Chanel!
A lot of us girls (Trannie, like me, or Genetic) have questions about
makeup. Colors, brands, how to apply.. my goodness, there is a lot to
learn. The best thing I ever did was to go the Chanel counter and let
the professionals show me. It wasn't cheap, but it was certainly
worth it to me. Let me tell you about it.
Like many of you, I learned about makeup through various resources.
There are great web sites like
www.transformation.co.uk/easy-make-up.html. Detailed instruction and
examples can be found in books like Color Me Beautiful by Carole
Jackson, Kevyn Aucoin's Making Faces, and Jane Campsie's Hair &
Make-Up. And of course there's Oprah--I happened to catch a great
segment on eyebrow waxing one afternoon, for example. These resources
are wonderful for explaining it all and showing beautifully made-up
faces that I would die for, but they don't talk about my particular
face. (An egregious oversight on their part!) I thought I was doing
pretty good with a look for clubbing etc., but when I decided to
transition to living as a woman full time, I began to worry about
achieving a more natural look for everyday wear. My color sense just
isn't very good, so I needed help.
Fortunately, I knew where I could get that help. I had recently spent
a gloriously fun afternoon with Denae Doyle of
FemImage, working on my
feminine poise and deportment. I remembered that Denae had mentioned
a makeup expert she worked with from time to time, and that I might
consider consulting her when I was ready. Now I was ready! I gave
Denae a call. She told me she was thinking of Debi at the Chanel
counter at Gottschalks in the Capitola Mall near Santa Cruz, where
Denae's business is headquartered. I thanked her and said I would
go on down there and see Debi, but Denae generously offered to
accompany me and oversee the process. We arranged to meet at the
mall the following Saturday. (Denae called ahead to be sure that
Debi would be available.)
We planned to meet at Chili's restaurant at the mall's main entrance
for lunch. I arrived a little early and did not see Denae, so I took
a quick tour around the mall. Quick is right! Compared to the
fabulous Silicon Valley malls like Westfield and Standford where
I usually shop, this seemed like a toy mall, just a little playpen
of a mall. It only took 10 minutes to walk the length and breadth of
the criss-cross layout, ducking my head into a few shops, but moving
along quickly so I wouldn't miss Denae. We eventually linked up, and
it turned out we must have just missed each other several times. But
all's well that ends well, and we had a nice relaxing lunch at
Chili's, with lots of girly chit-chat.
After finishing with our lunch, we sauntered down to the Gottschalks
end of the mall, window shopping along the way. We got to the Chanel
counter in the department store, and Debi and her young
porcelain-skinned comrade-in-cosmetics Linse greeted us with big
smiles. At this point I began to understand the wisdom of trekking
all the way down to Santa Cruz for this venture. I'm sure charming
and talented makeup pros can be found at Chanel counters everywhere,
but here in this little mall I received the undivided attention of
these two lovely ladies all afternoon. At Westfield Macy's, it's an
effort just to get enough attention to replenish my foundation.
Denae introduced me to Debi and Linse and they seemed genuinely happy
to meet me. Other T-girls have reported similar warm welcomes at
other cosmetics counters as well. I suspect the clerks spend so
much time helping little old ladies select just the right shade of
blue eye shadow, that they're sincerely glad to work with a fresh
new face, especially one that is eager to drink deeply from the
fountain of their expertise.
Denae and the ladies got caught up on their gossip a little bit,
and then the focus turned to me me me! Debi sat me in the tall
makeup chair in the aisle and used some potions to clean off the
light cosmetics I had applied that morning. She applied some magic
"restructuring" creams and moisturizing lotions which use the most
modern chemical technologies to extract huge sums of money from
my pocketbook, and may possibly help me achieve softer, more
youthful skin. (On the serious side, I figure that if good skin
care delays the need for a face lift some number of years, it will
be a worthwhile return on my investment.)
Starting with this fresh palette, the first and most important
task was to select a foundation. This was the part that Denae
had particularly wanted to watch over, as it so important to get
this just right. She had confided to me that she had gone back
and forth with Debi with some "slight" differences of opinion
working on certain girls, and sometimes this process could be
quite lengthy. As it happened I was easy, and Debi hit my color
just right on the first try with Soft Bisque Intensity 3. Denae
didn't have to fight her a bit. We all agreed this shade looked
very natural on me. Debi applied the foundation with a medium
size brush, and I watched her technique closely as I had not
been a brush-user up to this point. I was impressed with how
smoothly the brush applied the foundation, and how it filled in
all the pits and crevices that I deny having. I decided I would
use a foundation brush from now on.
Debi dusted my face with a silky powder using a large puffy brush,
just removing the shine from my skin. She used a little bit of
concealer and highlighter to cover what remained of my upper
lip stubble, most of my facial hair having been
eradicated via laser at this point. I was amazed at how little
concealer and powder she used, because I had been caking it on
rather thickly. But I realized that I had developed this habit
when I still had quite a bit of facial hair, and no longer needed
to do that. The light application of makeup gave me a much more
natural look. (The cost of Chanel's liquid makeup has also
encouraged me to go lighter and lighter on the foundation lately!)
Debi selected an auburn pencil to fill in and define my eyebrow
arch, and she and Denae decided I definitely needed a waxing there.
"Yes! yes!" I eagerly agreed, as this was something I had been
longing to do but had not felt comfortable about as long as I was
still doing guy-mode. Denae and I ran over to her manicure parlor
and got this done right after we finished at Chanel that afternoon.
From a Tamises Trio eye shadow kit, Debi used a light, almost
invisible shade over my whole eye-lid all the way up to the
eyebrows to set off the arch. Then she added a dark blue--almost
a gray--on the lower portion of the lid, just on the outside halves
to make my eyes look a little wider apart. For eyeliner, a dark
purple shade replaced the black that I had been using. Debi made
a much thinner line than I had always done, and smudged it so
that it was nothing more than a shadow. I thought this would not
leave enough color to bring out my eyes sufficiently, but when
she curled my eye-lashes and coated them with a dark brown-black
mascara, I had to agree with the ladies that my baby blues looked
plenty cute!
I think I mentioned to Debi that I had never been able to find a
mascara I was completely pleased with. They never seemed to go on
quite right, being too clumpy, or gluey, or too thin, or whatever.
I was pleased to find out that I love the Chanel mascara. It seems
extremely thick, yet it goes on very smoothly and looks quite
natural. The Chanel foundation also strikes me as substantially
richer and nicer looking and feeling than what the ladies
disparagingly referred to several times as "drugstore cosmetics".
As for the rest of the products, I haven't really formed an opinion
as to whether they are or are not substantially better than less
expensive alternatives.
Denae had previously cautioned me against red red lipstick, which
had of course been my idea of "with it" up to that point. Debi
chose a light sienna lip liner and lipstick for me. I noticed
that the lipstick matched the liner exactly, and I recalled that
Kevyn Aucoin claimed that the dark liner/lighter fill look was out
of style. (Of course Kevyn also says there are no rules!) I also
saw the control Debi was able to achieve using a tiny brush to
apply the lipstick, and I resolved to become a brush gal in this
also.
Debi finished me off with blush high on my cheekbones of a gold
hue with peach undertones. She swept the blush up higher toward
my temples than Denae thought prudent, but when we saw how subtle
the shade was, we agreed it worked well. Finally a deeper plumb
blush was used to sculpt in my cheeks just a bit. Debi blended the
blush thoroughly with her fingers, so that it transitioned smoothly
and looked simply like a trick of the light.
The girls all picked at my hair to fluff it up a bit, and declared
I was a beauty. I wasn't inclined to argue!
When I got home that evening I snapped a few photos to get a
record of my make-over. Unfortunately I am lousy photographer,
but the accompanying photo (the head shot with the rose jacket)
can give you some idea of the results.
I like all of the colors and products Debi helped me with that
day, and that is what I continue to wear now, several months later.
However I thought that Debi overdid me just a bit, for my tastes.
A little too much blush, a little too much extension beyond my
natural lip lines. So I tone things down somewhat in my daily
wear, more like the photo of me in the gray suit. For clubbing,
especially on Goth or fetish nights,
I go back to the red red lipstick and black black eyeliner!
All this expertise, attention, and love did come with a price tag.
Actually you are not obligated to buy anything when you have a
makeover at the cosmetics counter. But the ladies work on commission,
so it would be rather rude to take up their time and not compensate
them. In my case I had deliberately let my makeup supply run down
in anticipation of this event, and I let Debi know that as we
got started. When we finished, lovely Linse presented me with a
big drawing of a face which she had annotated with the exact
descriptions of all the products which we had used as we went
along. Debi asked me what, if anything, I wished to purchase.
I told her, "I need everything. Load me up!" In this, I was not
to be disappointed! I had been forewarned by a girlfriend that
this could be a pricey experience. She told me she had spent
$300 at the cosmetics counter on one of her initial trips. So
I thought I was prepared. I asked Debi to ring me up but don't
even show me the bottom line--I just signed off the credit card
slip. So it was not until I got home that I saw the damage. Are
you ready for this? It was not quite one thousand dollars--but
it did reach that by the time I picked up a couple of things
that they had not had in stock just at that time! I was glad
that I had not seen this bottom line in the store, because it
did rather shock me! But I decided that I do not regret a
nickel of it. Let me explain that this included not just
cosmetics, but a complete set of brushes, and the complete
line-up of those very pricey high-tech skin care products.
Also Chanel is no doubt the top of the line, most expensive
cosmetics you can get. I am fortunately in a position where
I can afford it, so why not the best? I figure it is like
cooking--use the very best ingredients, until you get good
enough that you can achieve the same results with more
economical ones. I would encourage other girls to take
advantage of their local make-up counters, Chanel or others,
and don't be put off by the money. You don't have to spend
anything like what I spent--but do buy aat least a few things
to compensate your gals (or guys) for their time.
This little adventure took place over Christmas break last season.
If I had any regrets about the money I spent, they would have
disappeared once and for all at 8 am on January 2. That was
the moment when I walked into the lobby of my new job, working
for the first time as a woman, and told the receptionist, "Good
morning, I'm Elaine!" Because whatever other doubts and
uncertainties were facing me that morning, at least I had
confidence that my makeup was fine.
Luv,
Lannie
4/2002
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