Tags: appy eyemakeup, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara —

Everyone asks me how to do their makeup better, and I’m certainly no expert, but I’ll tell you what I’ve learned over a few years of doing it. And it all starts with foundation (or coverup, same thing).

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I’m going to fly in the face of modern dermatology here, but you’re going to want a good thick cream foundation. Everyone these days uses powders or liquids or whipped foundation because they are lighter and let your natural skin color show . . . and they don’t clog your pores. But they also don’t cover up stubble. And I’m not talking about “I didn’t bother to shave this morning” stubble, most modern foundations won’t ever cover “I just shaved 5 min ago” stubble. Unless you are lucky enough to have really fine hair, in which case ignore everything I say.

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Don’t fret too much if you need cream coverup, you probably don’t wear it often enough or long enough to worry about clogging your pores – remember most gg’s wear the stuff 12 hours a day every day! The only trick is finding the stuff (and in the right color). Look for makeup in a compact, not in a bottle or jar. And make sure it says “cream”. Neutrogena makes a pretty decent one if you need a place to start looking. Or you can try Ultima II which is available off of Amazon, but it’s a bit light on coverage for a cream.

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Colors have semi-standardized names, so you can guess a little bit, but your best bet is to go into a store and compare the color sticker on the package to the skin on your wrist (palm side). You’ll probably want something just a tiny bit darker than your skin if you’re in between shades, otherwise get the closest match. If you’re guessing from the names, here’s a basic guide. “Ivory” is the lightest shade and has little color in it. “Natural”, “Amber”, or “Nude” are light skintones with some color in them (not color as in tan, but color as in more yellow than grey). “Buff” and “Beige” are usually medium tones but with a bit less yellow (leaning towards grey). “Golden” and “Honey” are medium tones with color. “Tan”, “Almond”, and “Cocoa” are exactly what they sound like. And of course there are combinations of the colors like “Natural Ivory”. And then sometimes the colors just make no sense. If you’re just looking at the colors on your computer screen though, err on the light side – most people guess a little too dark, and because your screen is backlit colors will look brighter than they are in real life.

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Before you apply your new makeup, take a shower. Seriously. And wash your face, but don’t over-do it – you want to get any dead/dry skin off, but you don’t want to dry your face out and create new dead skin either. Stay in the shower for awhile with pleasantly warm water . . . makes a great time to shave your legs too. Now, if you want great makeup, apply a quick and thin coat of foundation while your face is still damp (not dripping, just damp). The moisture will keep the makeup spread out thin. Go cool off and dry yourself off, letting the foundation set up. Obviously don’t touch your face for a few min or stick it in a towel!

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When you’ve got your foundation in hand and are ready to apply it (this goes for the base coat if you put one on, or your “topcoat”), use a sponge or cotton pad – lots of coverup will come with a sponge anyway, which is great. Cotton pads may leave fuzz if you have course hair. “Brush” in the direction of hair growth as a general rule, unless you find a little hair that you missed when shaving in which case go over it in the opposite direction first and then in the direction of growth. Spread the foundation out thin at first, you don’t want cakes of it, and you can always go back over and add more if you really need. Keep it off your eyebrows and hair, because that just looks funny. Feel free to go over your eyelids and lips though, as that will help keep your eyeshadow and lipstick in place when you apply them overtop the foundation. And don’t forget the little places, like the undersides of your eyes, and underneath your nose. Take the foundation all the way down your neck, but spread it out *really* thin towards the base of your neck – you want it to cover any stubble down your neck, but the color needs to fade out to your natural skin gradually. Don’t rub it in, just gentle strokes in one direction.

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That’s it, all there is to it Ok, that plus a LOT of practice. But you’ll get the hang of it. And don’t worry, it may not look like much, but you’re well on your way to being one hot crossdresser

Tags: coverup, foundation, makeup tips —

If you haven’t read my other breastform articles, you might want to check those out first for some cheaper breastform solutions. Or maybe you just came straight here because you have a huge wallet and don’t want to bother with the homemade stuff? That’s fine, but I’d still advise that you play around with some sort of homemade form (even just stuffing) to at least get an idea of what size and shape you’re looking for.

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Ok, so you want to buy breastforms, hmm? Well the first thing to figure out is an appropriate size. Oh, and be aware that the larger the form you want, the more expensive. So not only are smaller forms usually MUCH more realistic, but they are also usually cheaper! If you’re not sure what size you want, go re-read the bra section on my clothes page. There is a really good summary there at the end of the section. But to re-cap, shoot for a B-cup breast to be “average”, and don’t forget that the size breast form you need to be B-cup changes based on your band size. I’m going to guess that most crossdressers will ignore my advice and go for a C-cup, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I really do not recommend forms that are D-sized and larger unless you really just want huge tits and don’t care what anyone else says.

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If you do go for large breast forms (D-cup or bigger), they will frequently be a bit saggy. After all the original intent of breast forms was to replace breasts that were removed from cancer patients, and most cancer patients are older and gravity is starting to take effect if they have large breasts. That means . . . you either need a REALLY good bra, which will likely squish the breastform and cause wrinkles in it. No permanent damage or anything, but it doesn’t really look pretty. Or your other option is to find breasts made specifically for crossdressers that are advertised as “perky” or “young” or something of the sort. Add some extra cash for this option usually. And just because they say perky doesn’t mean they will stay on your chest and not sag . . . you’re really going to have to glue these suckers on solid, and you’ll probably still need a strong bra to keep them from causing your SKIN to sag and thus the breast in turn will look less than perky.

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Ok, enough on size, on to shape. Again, go re-read the bra section under clothes if you don’t remember what shapes are available. As a reminder though, here are some of the more common shapes:

Round

Triangular

Teardrop

Asymmetrical

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Now what I didn’t mention before is that triangular forms are a little saggy too by their nature – one of the points of the triangle goes up, which means two of the points are on the lower edge of the form resulting in most of the breast mass being at the bottom of the form. Don’t worry though, that’s the way breast tissue really works. Teardrop forms can be worn in 2 different directions. If you have the point of the teardrop up, it may be a little saggy, but actually looks very realistic if you want to go bra-less. The other option is to wrap the point of the form around under your arm, which makes for a very perky breast. It’s somewhat unrealistic though because then the nipple points slightly outward away from the center of your body. I’m still a huge fan of the asymmetrical breastform – it creates a very realistic but perky breast. The little point goes up, creating the impression of weight (sort of like sag, but only enough to appear real), and the large point wraps under your arm, filling in that oh-so-important breast tissue that most people forget even exists.

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One last note on shape . . . you’ve probably met girls who say they’ve got big C or D tits, and you look at them and wonder how they hide them so well. Or maybe you see a girl with amazing boobs who claims to “only” be a C-cup. That’s because (among other things, like how much underlying muscle, how firm the connective tissue, how dense the breast is, etc) there are two ways to fill the volume of a cup – projection (outwards from the body) and spread (think the “width” of the breast). Projection makes for breasts that look really good, have great cleavage, etc. But later in life these will also be the breasts that hang straight down. Spread makes the breast appear more uniform with the chest wall, and causes breasts to disappear when a girl lays on her back. When shopping for breast forms you’re not likely to have options about projection vs spread, though some stores will advertise that their forms have “great projection”. There does not seem to be a standard measurement for this, but in my experience most forms are made with a fairly standard ratio to fit the “average” person. If you DO have a choice, remember that you want a balance of projection and spread – spread is what will connect the form to your body and keep it in place. Projection will create the appearance you’re looking for.

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Ok, so you know what size form you want, and you know what shape you want . . . now it’s on to materials! “But aren’t they just all made of silicone?” No! Silicone is the best known and most common material to be sure. And for good reason – it has great texture, weight, and elasticity, just like a real breast. It’s also uber-expensive, fragile, sensitive to chemicals, and the for large breasts it can break under its own weight. It’s worth a little more discussion though so you know the details if you’re looking into silicone forms.

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Silicone . . . the most realistic form you can get. The density is about the same as fat (ie breast tissue), and the elastic properties are also amazingly similar – it “bounces”. The problem with this great density is that you are trying to attach the form to your skin, which is also amazingly stretchy, and the form has to be able to support it’s own weight. In a real breast everything is held inside a nicely resilliant package and attached to the rest of the body with some super connective tissue – it’s not going anywhere in the short term. So large silicone forms will sag the farther they project from the body, and the more total weight in the form the more they will cause your own skin to sag with them. Silicone comes in a lot of varieties . . . and breastforms are made of 2. The “filling” of the form is different from the “skin”. The filling has the right properties to simulate fat, but it doesn’t hold itself together very well. So a skin layer is added to hold the form together, much like a woman’s skin holds the breast tissue in. This skin layer, however, doesn’t feel very much like real skin, so manufacturers try to keep it as thin as possible. A thicker skin of course is more resistant to damage and can support more total weight in the form without sagging, but you sacrifice some of the realistic feel and bounce. The skin is also important because if it is punctured or ruptured, your form is ruined. And because the skin is made thin for the sake of realism, it’s easy to damage. So keep your forms away from sharp objects, and never sleep in silicone forms or lay directly on them! In addition, don’t use any products on or around your breast forms that aren’t specifically breast form safe. This means tapes and adhesives, as well as lotions, lubricants, cleaning products, etc. Mild soap (ie hand soap) is fine, but otherwise keep chemicals away!

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Whipped silicone is a fairly new material used for breast forms. It has all the same properties of regular silicone except that there are tiny little air bubbles in it, so it’s more foamy than dense. It’s used for larger forms so they don’t sag, and so they are easier to wear (don’t weigh you down, cause back problems, etc). They also don’t feel quite the same, and don’t bounce quite the same. Of course, if you have DDD forms, you’ll probably be thankful of it. Don’t bother with whipped for “normal” sized forms though, as it will only ruin some of the realism.

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Swim forms are a different material . . . I think they are a type of silicone, but not 100% sure. Anyway, they are sufficiently chemically resistant to go into chlorine water (don’t try this with your regular silicone forms) and are also lighter weight. Which means less realistic, but more comfortable for sports, etc. Unless you literally plan on going swimming though, you probably won’t be interested in swim forms.

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Foam forms. These are great for creating the appearance of breasts without some of the disadvantages of silicone forms. They do not feel like breasts though, and they do not bounce. They are litterally made out of squishy foam like the egg-crate material you can buy for a matress pad, etc. Foam forms are less expensive and much more durable than silicone though – you can sleep in them, lay on them, pack them in suitcases, etc. As long as all you need is to LOOK like you have breasts, this is the way to go. If you want to FEEL like you have breasts (including the way they feel on you, not just the way they feel when you squeeze them) you will need to go with silicone. There is really no substitute. Foam is also more chemical resistant and should hold up to most stuff you might put on your body. Of course, even though they’re less expensive than silicone, there’s still not cheap. So I still wouldn’t recommend wearing too much lotion or lathering them up with baby oil or lube or anything.

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Last topic is breastform adhesive. No, you do not NEED adhesive – using a bra can work just fine. You will need a full coverage bra if you’re not using adhesive, so that the top of your form doesn’t flop away from your chest, but you will probably want a full coverage bra anyway because breast forms never match your skin tone and will always look fake if they’re not covered (anyone know a trick that I don’t for blending a form to your chest?). Another option is a bra with a pocket designed for holding breastforms, and in this case you cannot use adhesive. If you want to go bra-less, or need some extra security (don’t have a good bra, or will be moving around a lot), you will want to look into breastform adhesive. Sometimes this is sold as medical adhesive, but not all medical adhesives are safe for silicone. Your best bet is to buy stuff specifically formulated to be safe for breastforms, but you can also look for a medical adhesive that says “safe for breastforms” or “silicone compatible”. Along with your adhesive, you will want adhesive remover, otherwise you will get a nasty dirty film on the back of your forms eventually where dirt and oil from your skin adhere to the tape. And speaking of tape . . . it is possible to use 3M double sided tape as an adhesive, but I’ve yet to figure out a good way to get it back off. Also rather painful to remove from your chest, but bearable (not sure how it compares to other adhesives). Anyway, it’s left a film on the back of my forms, so I stopped using it. But it never damaged the silicone at least. One other “must do” with adhesives . . . shave your chest! otherwise you will not be happy when it’s time to remove the forms.

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To apply adhesive, just press it down around the edges of the form, trying to make as continuous of a line as you can, as close to the edge of the outline as you can get it. Holding down the edges of the form is the most important part, as this is the area you don’t want to flap up. And often the backs of breast forms are concave, so the center of the form may not even touch your chest anyway. It’s also helpful sometimes to line up the form on your chest BEFORE applying the adhesive, especially the first few times. The best way to do this is to get a bra that leaves the top of the form exposed (the kind I keep telling you not to try and use with forms, I know). Put the bra on and fit the forms in it, lining everything up the way you want them to sit on your chest. Then get some eyeliner or lipliner and gently trace the outline of the form, or a piece of the form, on your chest. Now when you put the adhesive on, you can just stick the form right to your chest lined up with the outline. Because breastform adhesive is STICKY, and if you don’t line it up right the first time, too bad – there is no slight adjusting after it’s on, you have to do it all over again. Also, it’s very easy to notice if someone’s breasts are lopsided, so be very careful that your two sides match. You’d be surprised at how little of a mismatch will make you look funny!

Tags: applying breastforms, breastform adhesive, fake breasts, silicone breastforms, wearing breastforms —

Ok, at this point I’m assuming you’ve read 3 things already, or at least have some prior knowledge of them . . . first is an overview of breast and bra sizes and shapes from my clothes section. Second is Breasts 101 which covers reasons for using breastform alternatives, and the basic method of stuffing, and third is Breasts 102 which covers sewing a basic re-usable breastform. If stuffing or a sewn breastform is working fine for you, don’t bother with this article. If you have money you can also skip this – no sense making an “acceptable” breastform with a lot of work if you can afford a fabulous pre-made one. If you’re still reading, the below sections will explain a couple methods for crafting your own breastforms at home.

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This advanced home-made breastform is made of silicone, just like the real ones. Don’t expect it to look like the ones you can buy, or to feel quite as smooth and perfect, but this will definitely get you by for awhile in terms of look and feel through clothing. Though I don’t recommend squeezing it too much as it might leak . . .

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Ok, so everyone’s heard of the water-bra, right? Well, this breastform works on the same principal. It’s basically a silicone shell filled with water, jello, or a special material described below. You could also fill it in with solid silicone, but this makes for a rather heavy form, and takes a lot of time too!

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The first trick is to create a realistic breast mold. If you have a real live breast handy, this step is much easier, but if you don’t, you can probably hand-shape something reasonable. Pick out an appropriately-size Glad-Ware container, you’ll need one for each breast unless you’re making them one at a time . . . I used this one to make an almost-C-cup breast. Pour in some plaster of paris. You can get this stuff at any craft store, just mix it up with water. Now be careful here, as plaster of paris gets hot as it sets, enough to cause serious burns. But have your model smear a little Vaseline on her boobs, which keeps the plaster of paris from sticking, and have her lean over a table and press her breast into the Glad-Ware with the plaster of paris. You need the entire breast to fit into the Glad-Ware container without squishing in order to get a good shape. If your model complains of the heat, she should be able to pull out slowly and not ruin the mold, and the Vaseline will make sure the plaster of paris comes off and doesn’t burn her. If you don’t have a model, you will have to just let the plaster of paris start to set and then form it into an inverse breast when it’s just hard enough that it doesn’t flow back into the mold.

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Let the mold set. Don’t start the next step until the plaster of paris is completely set.

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Wash out the Vaseline. This is really important, as silicone won’t crosslink right if there’s too much Vaseline left in the mold, but DON’T wash out ALL of the Vaseline or the silicone will stick to the plaster of paris and you will never get it out. Use a warm soapy rag to clean out the mold. Submerging in water might soften the plaster (not to mention take off too much Vaseline), so I don’t recommend it. You don’t want the mold to be greasy, but the surface should be “soft” with Vaseline.

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Ok, now get some clear silicone caulk from the hardware store. You’ll probably use an entire tube per breast, so get the full-sized tube and a caulk gun, it’s worth it. Start squirting caulk into your mold, creating a layer about 1/4 inch thick in the shape of the breast. This is going to be your shell. Don’t fill in the “interior” of the breast, as caulk won’t cross-link correctly if you get layers that are too thick. And note that this is only the outer surface of your shell at this point – the part that will rest against your chest is completely open.

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At this point you have a couple options. If you want to fill the entire breast with silicone, wait for the “shell” to dry, and then add another 1/4 inch thick layer, and wait for that layer to dry. Repeat until the form is solid. You can see how much time and caulk this is going to take . . .

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If you want to make a water-breast, ease the shell out of the mold and clean the surface that was against the plaster (after it sets!). Now lay down a 1/4 inch thick layer of caulk on a piece of wax paper, a little larger than the chest-side of your shell. Press the shell gently onto this flat layer, just enough to get a good seal around the edges. Let the bottom layer set, and then remove from the wax paper. You can trim the excess at this point. Make a little slit in the backing layer – this is where you will “inject” the water to fill your form. Place the entire shell back in a (clean) mold to hold it in shape. Get a turkey baster or something of the sort, and squirt water into the shell via the slit you made until the shell is full. Dry any water from the backing layer!!! Then apply a bead of caulk over the slit to seal it. Be aware that because water flows so easily, the water breast is more likely to spring a leak than other forms, and you have to be really careful to seal everything up! You could also fill this form with (liquid, unflavored) jello and let the jello set, but be aware it will soften a bit as you wear it, and has the potential to get a little gross over time.

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If you want a slightly firmer breast that is less likely to leak, the following material works great:

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Find yourself some borax (laundry isle of most supermarkets, sold as a laundry enhancer), and mix it up with water to make a saturated solution. That means add borax to water and mix it until you can’t mix anymore. If you see solids at the bottom afterwards, you’re done. If you don’t, add more borax and mix again. Pour off and save the solution, throw out the solids (don’t let this stuff sit, it will be impossible to get out of your mixing container if you do!). I’d start with a tablespoon in 1/4 cup of water, that should do for most breast forms unless you’re making a really big one

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Next get yourself a giant container of Elmers glue (Elmers works best, I don’t know about generic white paper glues). You’ll want to make a 50:50 solution of Elmers and water. Try 1/4 cup Elmers with 1/4 cup water for most breast forms. Mix until you have a nice homogeneous solution.

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If you used the quantities I recommended, now is the time to mix everything together. If you didn’t use the recommended amounts, mix the borax solution to glue solution in a 1:2 ratio. Mix and mix and mix. If you have a blender you don’t care about, that will help you along considerably. If there’s excess fluid that doesn’t mix into the “slime”, pour off the liquid. If it’s too thick and rubbery to mix, add water a LITTLE at a time. The end result should be a thick goup that pours slowly. Add some food coloring if you want to make it look flesh-toned (make it a LITTLE darker than you skin, because the clear silicone will diffuse some of the color). Red + Green will make “brown”, and the white of the borax will lighten this color.

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Once you’ve got your filler solution, pour it into your silicone shell. You can “inject” it just like the water breast version above, or you can fill a shell with no chest wall. Because the borax solution is so thick, you can cover it with silicone caulk to create the chest wall after filling the form, which saves you from having to make a chest wall, making a slit, and then sealing the slit.

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If all this seems like too much work . . . wait until the next update where I’ll discuss forms that can be purchased premade

Tags: breastform filler, homemade breast, silicone breast, water filled breastform —

Ok, at this point I’m assuming you’ve read 2 things already, or at least have some prior knowledge of them . . . first is an overview of breast and bra sizes and shapes from my clothes page. Second is Breasts 101 which covers reasons for using breastform alternatives, and the basic method of stuffing. If stuffing is working fine for you, don’t bother with this article. If you have money you can also skip this – no sense making an “acceptable” breastform with a lot of work if you can afford a fabulous pre-made one. If you’re still reading, the below sections will explain a couple methods for crafting your own breastforms at home.

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The most straightforward home breastform is basicaly permanent stuffing. The idea here is to sew (yes, you will need to be able to sew for this one) a decently shaped breast which you will then stuff like a stuffed animal or pillow. This way you only have to worry about matching the size and shape of each breast once – after that you just tuck and go. The downfalls of course are that fabric breasts are mostly air – they are lightweight and will not bounce, the are easy to flatten under a tight shirt, and they are not “squeezable”.

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A sewn breastform can be made in any of the breastform shapes illustrated in the clothes section, though the easiest of course is the round form. Conveniently, the back of the form will be a flat outline of the form’s shape (to fit your chest), and the protruding portion of the form will be made of “triangles” of fabric that line the circumference of the backing and join at a point where the “nipple” will be. Below is a generic round breastform pattern. You might also try seaching the net for “knitted breast form” – I don’t know squat about knitting, but it seems to be a popular method.

8 “triangles” is probably a good place to start, as they will be easy to space evenly around the round center. But experiment with different numbers – more triangles = more sewing! The diameter of the circle should be about 1/8 you chest circumference. For example, I wear a 34-36″ bra band, so the diameter of each breast would be between 34/8 = 4″ and 36/8 = 4.5″. To find the height of the traingles from circles edge to peak, use the formula:
h = sqrt( r^2 + cup^2 ) + 1/4″
where r is the radius of the circle (half the diameter), and cup is 1/2 for an A cup, 1 for a B cup, 1.5 for a C cup, etc. For example, to make a C cup breast for my 34″ band, the circle diameter would be 4″. That makes the radius 2″. The cup value for a C cup is 1.5″. So the triangle height would be sqrt( 2^2 + 1.5^2 ) + 1/4″ = sqrt( 4 + 2.25 ) + 1/4″ = 2.5 + 1/4″ = 2.75″
Also make sure you “plump out” the triangles by about 1/4″ – see the example pattern, the traingle’s edges are not straight, but bend outward.

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Now sew the edges of neighboring triangles together, leaving a bit of room at the tips, by pinching the edges of the triangles together. Once all the edges are sewn, turn the form inside-out so it has a finished look. Now stuff the form with stuffing, making it as firm or soft as you like. Finish the job by stitching the tips of the triangles together to hold the stuffing in, and add a button as a nipple if you like.

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You could also add a small (smooth!) rock or other weighted object near the base of the form before sewing it closed to give the form a bit more natural feel when you wear it, but this is just personal preference – it will have no impact on the visual effect of the breast.

Tags: breasts, cloth breastform, knitted breastform, sewn breastform —