1. Let Your Hair Down

It may seem that the answer to a more feminine look is long, luscious hair (rock it if you’ve have it!) however the secret’s actually in the hairline. A traditionally masculine hairline is lowest at the center and highest at the corners (think an ‘M’ shape for ‘male’) while a traditionally feminine hairline is much more evenly curved. To fake a female hairline, sweep your bangs across your forehead or tuck the front portion of your hair behind your ear Ariana Grande-style.

2. Raise your Brows

Everyone knows how important it truly is to keep the brows on fleek nowadays (should you need a little help, Audra has an awesome tutorial) and the right brow shape can instantly feminize your face. Natal females generally have higher brow bones than natal males, making a greater distance between the bottom of the brow and the eyelid. When grooming your brows, concentrate on the hair beneath your brow line and complete using a concealer or highlighter to brighten the area and exaggerate your eyelid.

3. Flaunt Those Lashes

It’s not a secret that we love to finish a great makeup look with butterfly lashes, and why not? Thick, dark lashes emphasize your beautiful eyes and convey a female flair to your face. If you want amazing lash-plumping recommendations, Audra has a great help guide to getting the falsies look without springing for all those Velour lashes.

4. Contour Lightly

Kim Kardashian has probably already inspired you to have fun with contouring, but ever thought about why we’re so obsessive about the contour craze? Traditional Kim K-eque contouring (darks around the perimeter, lights inside the center) is supposed to make a perfectly oval face, one that’s slightly longer than it is wide and gently rounded. In other words, the ultimate femme. It will take a little bit of experimenting to discover your ideal contour, but Cara can certainly help you with the basics!

5. Don’t Ignore Your Cheeks!

If your already-gorgeous face is long and flat, the center of a more feminine shape rests at the center for two main reasons:

First: A femme face boasts slightly fuller cheeks than the usual traditionally masculine face.

Second: A more masculine face features a larger distance between the bottom of the eye and the top of the jaw when compared to a feminine face.
A lovely peachy-pink blush along with a sweep of highlight over the first half of the apples of your cheeks (the part that shows up when you smile) is capable of doing absolute wonders. It will not only round out the middle of your face, but it’ll also distort the length of your face. Science!

6. Plump Your Lips

You don’t need to fake Kylie Jenner proportions to appear more feminine, but fuller lips is definitely an easy cheat. Just with the middle of the face, a more masculine face has a longer distance both between the tip of the nose and the top lip and between the bottom lip and the tip of the chin. It is possible to fake a fuller pout by (slightly!) overdrawing the shape of your lips with a fine-tipped lip pencil and finishing any lip look with a dot of highlight in the center.

If you want to get a close shave, grabbing the razor on the way out of bed is not the solution. First thing in the morning your skin is still a bit puffy from sleep. So give it 20-30 minutes for your skin to tighten back up to normal. You’ll get a closer shave because more of the hair follicle is exposed.

2. Prepare Your Skin

If you want a quick and guaranteed way to butcher your skin, just slap on some shaving cream on your dry, room temperature skin and take a razor to it. You will exfoliate your skin the wrong way, get more nicks, and oh yeah- it hurts like hell. Take a nice hot shower or wrap a hot moist towel around your face and neck for a few minutes before you shave. It softens the follicles, opens the pores, and give you a smoother surface to work with.

3. Moisture Matters

This one gets overlooked a lot. Your skin craves moisture, and I can almost guarantee you aren’t moisturizing enough. So, before you shave, take a few minutes and moisturize. Get in there and really let your skin soak it up. And don’t forget to moisturize after shaving. A great after-shave lotion should contain aloe vera.

4. EXFOLIATE! EXFOLIATE!

You should be exfoliating anyway, just because it makes your skin look better. But, it also helps reduce redness, razor bumps, and ingrown hairs. It does this by eliminating dead skin cells and giving you a closer shave and a cleaner surface that won’t trap hairs or get irritated.

5. Slow Down the Growth

There are thankfully some really good shaving cream products out there that help to slow hair growth. One is Aveeno’s Positively Smooth Shave Gel. Another is Dollar Shave Club’s Dr. Carver’s Pillowy Shave Lather. Both work to slow hair growth and give a much smoother finish.
[amazonjs asin=”B00LO2PD3M” locale=”US” title=”Aveeno Positively Smooth Shave Gel – 7 oz”]

6. TECHNIQUE!

This is one that often gets overlooked. When it comes to the face, you might have seen the approach of all downstrokes on the face, and up strokes on the neck. The truth is, that isn’t going to give you the closest shave. You want to give your hair one to two passes (only one if your skin is sensitive) going with the “grain” or hair growth direction, and one that goes against it. Just gently rub your face and you will quickly be able to tell what direction that is.

7. All Shave and No Replacement Makes Jack a Dull Razor

It is a universal truth that the most dangerous blade, of any kind, is a dull one. You have to use more passes and more force to exert the same effort. It’s a losing game. So replace that blade every 2-3 times you shave. I know it gets more expensive, but if you want results and you don’t want to butcher yourself- it’s a necessary evil.

8. Choose Your Weapon

A good razor is core to a good shave. You want something that follows along your contours and glides easily on the skin. Many in the transgender community swear by the Gillette Sensor- which does work well. However I am also a fan of the “Venus” line of razors. I feel like they follow contours better.
[amazonjs asin=”B010D4X86K” locale=”US” title=”Gillette Sensor Excel Razor – Men – 100% New – With One Pre-loaded Cartridge”]
[amazonjs asin=”B001JQLNFA” locale=”US” title=”Gillette Venus Spa Women’s Razor, 1 Razor Handle and 2 Razor Blade Refills”]

Luckily makeup can be conquered and you can learn this mystic art that many didn’t get taught when most girls learn. So get a jump start with these need-to-know rules that will expand your makeup game.

1. Not All Makeup Brushes are Created Equal

This is one that almost every woman has to learn at some point. No matter how good you get, bad tools will never get you as far as proper ones can. This doesn’t have to mean you have to spend obscene amounts of money on a single tool, but you will spend a bit more on many than you expect. I’ll put it this way, if you find a 47-brush kit on eBay for $7.95 shipping from China- don’t get your hopes up. They will work, provided the heads don’t fall off and the brush strands don’t shed, and can be good practice brushes. Much like an old beater car though, once you get the hang of it, you will want to move up quickly.

2. Beauty Blenders are Great, But You Don’t Need One

You’ve probably seen these glorious little spongy applicators with a rounded bottom, flat edge, and pointed tip. They are amazing for application, blending, and finishing your makeup and are very cool tools. You know what is also cool? That package of 40 sponge triangles you’ve seen in the drugstore for $4.99. They are incredibly similar material, and also offer a flat edge and a point for application. And as an extra bonus, if you fold it over- you get a rounded bottom ABSOLUTELY FREE!

3. Brow Abuse is Real

There is a term I used to hear alot in the early 2000’s for women that over-plucked their eyebrows. It was called “Bleething”, as in Yasmine Bleeth. You have no doubt seen what I mean. Thinning and attempting to even your eyebrows until your forehead appears to have alopecia. And the kicker? If you do it too much, they won’t grow back right or at all. Learn the right brow shape for your face, and stick to it. In fact, you are in luck. Thicker, fuller, and more natural looking brows are now “on fleek” (or “perfect looking”, for English speakers). Back away from the tweezers, and go to a professional waxer to give you a perfect starting point to maintain your brows for best results.

4. Better Skin = Better Makeup

In everything, the better the surface you are working on- the better the final product. Your face is no exception. If you want the best look possible then you need to make sure you are laying your work down on the best canvas you can. So develop a skin care routine. There are a ton of products out there just ready to overwhelm you. Just know this, good skin care starts with three basic rules. Clean it. Moisturize it. And drink lots of water. Seriously, if you aren’t doing these things as a core routine, then it doesn’t really matter what you do- you’ll never reach your skin’s full potential.

And don’t sweat the $40 container of face moisturizer. Yes, some of them absolutely rock. But you can set a good base just by starting to apply plain old moisturizer in the morning and at night.

5. You Have to Learn the Basics

In order to truly be good at anything, you have to know the basics. This is doubly true for makeup. You need to know how to care for your skin, you have to be able to apply foundation smoothly, you have to be able to blend, etc. If you can’t perform a basic lipstick application, I don’t want to see you going anywhere near attempting pin-up style makeup. If you can’t blend your eye shadow, you have no business trying to recreate the skyline from Aladdin on your eye lid.

6. You Are Already Perfect

This is the most important rule you need to know. Because if you don’t see how perfect you are already, then you will never be happy with what you see- no matter how much much makeup you put on or how well you apply it. Beauty comes from confidence and personality. That is what shines out. All makeup does is help you express who you feel you are to a greater extent. So if your nose is a little crooked, who cares? Straighten it with contouring, or just rock your own unique nose. Skin isn’t perfect? Spoiler alert- no one past the age of 11 has perfect skin. Trust me- they might have been born with it, but baby, now it is definitely Maybeline.

You can always find flaws, so start looking for what you love so you can enhance it and show it off to the world.

We turn to outstanding makeup artist and educator Wayne Goss, who has an incredible YouTube channel, to learn how he hides large pores and gives you a smoother and cleaner finish to your makeup.

The idea is pretty straight forward, you apply your foundation as normal, the trick is in how you finish it. Beware that if you have very dry skin this can cause micro exfoliation so you will want to make sure you thoroughly moisturize.

Combined with moisturizers and a good primer, you will be on track to a smoother more flawless finish to your makeup.

Just beware, you don’t want to go overboard and make yourself look like a mannequin. Makeup should never make you look like the Energizer family.

So here is the video from Wayne Goss himself. Let us know what you think about this technique, give it a try and see how it works for you.

You can find many more videos from Wayne Goss on his YouTube channel.

[playbuzz-item url=”//www.playbuzz.com/amandaforbes10/21-amazing-life-hacks-every-girl-should-know”]

A Little Clarification

First off, let’s be clear, transition doesn’t have to necessarily be full time. Perhaps it’s just you taking your first part-time steps- dressing, makeup, clothes, etc. So don’t get discouraged if you can’t go big-time on the budget right now. Obviously, if you have more disposable income, you have a few more options. But for today, we want to focus on starting out slowly on a budget.

Transition on a Budget – Shopping

You have a surprising number of options for shopping on a budget when you are starting. We will get into specifics of topics in other articles. For now, we will just talk a bit about where you can spend your money.

Dollar Stores

Whether it’s a Dollar Tree, Dollar General, or any variation of those; these stores are a great resource for finding items you can use. You won’t find much, if anything, in a way of clothes. But you can pick up makeup, skin care, general beauty products, hair care, and some accessories. This is the perfect way to kick-start your transition and get the most mileage out of your money.

Big Box Stores

As they advertise, places like Walmart and Target are stores where you can find most anything you need. So, save for a few “specialty” items, this is a one stop shop. At Walmart especially, you can find items fairly cheap. You will spend a bit more here than the dollar stores, but obviously, you can’t get everything there and you will want to step up your game. One of the great things is that these stores are generally so busy that no one notices what you are shopping for. And many stores have self-checkout lanes. So you can pay for your items with a bit more privacy too, if you haven’t built up your confidence yet.

Clearance Aisles

Wherever you go, always make a habit of checking the clearance aisle. Most drug stores and stores like Walmart will have a decent clearance area, and you would be amazed what you can find there. Makeup, skin care, hair care, accessories, hosiery and socks, under garments, and more. Always raid the clearance aisle and save some money.

Online

For ease and privacy, nothing beats online shopping.

eBay

eBay is truly one stop shopping and one of the cheapest ways to get things. I can also tell you that is an incredible place to shop for jewelry and build up a collection. More on that in another article, but just know that you can get all sorts of bracelets and necklaces for less than a dollar with no shipping. It was a huge way to start my collection. You can also find things like makeup organizers, makeup bags, and brushes for very cheap. No, these aren’t professional quality brushes. But they allow you to learn and put some abuse on them before you throw down on some higher-end brushes.

Be warned however, if you are shopping for clothes, make sure you have your sizes down. Take your measurements and check the size charts. Some places will not honor refunds, especially on personal items. Also, note if the model wearing the clothes is Asian. If so, they are probably using Asian sizing which runs MUCH smaller than American sizing. If you wear a large, you might find you need a 2XL in those lines. If you are trying to transition on a budget then it doesn’t how cheap it is if you can’t wear it.

Amazon

Amazon is another option for you, and offers a huge selection. You can search and find items pretty cheaply. However, I would suggest that before you buy something, check it on eBay first. I found a necklace for $30 on Amazon that was .99 on eBay. I’m not kidding. This is also a great place to get makeup and beauty supplies for cheaper than in the stores.

Poshmark

If you have a smartphone then you need this app. Of course you can also use their main site, but the app is outstanding and easy to use. Sellers list clothes they do not want at discount prices, and you pick them up at a steal. You can set up your sizes and see only what fits you in listings. If you find a seller who has items you really like, you can follow them. And most sellers offer bundle discounts for buying more than one item. You can also make offers and haggle on the price a bit. I’ve saved some big money by shopping with them.

Forever21

Depending on your style, it may not be for everyone. However, Forever21 does boast a wide selection and has an outstanding plus section. Their regular prices are not necessarily budget-friendly, but if you click on their sale sections (they have sales constantly) and clearance areas then you can find deep discounts on really nice clothes. We are talking tops from $5 and up, and dresses from around $12.99 and up. They also are pretty much always offering shipping specials. And if you want camis, trust me you want camis, they start at $3.99 for regular sizes and $4.99 for plus-size.

Again, I cannot stress enough the quality and selection of the plus-size section. If you need a little larger fit, they are amazing. I highly suggest, however, at least making one trip in to the store to find out your size in items. Shopping becomes much easier then. I personally have never had a problem in their store trying on items. Even when coming in presenting as male. Don’t expect a ticker-tape parade, but I’ve never gotten a sideways glance. We live in a great time.

The truth is, you can find cheap deals most anywhere you look. Even the typically expensive Torrid has some good clearance sales. Just keep your eyes peeled and always been looking.

In part two of this series we will be covering what you can do for FREE when you transition on a budget. Trust us, it’s super important that you do them too.