Wave: Brighton Make up School

Lucy Blake shares transgender make-up tips

Using make up as a transgender lady can be daunting and overwhelming. The majority of ladies (even those who don’t wear make up) have experimented as some point in their lifes with make up, even if it’s their mum’s lipstick or sister’s blue mascara!
But for a lot of transgender ladies, it’s a totally new endeavour and a real ‘first’. One of the main tips is to not go overboard, as this can bring more attention to the face rather than flattering the features and veer more into ‘drag style’ make up rather than natural everyday feminine make up.

Good skin care is important as without a good surface to work on, the make up won’t adhere to the face as well. Moisturiser, especially a matt one is important as males tend to have coarser skin to begin with. Good concealing, colour correcting and camouflage make up products are important to conceal any five-o-clock shadow and skin tone. The Kryolan paint sticks are fantastic for this and derma colour camouflage underneath go together brilliantly.

For a lot of transgender ladies it’s a totally new endeavour

Eyebrows need to be reshaped by waxing, threading or plucking. If you’re happy to have a reshaped brow for everyday wear otherwise the use of eyebrow wax to cover over the naturally heavier brow shape can be applied before pencilling and shaping in a more feminine shaped brow.

For day/natural look it’s good to wear more neutral shades and flattering colours to suit the individual’s features and eye colour and not to apply very heavy colour. These of course can be worn especially for evening make up, or special occasions. False lashes are important to flatter and open up the eyes, especially individual lashes which can look more natural.

Blush/bronzer /shading can all help give definition and shape and colour to the face, but be careful to not over accentuate any strong jawlines.

Lips can be drawn over with a lip liner (not so much that it’s clown like!) this can help give the lips a fuller look and again choose flattering colours to suit your skin tone and features that also go with your outfit of the day. This is better than sticking with one colour all the time just because you like it! A setting powder is important at the finish to ‘set’ the make up and take off any excess shine. 

Group workshops and 1-1 workshops/lessons are available at
www.brightonmakeupschool.co.uk