Scarleteen

Hi everyone,

I didn’t learn about makeup when growing up (although, knowing my mom, I might not have even if I was a cis girl, lol), and I’m wondering if anyone knows of videos, websites, books, etc, which provide a general introduction to makeup. By a general introduction, I mean what the things are and how they’re used, basic styles and effects, tips and tricks, etc. It can be specifically for transfemmes or not.

Thanks!

AQ

Hi there again, AQ!

Beauty and grooming aren't our beat here at Scarleteen -- it's sexuality, relationships and health that are -- and I also often have reservations about a lot of content out there about things like makeup because it feels very binary to me or, very focused on passing, or very much in the service of enabling conventional (read also: white and capitalist) beauty standards, all of which are things we aren't big fans of here for reasons that are probably obvious. I'd ask that anyone leaving replies to this thread who has suggestions really keep that in mind and try hard not to link to things that approach makeup as something people use to assimilate or to try and fit narrow and prescriptive standards of beauty or gender.

Makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin -- a gay man who got into makeup by way of drag -- put out a few big books when he was alive that are fun and creative (and also really fun to look at, IMHO) and all about the how-to. I found them really helpful as someone who needed to know how to do makeup well for photography, and I think they'll fit the bill of what you're looking for, too. You can likely find these pretty cheap used at this point and probably in the library, too.

They are: Making Faces, Face Forward and The Art of Makeup. I think the first two on that list are better than the third, which I think does fall into the trap of holding up conventional beauty in ways the other two don't.