An anon asked earlier about drawing attention from masculine facial features, and Emery answered it while I was already answering it hardcore - soĀ here is the result! (The more info the merrier, right?)
Okay, so. Contouring, right??? Contouring.
Where the parts marked ācontourā are, you want to use a non-shimmer bronzer; for the highlights, you want to use a foundation or concealer 2 shades lighter than your base skin tone! Hereās a more in-depth image tutorial, with some words.
However, when talking with my friend Theo about this, they brought up a really good point that I hadnāt really thought about - a lot of what we see immediately when looking at a face we perceive as feminine is in the eyes and the brows. To illustrate this, and the effect it can have no matter how masculine your features may be, they sent me two pictures of a (as far as we know) cis dude named Dave Navarro:
Though heās wearing eyeliner in both pictures, I donāt know about you, but my eyes gravitate directly to his eyes and brows in the second picture, whereas in the first picture I guess my eyes kind of roam. Thatās the point of makeup, after all - to draw oneās eye to the most pertinent and excellent parts of oneās face!
(By the way, we used a cis guy to illustrate this simply to show that, no matter how masculine you may purposefully present or believe you look, you are totally capable of adding an element of undeniable femininity to your face!)
So my recommendation? Focus on your eyes and brows. (Lips are fantastic, too, but IMO, there are very few things that draw my attention to a girl or girl-presenting friend than flawless eye makeup, yanno?)
Here are some brow tutorials! This one is like hilariously 2000s but is also pretty helpful. For those who canāt do videos, hereās some tips in word form. Theo also recommends that if at all possible, you get your brows done professionally - either threaded or waxed - at least once. After that, you have a good starting point.
Hereās an excellent beginner eye makeup tutorial, and hereās a video tutorial with the tape method for perfect winged liner! Hereās a visual smokey eye tutorial (and a video - long but very very worth it, she also does brows), and here is a visual cut crease eyeshadow tutorial.
And here is what will blow your mind (if you are anything like me): pretty much any eye makeup is either a) flat (only one color), b) a variation of one of those two I just mentioned, or c) āartā eyeshadow, which are like the really amazing costume looks you mightāve seen that mere mortals can scarcely achieve. The only real variations are color, intensity, and liner!Ā
[holds hands to cheeks and gasps] coooooool
