the brand it's worth it. It's actually what I'm wearing in my profile picture (at least the one I have up now of me in the yellow sweater with my wife).
- NYX - I've got some sparkly eye shadow of theirs; I normally use it over another color; but what I really like is their blush that I found at Ulta. Specifically PB08, Cinnamon. It's a brighter color; probably too bright for me, but I've always loved the heavy blush look and I just can't help myself. It goes on very nice for me, if anything too nice as sometimes I have to tone it down a bit, but I really won't wear anything else now.
- NYC's Ultralast Lipstick in 410, Plum Rum and 405B, Blue Rose. I didn't realize it until I was in Dollar Tree recently and found the Plum Rum there, but this line has been discontinued/revamped and Plum Rum has been dropped. Now it appears that Blue Rose survived the cut, but I haven't gotten any of the new stuff. The Plum Rum is a nicer neutral color with perhaps some purple to it. The Blue Rose is kind of a more neutral looking (at least on me) shade of pink. I love them both and for $1.99 - well those are the two I wore a lot of back in the day. Partially because they were cheap and I could practice with them and not spend a lot, and partially because I liked them. I was not a fan of the other NYC line - the $0.99 line as those were in a round tube and they didn't retract all the way so invariably I tore up the lipstick with the lid. These on the other had are in a square tube and do retract all the way and I still to this day carry one of the other in my purse all the time, although I suppose that will come to an end sooner rather than later since as I said the Plum Rum is now discontinued and I'm not sure if the Blue Rose will be the "same" or not.
I think I'm going to cut this off here, the foundation part ran a bit long. Part 4 will be up sooner than part 3 was and will probably finish up the things I really like - my powder and mascara mainly since I stick with one brand of those although there are a couple of eye shadows that stand out to me that I want to mention.
As always, thanks for reading.
- M
Than you for sharing..
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