Tips and tricks:

• Makeup goes bad, so keep an eye on expiration dates, especially for mascara. Look for a symbol like this:

The number tells you how many months you have from opening the product until it expires. I pay most attention to this for mascara - I don’t want to get an eye infection just because I was too cheap to buy a new mascara! For any other kind of makeup, if it’s getting older, I make sure it looks and smells okay before I use it. If the texture or smell of a product has changed, there’s a decent chance it’s gone bad, and I chuck it. Better safe than sorry!

• Always do your makeup in a well-lit area. It’s easy to overdo on foundation or blush if you’re working in a poorly-lit room!
• When starting out, you might want to try softer colors like brown mascara instead of black, or a soft lip tint instead of a bold red lip. Bold makeup is great but it takes practice to make it look good, so I’d advise waiting on bold looks until you have your technique down.
• There are tons of makeup tutorials on YouTube. I’d recommend poking around to find someone who has similar coloring to you and wears makeup that you like. One Beauty YouTuber that I really like is Angela Bright. She does a lot of tutorials with easy soft glam looks, and she really takes the time to explain what products, brushes, and techniques she’s using. Plus she just seems like a good human :)
• I mentioned this in another comment, but setting spray can really help your makeup last.

Does anyone have tips for a trans girl, who is also colorblind? 🙃

This stuff feels impossible

How to make blush look natural:

• Pinch your cheeks a bit and observe what color they turn. That’s the color of blush that will look most natural on you.
• Start with powder blush. Other formulations like creme or liquid take a little more practice but powder has an easy learning curve.
• Use a smallish to medium fluffy brush - something like the BK Beauty 112 is nice because the brush is small enough that you can be more precise with color placement.
• Depending on your face shape, decide where you want to place your blush. Commonly blush goes on the apples of your cheeks and/or along the upper part of the cheekbone. Here’s a little guide that might be helpful.
• If you’re doing base makeup, make sure you do that before your blush. Typically the order I do face products is foundation, then bronzer, then undereye concealer, then setting powder, then blush, then highlighter.
• To apply powder blush, lightly drag your brush across the powder, then tap off the excess. Using light upward/outward motions, sweep the blush across your cheekbones. Do one side lightly, then the other. Compare to be sure they’re even in coverage and shape. Build up as desired from there, but remember starting out that less is more, especially if you want it to look natural.
• If you add to much powder blush, you can gently wipe some off with a tissue.
• A downside of powder blush is that it can wear off kind of quickly, especially if you’re a more oily lady. To help your makeup last longer, consider using a setting spray.

Good luck!

I’m terrible at makeup myself, but I got a great tip from someone once about eyeliner. I have hooded eyes and they’re sensitive, so my lids twitch involuntarily as soon as they’re touched by a brush so I gave up trying to do anything precise.

The tip I got was to get a soft kohl or mineral eyeliner pencil, and rub it on to my lash lines, being as clumsy and messy as I want. Then go in with a fine soft brush and use the brush to rub it in and smooth it all out and get it closer to my water lines. It doesn’t wear that well on my skin, maybe because I refuse to buy the “good stuff”, but it looks fantastic and way better than any of my previous efforts at sharp looks.

• Hold a card or folded piece of paper from the outer corner of your eye to the end of your eyebrow and use it to draw a clean wing with eyeliner or shadow.

• When lining your lips, draw from the outer corners inward to make a very subtle overline.

• Don’t be afraid to blend your eyeshadow with fingers.

• Identify your specific facial features and undertones. Find makeup tutorials specific to them. The same style of makeup or shade can look drastically different on varying face/eye shapes and undertones.

When applying mascara, start from the root of the eyelashes and then once you get halfway to the tips, wiggle the brush back and forth sideways, just a little. It helps to separate the lashes and avoid clumps.

Do people still wear mascara or is it all about falsies these days?

When is was a kid, my mom took me to Nordstrom and the ladies at the makeup counter told me what to buy and showed me how to apply it. I’ve done it a couple of times as an adult with success. I think other places, like Ulta, might do it too (but I’m a creature of habit).

As for the blush - I find a color that mimics what I look like after exercising. Then apply the blush to those areas - but in smaller quantities. I feel like it looks better on me than the whole contouring thing. Also, I test anything before I wear it out (like play around before I wash my face at bedtime).

Blush can look natural only in VERY tiny applications. It would be akin to using “dry brushing” techniques in painting. It’s better to just drink a shot of booze and blush naturally if you’re the kind of person who’s got aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 deficiency.