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Registered On: September 12, 2021Topics: 37Replies: 383Has thanked: 559 timesBeen thanked: 2346 timesShort of surgery and HRT, there are many things to think about when trying to feminize facial features and body types from male to female. While it may seem I just throw on makeup and do up my hair, put on girly clothes and head out the door, so much thought goes into exactly how all those things happen. There are specific things I do to hide my masculine traits, soften features, and use specific tricks to give me the best shot at being read female at first glance.
I’ll start at the top, literally, and make my way down. Now, keep in mind this is specific to me, but I’m sharing it in hopes someone gains some positive tips for feminizing the differences, sometimes so miniscule, between men and women. If you don’t find it helpful, by all means, just tell me to shut up and go eat a bag of d’cks. LOL!!!!
So here we go!
Hairline and forehead. The fact is, my hair line is higher than an average female. This also makes my forehead slightly more pronounced, so it’s really important how I do my hair. More specifically, how I can use volume to trick a visual decrease in forehead shape and size. The basic general premise is this: You can make an object appear larger or smaller just by decreasing or increasing the size of objects adjacent to it. In this case, I want my forehead to appear smaller, so I make my hair taller. This has another effect of elongating my entire head, therefore, making my face longer, which then makes my face appear thinner and smaller, including my jaw. To increase the effect, I also use contour around my hair line a shade darker than my skin. I take the same principals of design and continue shaping my face by leaving long sections of my hair down in the front… which obscures (softens) the overall shape of my face. A side benefit is men tend to find it really sexy when you look at them through strands of your hair in your face. I don’t know why, but hey, it’s awesome.
Brows: I wear mine thin because a man’s eye area tends to be stronger and heavier than a womans. To lighten the browbone, I make my brows thin, curved, and longer than my natural brow shape. In addition, to lighten the center portion of my face (the bridge area of my nose) I pluck a few extra hairs from the inside edges of my brows to create space between them. Viola, a softer and more feminine center browbone.
Space between bottom of brows and eyelids. I want to create the illusion of space in the eye area. Brightness if you will. It’s important not only HOW you put on eyeshadow, but the shade and where you put it makes a huge difference in how open and bright this area is. The lightest shade of shimmer always goes on the inside corner of my eyes and right below my brows. ALWAYS keep a light space between your brows and eyelids, even if you choose to use a dark color eyeshadow. Don’t bring it all the way up to your brows or you’ll enhance you’re male browbone vs. soften it. Unless you want that effect of course.
Nose contour. I see this happen all the time where someone will contour their nose with a dark shade and take it all the way up to between their eyes. I’d personally advise against this, and instead, use highlighter in the center of your nose (lighter and brighter than your skin) to achieve the same effect. You’ll look more natural, more feminine, and less drag. Here’s my technique for nose highlighting. Put a dot on the tip of your nose, but place it right above the tip vs. right at the tip. You want your nose to appear smaller and upturned, vs. longer and downturned. So don’t highlight the very end/tip, highlight right above it. Also, from that dot, leave a tiny space then continue highlighting up the center. Think of it as an unsidedown lowercase “i” on your nose. Take it all the way up the center right into your bridge between your eyes. When you get to the bridge, shape it a little wider and you’re good to go!
To finish off the openness of the eye area, I trim my lashes WHILE they’re on my face. I trim them to follow specifically my brows, so that when I look in the mirror, there is a clear distinct even space between my brows and the tip of my lashes from the inside corner out. Remember, SPACE! You want your eye area open, bright, feminine. You want to create visual SPACE!
Neck. Overall my neck is thicker than most women my build. So I need to visually obscure this area, especially where it connects to the back of my skull and at the base at my shoulders. I do this with hair. Even when I have it up in a ponytail, I leave enough in the back to hide this area. I’ve also been making sure any hair curves in slightly into my neck (with waves/curling iron/etc.) Also, if you’re into chokers, don’t wear it high up on your neck. If you do, it shortens your neck and makes it look even thicker. You also need to be aware of your posture and how you hold your head and shoulders to minimize the masculine trait. Stand in front of a mirror and hold your shoulders normally and move your head forward and backward. You’ll see your neck either look expanded (thicker) or thinner depending on head position. REMEMBER the position it looks thinnest in the mirror, and practice this so your body remembers naturally where you need to hold your head and shoulders.
Okay, that’s all for now with this Part 1 post. There are so many more fine details to talk about, so I’ll post a Part 2 and Part 3 to cover them later.
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Registered On: November 27, 2022Topics: 14Replies: 168Has thanked: 514 timesBeen thanked: 1075 timesThanks, Carmen, I can’t wait to try some of what you wrote. I guess, unfortunately we’ll have to wait until the next few parts to come close to looking as good as you do.
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- Registered On: August 19, 2021Topics: 22Replies: 272Has thanked: 2067 timesBeen thanked: 1448 times
Hi Carmen,
A lot of insightful and practical makeup advice from a beautiful lady who can really walk the talk. I’m just getting started on makeup so this info is right on point for me. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to your next post.
Hugs,
Michelle
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