Personalized Makeup Tips for Crossdressers from Jecca Blac
Makeup can certainly liberate a person and make them feel and present as their true selves. As you may have discovered, though, it can get daunting, especially for crossdressers and transwomen who are just beginning to explore.
“Back in the day,” a novice CD could only rely on someone from the community to get advice on how to use makeup. But thanks to the internet, we are able to connect with resources that provide the help and knowledge we need to bring out our best sissy selves.
One great example is Jecca Blac, a makeup company that aims to offer a safe space for everyone by creating cruelty-free makeup for all genders. Its website and staff provide a wealth of information and material to help those in the crossdressing community. Here are a few:
Makeup Assistance
Heading to your nearest makeup counter and asking for a personalized advice is easy if you’re a ciswoman, but if you’re a CD or a TG, this process is far more intimidating. The Jecca Blac team recognizes this struggle and provides online makeup assistance through their website. You can avail yourself of this service in two ways, free of charge:
Send a Selfie
One of the easiest ways to get free personalized makeup assistance is to send the Jecca Blac team a selfie of your bare face. Within 24 hours, their team of well-trained makeup artists will e-mail you a suggested makeup routine that you can follow to fully bring out and highlight your beauty.
Video Chat
If you want a more one-on-one session, they also offer a video chat option. You can schedule via their website a free 10-minute consultation where they will match your shade and give you a routine you can do yourself.
These makeup assistance methods are all free of charge and will give you a shade match and a suggested makeup routine.
Beginners Guide to Makeup
Once you’ve got your shade, the next thing you need to work on is your routine. Jecca Blac also has a blog post that is an overall guide to help out new CDs or those who want to enhance their skills.
The guide has video tutorials done by Jessica Blackler, founder of Jecca Blac, that cover the four basic steps of a makeup routine:
1. Primer
There are different kinds of primers, and Jessica narrows them down to 3 kinds, depending on the need of their customers;
Blur and Matte
Blurs out your skin texture for a matte finish, which is great for hiding stubble or beard shadow.
Glow drops
Glow Drops is a fan favorite because you can use it in three ways–as a soft and lustrous base, underneath your makeup for a natural look, or as a highlighter for a more on-point makeup.
Hydrate
The Hydrate Primer has shea butter and aloe juice for keeping your face hydrated and moisturized. It also acts as an extra layer of protection from makeup, which is why it’s highly recommended for individuals with sensitive skin.
2. Concealer
This step is where Jecca Blac made its name by producing makeup attuned to CDs. Concealer is vital for hiding blemishes, dark circles under eyes, and more importantly, beard shadows.
Their Correct & Conceal palette was made with enough coverage to cover beard shadows. Jessica also says that this concealer is buildable enough to even use as a foundation.
She suggests using a small makeup brush when applying concealer to get into all those nooks and crannies that need to be concealed and hidden. And voila! You have created the perfect canvas for your contour, highlight, and color.
3. Contour and Highlight
Contouring and highlighting are essential to soften “masculine” facial features. This wonderful technique visually sculpts the face to the standards of how you would like to present. It’s like getting a facelift, minus the scalpels.
At first, contouring and highlighting can seem difficult, but don’t worry…their tutorial gives you the basics that you can apply to yourself and later on modify to your liking. To begin, Jessica suggests mapping out where you want to do your contour using a small brush and a darker shade. These areas are usually your cheekbones, temples, hairline, and jawline.
The next step is to apply your highlighter. This will define your contour and add depth. And now, start to blend! Make sure to blend thoroughly and ensure that there are no visible harsh lines.
If you still feel stuck, you can try out their Sculpt and Soften palette, a contouring set that comes with a 34-page how-to guide for contouring.
4. Color
Now that you’ve made your base, it’s time to enliven your face with some color.
The basics for color are eyeshadow for your eyes, bronzer and blush for cheeks, and lipstick for your lips. But you don’t need to buy three separate products; there are all-in-one pigment products on the market that you can use just like in Jecca Blac.
The key here is to blend properly so that the pigments don’t appear too harsh and will mix well with each other and other makeup products you might be using.
Other Great Materials from Jecca Blac
How to Cover Beard Shadow
A step-by-step guide to creating the perfect base to cover your beard shadow, so you can flaunt and strut your stuff while out and about, or in front of the camera, without having to worry about your stubble.
Makeup Essentials for Transwomen
It’s not enough that brands come out with a wide range of shades for their foundations and concealers. Makeup also needs to cater to different groups with specific needs. Here, Jecca Blac talks about the essentials that transwomen (and CDs, too) must have in their makeup kit.
Everyday and Full Makeup Looks
If you’ve already gotten the basics, but want a quick makeup tutorial for an everyday look and for a glamorous night out, the video tutorials here have got you covered from your base to your color. Easy and quick in less than 10 minutes!
Makeup That Makes a Difference
Jessica Blackler started her company by offering free makeup tutorials for transwomen and CDs who needed a safe space to explore makeup and help them present as they see themselves. From here came the realization of how makeup still has a long way to go to be truly inclusive, and how it should also cater to all genders.
Just like in the early days of the Jecca Blac studio, they still keep their mission of creating a safe space for everyone to enjoy genderless makeup and by offering free makeup assistance and guides to people who are just starting to explore makeup.
Overall, it’s absolutely great to see a band marching to the tune of their own drum and creating makeup that supports a community that sees and brings out the beauty in everyone.
