Start2makeup

Sometimes you run into those things you think you’ll never need, but once you’ve experienced what they can offer, you can’t live without them. It happened to me with the cell phone, and it happened to me… with makeup.

Makeup wasn’t my first entry into feminine expression. Those were skirts and dresses, from sober to frivolous. But after my first total makeover last year, I realized there was no turning back. I had to learn this. It wouldn’t be an easy path. One doesn’t learn how to apply makeup in a few days. This would take money, time, and a lot of frustration. Yes, there are tons of sources on youtube, and it all seems so easy, until you try it yourself.

Luckily, there are these amazing people these days who are dedicated to helping transgender people. Julie from Brussels is one of them. She is a professional make-up artist who also teaches make-up classes, mainly to biological women, but everyone is welcome. A few months ago I booked my first appointment. The atmosphere was nice and relaxed. She was very friendly and patient, and that with a student who only recently understood the difference between eyeliner and mascara.

She first gave some theory. She called makeup a “trompe l’oeil” (her native language is French), which means “deceiving the eye”. It makes your eyes look bigger than they are, your lips fuller, the blush on your cheeks healthier, your skin more even. She did my left side, the right side I should do myself. I experienced this as pure quality time. Lovely. Going through my eyebrow with that brush. Going over the edge of my lips with that pencil. Hmm.

Before I started on my right side, I took a picture. Afterwards I separated the two halves and swapped places. I still find the effect amazing. My left side is so much more beautiful, and yet it still looks natural. I catch myself on some vanity, but hey, I don’t have to feel guilty.

And then I make up my mind: women are already more beautiful by nature. (This is an opinion of course, not a scientific fact.) Makeup even reinforces that difference. It makes women even more beautiful.

Again, it may be vanity, but sometimes I also want to be a beautiful woman too.