A TGF Rerun — Beautiful Eyes

This “how to” TGForum Rerun appeared on TGF in December of 1997. It’s by the late Roberta Angela Dee whose advice on beauty is still good in the 21st century. In this post she talks about minimizing masculine facial characteristics and accentuating feminine ones. Her take on the way the eyebrows should look is based on women kept their brows in the ‘90s. Today a thicker brow is in fashion, but when you’re trying to feminize your face Roberta’s technique for creating a thinner, arched brow may be a better choice.

Have you ever studied a woman’s bare face — a face with no makeup. No foundation, lipstick, mascara, shadow, eyeliner. Even without makeup, a woman has five sex-specific characteristics that help define her femininity:

    + forehead

    + small and more sharply defined nose

    + smaller ears

    + more tapered chin

    + her eyes

Each of these features, if not properly addressed, will minimize the naturally feminine image that a crossdresser hopes to achieve.

Recently, I discussed hair pieces. A well-fitted hair piece can be used to mask prominent ears and a masculine forehead. It’s why I stressed the importance of a quality hair piece.

Any masculinity attributable to the nose or chin can be minimized through a creative use of makeup. For the nose, one needs to add a highlight (lighter color) down the middle of the nose. The lighter color creates the illusion of height and serves to make the nose appear sharper and smaller — more feminine.

A square mannish chin needs to be softened. This can be accomplished with just a hint of blush. However, before you add blush make sure you used a good foundation — one that provides superior coverage. I always suggest Flori Roberts (Dermablend). It provides excellent coverage and it’s waterproof.

Always use a pressed powder to seal your makeup, and to prevent it from rubbing off onto your clothing or someone else’s clothing. Again, remember that just a hint of blush will suffice. Use too much, and it will make you look clownish.

The eyes require patience. If your eyeliner is unevenly drawn or too heavy, it will not look feminine at all. Take your time.

Now, your eyes and face are beautiful, but if you skip the details, you’ll have a “not-quite finished look.” For a complete and finished look, you’ll need to enhance your brows and lashes.

Your brows should be arched and tapered. Some women can carry a thick brow, but not if they have any other more masculine features. For a crossdresser, the brow must be distinctively feminine.

The Steps

    + Brush-on Brows

    + Brow Set

    + Lash Enhancer

    + Mascara

Step 1. Brush Brows — (If Necessary)

Brush brows, and darken light or thin brows. If you color your hair, are very fair or are graying, you may need to accent your brows. Select a color that matches your natural hair or original brow color. The Blond has reddish tints, Ash is slightly darker without any red tones, Charcoal works for very dark brown or black hair and Soft Smoke works for dark blondes and brunettes.

Tools: Brow Brush

Brush along the natural brow line. Very carefully use an eyeliner pencil to fill in any sparse areas. Make your brows noticeable, but not too dark. Use the Brow brush to brush through to remove any loose or excess powder. [Editor’s Note: You can also find soft brow pencils to fill in your brows.]

Step 2. Lash Enhancer Your mascara contains specially formulated fibers that lengthen and thicken thin lashes.

Tools: Mascara

Apply one coat of mascara, then top with a second coat of mascara to seal the fibers. If you wear contact lenses or have sensitive eyes, be careful to choose a brand of mascara suited to these conditions.

Mascara darkens and defines lashes to finish your eyes. Use Black if you have very dark eyes or for evening, otherwise, Brown (which is very dark, but not as harsh) is the color of choice. If you prefer, Dark Navy is also a good selection for blue, blue gray or gray eyes and Charcoal Green is an alternative for hazel, brown or green eyes. Both colors are very dark with just a tint of color, but much softer than black.

A Sensitive Eyes Mascara is suitable for everyone and is safe for contact lens wearers. A SuperLash Mascara is also fine for sensitive eyes and lengthens and thickens lashes. It is also water resistant and has tremendous staying power (you will need Eye Make-up Remover to get it off). A Waterproof Mascara will stay on even under water but is almost impossible to remove without eye make-up remover.

Longer wearing Mascaras often take a few seconds to dry (so you have an opportunity to remove clumps, which are almost impossible to remove once it is dry).

Progress Check

Your face should look almost finished and should appear very polished and balanced. Your lips should be the only “un-finished” part.

To Dress The Details Up for Evening

Be sure to do your brows for evening, if necessary. Look at a recent picture and see if you have eyebrows (even people with very dark brows may have noticeable “bare spots”). For lashes, apply an extra layer of mascara focusing on the tips. If you have very straight lashes, you should use an eyelash curler (before your mascara) to turn your lashes up.

Tags: crossdressing, eye makeup, featured, makeup, shading

Category: Transgender How To