#trans makeup tutorial

Hey everyone! So, I've had a few people reach out to me recently asking about my makeup routine, and it honestly makes me so happy to know that you're interested! I'm not an expert in this area, and I'm still learning so much myself, but I wanted to share what I've discovered so far, hoping it might help others who are just starting out. Think of it like a recipe; we need a list of ingredients to get started, right? So let's do this together! 💄💅

Products Used

(Full transparency: I used affiliate links on some of these. If you want to shop around for better pricing, be my guest. I fully understand <3)

Benefit Cosmetics POREfessional Pro Balm Face Primer Pore Minimizer

L'Oreal Paris True Match Correcting Crayon Concealer Also, here's an article that explains which color to choose to cover facial hair.

Shape Tape Full Coverage Concealer 20b - Go into Ulta and ask them to match you for this. Mine is 20b, but everyone is different.

Urban Decay Perversion Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner - smooth like butter, and I love this.

Urban Decay Naked Metal Mania Metallic Eyeshadow Palette - There are many cool palettes out there. Have fun, play!

URBAN DECAY Stay Naked Weightless Liquid Foundation - Everyone is different. This is just what works for me. I use 31NN. Ask your local Ulta store to match your skin tone.

Essence Lash Princess Mascara - I am currently using "False Lash effect, but I love all of them.

NYX 3 Steps To Sculpt Face Sculpting Palette - I use "Fair." I'm having trouble finding it, so it may be discontinued soon. I may be updating this post with a new contour kit eventually. Everyone's skin is different.

Maybelline New York SuperStay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick - I used "Thrill Seeker," but honestly, it's a fantastic formula, so use whatever color suits you.

Blenders - I love these. It is always good to have some on hand.

Garnier SkinActive Micellar Water - gets that makeup off fast and doesn't irritate my skin!

Neutrogena Cleansing Fragrance-Free Makeup Remover Face Wipes are the only ones that don't burn my face!

Q-tips - For cleaning up tiny spots of makeup without disrupting a whole area

Pointy Cotton swabs - for cleaning up even tinier spots of makeup

Makeup brushes - There are so many brushes, but this set does the trick for me.

Blush- I still need advice on this. I'm currently using a retired Morphe contour palette. I hate the formula, but I love the blush in it, and I'm almost out. It's subtle, not super thick or contrasting.

Urban Decay All-Nighter Spray - Setting Spray

Before we start:

I wanted to chat about my makeup routine and the order of operations that works best for me. Of course, everyone's routine is different, but I've found that starting with my eyes and then working on my skin tends to be the most successful for me. I have to admit I used to struggle a lot with getting my eye makeup just right, which is why I prioritize it in my routine. Shoutout to my partner Caden for creating a super helpful face chart that I used to map out my makeup looks. It's hard to do this in Photoshop, but I pulled it off. Let's dive into my process, and hopefully, you can take away some helpful tips!

Apply a bit of the Benefit Cosmetics POREfessional Pro Balm Face Primer Pore Minimizer to your face. If you're like me and have deep pores, consider this canvas primer; it smoothes over the pores to make a perfectly flat surface for the paint. 

Next, I use the L'Oreal Paris True Match Correcting Crayon Concealer in the areas where my facial hair tends to be dark and shows through my concealer. I use orange because it works well for me, but everyone has a different skin tone. Please take a look at the article I linked above about choosing a suitable color corrector. Figure 1 shows the places where I use it. Make sure to use your blending sponge to blend the corrector out.

I then use my Shape Tape Full Coverage Concealer on top of the areas where I placed the color corrector. Figure 2 shows what those areas should look like blended out. If there's a slight discoloration from your natural skin tone, there could be a couple of problems you've run into: - Significant discoloration (like the color of your color corrector) can happen if you don't blend out your correcting crayon in the previous step. It can also show through if you need a stronger coverage concealer. The one I recommend is thick enough that, once blended out, it shouldn't show any significant discoloration.  - Minor discoloration (like the area's color with concealer doesn't match your skin tone) will sometimes happen and can usually be covered when we apply the foundation in later steps. Your concealer could also need a better match, and you may need to go into the store for a second opinion for an adjustment skin tone matching.

Eyeliner. The scary part. For me, at least. Before applying a whole face, practice drawing on your eyeliner. I struggle and wipe off and start over again so often. This is why I do it before going any further with my foundation. I do a cat eye style eyeliner. You can see it in Figure 2. It takes practice, but you'll get there, hun, I promise. Eyes can be a difficult skill to conquer because you must also learn about your eye shape. Not all eyeliner shapes draw the same on different eye shapes. 

Shadow. This can be your favorite or least favorite part. It's my favorite because I get to choose the colors for the day. Once again, it's essential to understand your eye's structure. Learning about hooded eyes helped me. I only knew what those were after I researched. Figure 3 is going to show you a simplified way that I do my eyeshadow. I start toward the nose with a lighter color until about halfway over my lid. I get a darker shade and work my way, beginning on the opposite side of the eye toward the center. Then, I take a clean brush and blend them in the center. Wipe away any fallout (or pieces of loose makeup). Practice my sprinkle, and I promise you'll get it!

At this point, I like to carefully trace over my eyeliner (sometimes the shadow will change the color of the eyeliner if there is a glitter base. I want to go over these areas so my liner looks flawless. 

Mascara - (teach yourself how to apply this first before you go using this with a complete eye look) One thing I like to do to keep my mascara off my cheeks is place my finger under my freshly mascaraed lashes and let the lashes blink on top of the finger removing excess mascara. Also, mascara comes off your cheek easier if you use a Q-tip dipped in micellar water, tap the spot with the wet side of the tip, and then use the dry side to wipe it off. That and eyeshadow fallout are why I don't do foundation before I do my eyes. (Some people like to do lips first, too, but I don't have trouble with them, so I do them last.)

Foundation. The foundation I use tends to come out of the bottle too fast. I use the tiniest little dots at a time and slowly blend across my face and neck. Many videos show how to apply the foundation. Like I said, I'm no pro. Hell, I'm not sure if I consider myself an amateur. Just watch a pro do it on YouTube.

Contour. Contour is so cool. It literally changes the shape of your face. You can do so many things when you learn about contouring. There are many excellent contouring tutorials, such as the one I will link here. Figure 4 is how I contour. I use a powder contour. It is simpler to manage. I want to expand my horizons toward the products I'm using, so I may play more with other contour products and update this post in the future. I use the NYX 3 Steps To Sculpt Face Sculpting Palette.

Blush. Sorry, I don't have one I recommend yet. I like to go with a very faint blush to not make my cheeks overly rosy. Sometimes, I'll give the brush a little flick before applying so I start lighter, and if I need more, I add more. 

Lips. - Ok, so there are so many lipsticks to choose from. This is just my personal favorite. The Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink really STAYS. Which is nice. It can smudge a lot if you eat anything oily or touch your face a lot. So, be mindful of a lipstick that matches your daily routine. I know I shout them out a lot, but they've always had my back when I need information and have been super trans-friendly. The folks at Ulta have really helped me, and no, they aren't sponsoring me in any way. Nor are any of the other brands in this post. I'll talk more about this at the end of this tutorial. Lips take a lot of patience and work. Here's another video that may help. Do some YouTube research for the "how to apply" videos. Figure 5.

Setting spray: just one little mist of setting spray. Close your eyes, silly. I like to spray the bottle into the air and walk through the mist, which also helps you get a lovely, even spray. 

Celebrate, doll, you're done!