Today is the first ever day that I have been able to present as Fiona in every waking minute. I've done all of the various bits of the day en femme before: getting up in the morning, getting ready, going out, coming home, having a nice evening, going to bed - but never all in the same day, and even better it's a day all to myself with annual leave from work. Once I realised it was going to happen, I wanted to fill the day with new experiences, so I put some plans together. I'm sorry if I've been teasing you all without revealing them for the last couple of days on my earlier thread, but I hope you'll agree it was worth the wait.
Probably due to having done all the individual things before, everything in the list above already feels absolutely normal to me en femme. It's definitely nicer to be able to do my full bathroom routine, get dressed and do my make-up at my own pace without having to worry about work I should be doing though 😉 Having had a quick catch-up with my OH on the phone I was out of my front door in my denim dress not long after 10am. I've posted my complete look in my public photos.
So, what was the plan today? (Or possibly, 'What on earth is that crazy Fiona girl going to get up to next?' 🤣 ) Well, today was always going to be fairly windy and wet, but I live about half an hour's drive from a city with a large indoor shopping centre with lots of big High Street brands, so it seemed like an ideal place for a girl to visit!
The first new experience as Fiona today was driving off in my other car, the one with my initials in its registration. It's larger than the one I went to the supermarket in, and automatic. My pointy flat shoes have the thinnest soles I've ever driven in, they give me great control on the pedals so it was lovely and smooth. In the rear view mirror on that car I can always see part of my face in the corner, and seeing Fiona smiling back was a joy, I definitely seem to look in it more when en femme! A quick stop in town for fuel and on towards the city. This is the first time that I've driven on a main road as Fiona, and already I notice that I'm more relaxed and less inclined to try to keep rigidly to my preferred speed.
I arrived at my destination and it took a while to find a parking space, about quarter of a mile out from the centre - this already said it was going to be busy inside. Expecting the worst of the weather, I had brought my new hooded jacket with me, but it was still dry - if a little breezy. So rather than lug it around with me all day, I decided to chance it and left the jacket in the car as I finally made my way inside.
First stop was coffee, and like other girls here I deliberately chose a Starbucks because they take your name. Being addressed as Fiona while presenting en femme was another little first for me today 🙂 I've kept the little sticky labels with my name on as a souvenir! I sat on a tall stool and watched the world go by over the rim of my cup, quite familiar now with the total lack of reaction on the part of anyone else.
Then I strolled over to the large Boots store - for girls from outside the UK, they do pharmaceuticals & cosmetics, and it was the latter that I was there for. Being a flagship store, they had the full setup for you to try products, with MUA's on hand to help. I smiled sweetly and asked if anyone could help me out with the basics I needed for contouring and eyeshadow, and was shown over to a station staffed by a sweet young girl. Being an obvious middle-aged CD with only basic makeup skills, I did wonder if she'd see me as a tough gig, but on the contrary she seemed really excited to bring my face to life and make me look cute 🙂 She also told me I'd not done a bad job at all, very natural looking foundation which was a good match for my skin tone 😊 As she darted back and forth fetching products to try, one of the other MUA's came past who had the prettiest face I have ever seen on a male body, with absolutely flawless makeup (of course) - they looked amazing and I told them as much.
I was on that stool in the middle of the store for most of an hour with other customers and MUA's coming and going all around me, and again no-one batted an eyelid. Eventually with a couple of handfuls of products - contour stick, eyeshadow, bronzer, highlighter and the correct brushes to apply them - it was time for the checkout. Let's just say, some numbers came out of my bank account 😳 but the transformation of my face was wonderful and I also left with a load of samples and a nice swanky branded bag to carry it all in, so I was still one happy girl-about-town 😀 I hope I've managed to do some justice to the MUA's work with a new headshot in my public photos.
I was now just in time for the main event. Yes that's right, the make-over - while something I had also wanted - wasn't the actual purpose of the trip, I had an appointment to keep! I walked quite fast through the shopping centre with my bag of make-up over one arm and a great swing going on with the other. I must have looked (and certainly felt) like a real woman in a hurry! This time the destination was Marks & Spencer - a British institution, bastion of quality food and clothing retail and the go-to for reliable everyday lingerie - I'd booked a bra fitting!
Again I was called by name as I arrived at the fitting rooms. On the signup form I'd been completely up front (no pun, honest ma'am 😉 ) about being a male presenting as a woman and the lovely lady couldn't have been more accommodating. She spent a whole hour with me, going above and beyond to ensure we found the most comfortable model for use with my normal forms: it was a toss-up between a 40B and 38C, with the latter just edging it on the fit. As I suspected, my natural male chest turns out to be 38A and she found me some lovely pretty t-shirt bras without underwire for drab days, that don't gape at all. I'd also brought one of my larger forms in my handbag and we confirmed that 38DD would be about as good a fit as I could get for them, although with the gore lifted a little from my sternum - which apparently isn't the shape that most bras are designed for, and caused the larger and sister-size alternatives both to dig in. Eventually she helped me get the top half of my dress back on and, having picked up matching panties for the form bras, some more numbers came out of my bank account as I filled quite a big carrier bag of lovely new undies at the checkout. Sorry, no photos of this aspect of my trip 😉
It was now high time for lunch at the in-store cafe, but not before I'd used the Ladies' toilets for the first time. No nerves at all going in through the different door than usual. I just felt like I belonged there and, although I'm sure I'm still an obvious CD, the GG's present must have felt similarly. They all seemed to accept me with not the slightest shock or fear in this most vulnerable setting, I received nothing but warm politeness and kind smiles in the mirror 🙂
Then in the cafe, I noticed Fiona's slightly different tastes coming out again. I wouldn't have chosen the cake I had with my coffee the other day in male mode, nor would I have chosen a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich for lunch today, but a good pot of tea still works wonders to refresh me in either presentation. Finally, bags in hand and out via the women's clothing department (I couldn't resist having a look and feel of some of the summer dresses) then the food hall - I had a request to fulfil for some Percy Pigs! Non-UK ladies, you'll just have to look those up 🙂
I had about half an hour left on the parking, so I strolled slowly to the other end of the shopping centre down the side I'd not already been in, just enjoying feeling so natural being a different me. Then back down the original side to my entry point, and out to the car. I'd seen it being stormy and raining while I was in the cafe, but luckily it had all passed - the hooded jacket hadn't been needed after all!
The drive home was smooth and uneventful and I arrived home having had another 5½ hours or so out in the world as Fiona - longer than all the rest of my daytime outings so far, added together. This has been a big day, in every sense of the word. I'm sorry that I've written half a novel about it - if you're still here, thanks for reading it all! But it's been so worth it: after today and my excursion a couple of days ago, I feel completely accepted, validated and fulfilled as Fiona ... what more could a girl ask for 😍
Yours, contentedly
Fiona xxx
