Tranny Makeup - The Becky Way (Part One)

I get the occasional email from newbie trannies asking me how to get started with cosmetics. I normally end up firing off an email with some of the basic things I've learned. Each email ends up being pretty similar, so I thought, why not write down everything I know about makeup in one place?

So here it is, my guide to tranny makeup.

The first thing to say is that this is by no means definitive. And what works for me may not work for you at all. Everyone is different, and everyone finds their own best practices. So this is my personal guide to what works for me. That's why I called it the Becky Way. If you want a second opinion, I suggest Miss K's excellent tips. She'll tell you to do it completely differently. Neither of us is wrong.

In the beginning I used to experiment a lot, but when I find something that works, I tend to stick to it. I'm not one for trying new techniques very often, especially as normally when I'm getting ready I'm in a hurry, and experimenting leads to mistakes which leads to delays. If you're reading this and you're already good at doing your own makeup you'll probably think some of my techniques are dumb, and you're probably right. But, like I said, they work for me.

That's why everything is written from my point of view. Read each sentence as if it starts "in my opinion" or "in my experience". If you think that what I'm talking about will work for you too, then try it. Just don't blame me if it doesn't!

Attitude

The first thing that it's important to get right is how to approach makeup. We're not trying to emulate how a woman applies makeup, we're trying to emulate how a woman looks with makeup on. It's the difference between method and result. Girls don't use makeup in the same way that trannies do. Girls already tend to have feminine features, so they use makeup to enhance and add colour. Guys tend not to have feminine features, so makeup serves to modify the shape of the face, as well as enhancing and adding colour.

Horrendous generalisation: most woman haven't a clue how to do tranny makeup. Of course, they'll tell you that they've had a whole lifetime of practice, but it's practice on their own girlish faces! Their whole ethos is "less is more", and "subtle is better". This works really well on a female face, on a male face it tends to get lost in the general cragginess and blokishness. Ask a girl who's never made up a guy to do your makeup and, while the result will be expertly applied and beautifully subtle, you'll look like a geezer wearing expertly applied and beautifully subtle makeup.

Don't listen to girls, they're scary and they carry cooties. Listen to me!

My ethos is more is less: put more on than a girl would, and you'll look more like a girl.

Within reason, obviously. Put on too much slap and you'll look like a clown, or a bad drag queen.

But "drag queen" isn't necessarily anathema to trannies. Actually, a lot of what I do is based on drag queen makeup techniques. This is because drag queens tend to be doing an extreme version of what we want to achieve. Drag queens want to over-emphasize all the feminine features: high thin eyebrows, strong cheekbones, full lips, wide eyes. By taking what the best drag queens do and throttling it back a few notches, we can get results which feminize the male face enough to make it look girlish but not too "draggy".

Time and Patience

One of the most important things when working with makeup is giving yourself enough time.

A tranny once asked me how long it took me to get ready. I said "all told, about three hours".

They laughed and said that was a ridiculous amount of time, and it never took them more than 30 minutes.

I smiled and thought, "yeah, it shows".

Of course, every tranny has a different idea of how much they want to achieve, and how long they want to spend on achieving it. From a cold start, it takes me about three hours. Of course, that includes cleaning, de-fuzzing, plucking, dressing, re-dressing, wigging, bejeweling, manicuring and perfuming; as well as the actual time spent making up my face!

The important thing is that good makeup takes time. Especially when you're new at it. It's important not to feel rushed, because that's when you make mistakes which are hard to fix.

Also it's important to have patience. During the process of making up you're going to look worse before you start looking better. In my early days messing about with makeup I used to get half way through applying foundation, see my Bride-of-Frankenstien reflection in the mirror, and give up. With makeup, things never really come together until you've completely finished, don't get too disheartened half-way through.

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Wow, a lot of writing and we've not even touched the makeup case yet! In the next installment I'll write about my essential kit, and how to prepare your face.

That is, if you're interested? :-/