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The Empty Basket: Makeup How-To

by Charlene Tailor
A few months ago we had a meeting in which several new and infrequent attendee members were present. As I have been a member for several years — and dressing for more years, I have learned a lot (but not all!) of the tricks and techniques to achieve a somewhat passable appearance. Many of the “new” members timidly came forward to ask for some tips. As time is limited during the meetings for one on one conversation, I entertained the thoughts of how I felt at times in my other self and how much I craved to learn. Driving home,as I turned the corner near my lair, I noticed an empty shopping cart lying in the gutter (obviously a grad prank) and my thoughts of how empty my other self felt at times when it came to subjects such as clothes, style and makeup. Hence the title. Most of the questions pointed at me were regarding the makeup side of crossing.

I have been extremely fortunate in having several great and wonderful instructors and mentors in this regard. My many thanks to the following (not in any order) for their help.

Staffie; Brian Callahan of Salon 512 in Calgary; Yves LaFlemme of Nash & Co.; Ms. Shannon Enns; Leah; Adones in Burnaby; ACT 1 Supply on Robson Street; The Wig-Wam. There are others too, but too many to list so my apologies if you’re not here but I do remember you!

So now that all the credits and preliminary stuff are over with, let’s get going on makeup as I know it. The steps are in the order that I do the transformation — some can be jumped but be careful. There are some hard rules in the application steps that I use and if skipped (as we all do once in a while) you’ll pay for it. On the other hand, this is only how I do it — please feel free to experiment as it is the ONLY way you’ll learn what works for you. Remember that all skin types are different — colour, texture, moisture content,wrinkles, etc. Therefore you will need to play with colour and materials.

Name brands mentioned below are the products I use — please feel free to try other products and let all of us know if or how they work for you. Information is very valuable these days.

This article is in several sections for more manageable reading.

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