( photo alt text: Balenci-Yaga )

Ladies, help!

I’ve really been struggling with confidence around my makeup skills, and I strongly attribute this to a lack of educational tools that cover the true fundamentals of makeup application for human faces.

There are SO SO MANY books and tutorials out there that demonstrate how to execute a particular look or use a particular product, but I have yet to find any resource that fundamentally covers WHY you are supposed to do this particular thing in a specific way. And even if I find something close, it presumes an already feminine face shape (and almost always model-thin).

For example, it took me entirely too long to figure out fundamentals of light and shadow; playing with color to trick the eyes into thinking your face has a different shape. I’m looking for resources that start that basic, and goes on to explain what each product seeks to achieve conceptually along with some examples of what looks good on a variety of face types. Specifically rounder, more overweight faces.

I’ve purchased a few physical books as well; no luck. What do y’all do?

  • socialpankakemix@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    3·
    4 months ago

    this is what I feel I need also, most tutorials expect me to have some base knowledge I seen to be missing, and yeah sure I’ll know doing it this way might be best but I also wanna know why.

  • Amelia_@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    I feel like this isn’t the way most cis girlies learn about makeup, so you’re not finding much material to learn this way. The fundamentals come from parents, from big sisters, from friends, and most importantly from experimenting and finding what does and doesn’t work for them. A book can’t tell you what looks good on your face, we all have slightly different imperfections and insecurities, slightly different tastes and aesthetics.

    Once you have that you build on it with more of the same, which results in the kinds of videos you’re seeing. You ask friends what they’re doing when they look good, what products they’re using, when a new style is trending girlies create shorts and videos for it, when you want to match an aesthetic there’s videos related to that aesthetic. You play, you mix and match, you share, you copy, and you innovate.

    Stop looking for documentation and manuals, embrace the sisterhood to which all women belong.

    • neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      3·
      4 months ago

      I (and many other trans folks) didn’t benefit from supportive parents, sisters and friends to provide initial advice, ongoing feedback and moral support. We didn’t have them when we were growing up, and we may not have them now. As an adult, one is expected to have already been through that experience. And, paradoxically, finding new friends and people you can trust often relies on not looking like a total mess to begin with (not to mention the expectations of employers, or the experience of people not yet out to themselves and just want to experiment).

      It sucks to have to learn this stuff in a vacuum, but that’s the situation some people are in. “Have you tried not?” is not helpful advice.

      • Amelia_@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        4 months ago

        I was just trying to explain why you’re not finding the material you’re looking for, I am absolutely learning in a vacuum too.

        My advice was not “have you tried not?”, it was a recommendation to do what other girlies have done, use their knowledge and experience, do what is already working. That’s exactly why we have spaces like this, and the matrix chatrooms, and other trans spaces.

        Cis girls generally don’t do it the way you are trying to, and you will continue to have lesser results while you do it this way. Cis girls did not do this alone, you’re not alone, you don’t need to be alone.

        But if you want to ignore me and be combative instead, then that’s up to you.