Marlena Dahlstrom
10-31-2005, 09:48 PM
Since the knee injury I haven't been out en femme -- being on crutches automatically draws attention, plus I had some safety worries about the lack of mobility. (Never had a problem, but...) But I decided to take a bit of my own advice to the other Darla and take advantage of Halloween to go out.
I was planning to go to the TGSF Halloween party anyway and had found the most adorable Little Red Riding Hood costume online, but in my Vicodin-induced haze, I forgot to order it in time. So Friday, I decided to see if I could find it at one of the costume superstores that opens up this time of year. (Day-time shopping is one advantage to being off work.) Didn't find it, but did find a cute PVC French maid's outfit. OK, I'm a naughty girl....I got it.
http://img308.imageshack.us/img308/5194/frenchmaid7sh.jpg
Unfortunately, reality set in later when I got home. Had real trouble zipping it up completely (still working on some ways to do it), but more problematically, it wasn't a good idea to spend an evening on spike heels while I'm still supposed be wearing a knee brace and using crutches. (The crutches were just off-camera in the photo.) *Sigh* Maybe next year.
Anyway, but to the story. After stopping at the costume shop I continued up to the MAC store on Union Street in San Francisco, dressed en homme. It's not in a mall, so there's not lots of passers-by peeping through the windows, and hey it's Halloween -- plausible deniability.
Went in, told the first make-up artist that I was a crossdresser and was looking to come up with an evening/clubbing look. Unfortunately, she was going on her lunch break so she referred me to another make-up artist, Mauro. Now I know MAC's t-friendly but there was a little twinge in my gut when I found out I'd be having a male make-up artist work on me. Guess it was that deeply ingrained male jockeying for position in the pack instinct. But nothing to worry about. Mauro was a real sweetie -- he was quite effeminate himself and had on both make-up and false eyelashes. And it turns out he's got a fascination with CDs -- not as an admirer because I'm almost certain he was gay -- but he just finds us intriguing. He said he's done makeovers with at least a half-dozen (all from the East Bay for some reason).
He did a fabulous job of working with me. Brought some eye shadow back, but I told him it seemed too close to what I already had. (I was smart enough to bring my current shadows with me so it could see the colors.) Plus, I wanted something a little more glam for clubbing. So he went back and upped the glam quotient with the second round of colors, including some "pigment," (http://www.maccosmetics.com/templates/products/sp.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY15103&PRODUCT_ID=PROD1519) which I'd never used before. (It's a highly concentrated loose powder.) I chose one of the color and he got some related eye shadows. Since I was en homme, he proposed just doing one eye, which I said was fine.
Unfortunately, a lot of customers came in and since there was only Mauro and one other artist there, he kept getting pulled away, so it took a while. The female customers all saw me sitting in the chair -- obviously getting something -- done, but no one said anything, laughed, pointed, etc. Mauro was apologetic about it, and I think he was a little guilty, since at the end he ended up giving me the sample lip pencil since they were out of stock. Mauro took his time and was really good about explaining each step, so that I could recreate the look. (That was the one downside of chatting with the make-up artist last time, I didn't get as much instructional info from her.) Since I also wanted some lip gloss, Mauro found a delicious plummy shade that went with the eyes.
Once we were done, I realized I'd forgotten my camera, which I'd planned to use to get some photos to help recreate the look later. So Mauro asked if I wanted to leave the eye make-up and I decided why not? Walking back to the car, only a few people seemed to notice, which is a bit surprising because it was a bit on the dramatic side. You can see the results in the thread about my new Hot or Not photo. (http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16964)
Got home, took some pictures and then decided the make-up looked so lovely that it was a shame to take it off when I went out to get dinner. So said, what the heck and decided to go shopping and eat something at the mall. Went to the Hillsdale mall on the Pennisula (which is in the subsurbs south of San Franscisco). I was a little nervous, since while trannies are common in SF, they aren't out in the 'burbs. Plus I knew I was going to be over-dressed, since I was wearing this (sans devil horns):
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/5802/img16838mm.jpg
But it was Friday night on Halloween weekend, so what the heck, people could always tell themselves that I was going to a party.
As it turns out I needn't have worried. Stopped first at a watch repair place because the battery had died on my watch. Then went to Boundin for a soup and salad. Was treated graciously at both places. The staff didn't bat an eye. Wasn't ready to go home, so I decided to hit Macy's and Lane Bryant. Unfortunately, there's on the other side of the mall so it was a bit slow going on crutches. Along the way I definitely did get read a lot more than usual, and yes I did hear some giggles. Fine. They didn't pass (the tolerance test). :spank:
Macy's didn't have anything that was too exciting. Got to Lane Bryant and the salesgirl wanted to know how I looked so put together. :c9: :luvu: Yeah, she could've been buttering me up for a sale, but she seemed genuine. I looked around and tried on a few things, but didn't find any tops that I loved. But I did find a nice ring in my size as well as two necklaces. When I paid, the salesgirl needed to check my ID for some reason. (I used my credit card and the signature has gotten blurred, so she was probably just following procedure, since I often get asked for ID when using that card.) She looked my ID and didn't miss a beat, just said cheerfully, "yup that's you."
Passed a drugstore on the way home and realized I'd forgotten to ask Mauro about a nail polish that would match the new look, and that I didn't have any polish that would coordinate. So a chance to do a little more shopping and also stock up on other girly stuff, like fake nails. The checkout clerk seemed a little nonplussed, but just went ahead and rang up the purchase.
Pulling out of the parking lot I saw the cops had a DUI checkpoint for traffic coming the opposite direction. It's a measure of how far I've come that I didn't panic, I just thought it was too bad I wouldn't have the opportunity to give some cute policeman something to talk to his buddies about.
Anyway that was it for Friday night. Saturday night I went to the TGSF Halloween party, with admittedly a lame costume (see above). There were probably 100 girls there all told. Since I couldn't dance, I spent most of the evening in the other room talking with people. Met a couple nice girls, who I might do some outings with in the future.
So all-in-all a fun weekend. Just need to write notes to both MAC and Lane Bryant commending their staff for the good service.
Anyone else got some good stories?
I was planning to go to the TGSF Halloween party anyway and had found the most adorable Little Red Riding Hood costume online, but in my Vicodin-induced haze, I forgot to order it in time. So Friday, I decided to see if I could find it at one of the costume superstores that opens up this time of year. (Day-time shopping is one advantage to being off work.) Didn't find it, but did find a cute PVC French maid's outfit. OK, I'm a naughty girl....I got it.
http://img308.imageshack.us/img308/5194/frenchmaid7sh.jpg
Unfortunately, reality set in later when I got home. Had real trouble zipping it up completely (still working on some ways to do it), but more problematically, it wasn't a good idea to spend an evening on spike heels while I'm still supposed be wearing a knee brace and using crutches. (The crutches were just off-camera in the photo.) *Sigh* Maybe next year.
Anyway, but to the story. After stopping at the costume shop I continued up to the MAC store on Union Street in San Francisco, dressed en homme. It's not in a mall, so there's not lots of passers-by peeping through the windows, and hey it's Halloween -- plausible deniability.
Went in, told the first make-up artist that I was a crossdresser and was looking to come up with an evening/clubbing look. Unfortunately, she was going on her lunch break so she referred me to another make-up artist, Mauro. Now I know MAC's t-friendly but there was a little twinge in my gut when I found out I'd be having a male make-up artist work on me. Guess it was that deeply ingrained male jockeying for position in the pack instinct. But nothing to worry about. Mauro was a real sweetie -- he was quite effeminate himself and had on both make-up and false eyelashes. And it turns out he's got a fascination with CDs -- not as an admirer because I'm almost certain he was gay -- but he just finds us intriguing. He said he's done makeovers with at least a half-dozen (all from the East Bay for some reason).
He did a fabulous job of working with me. Brought some eye shadow back, but I told him it seemed too close to what I already had. (I was smart enough to bring my current shadows with me so it could see the colors.) Plus, I wanted something a little more glam for clubbing. So he went back and upped the glam quotient with the second round of colors, including some "pigment," (http://www.maccosmetics.com/templates/products/sp.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY15103&PRODUCT_ID=PROD1519) which I'd never used before. (It's a highly concentrated loose powder.) I chose one of the color and he got some related eye shadows. Since I was en homme, he proposed just doing one eye, which I said was fine.
Unfortunately, a lot of customers came in and since there was only Mauro and one other artist there, he kept getting pulled away, so it took a while. The female customers all saw me sitting in the chair -- obviously getting something -- done, but no one said anything, laughed, pointed, etc. Mauro was apologetic about it, and I think he was a little guilty, since at the end he ended up giving me the sample lip pencil since they were out of stock. Mauro took his time and was really good about explaining each step, so that I could recreate the look. (That was the one downside of chatting with the make-up artist last time, I didn't get as much instructional info from her.) Since I also wanted some lip gloss, Mauro found a delicious plummy shade that went with the eyes.
Once we were done, I realized I'd forgotten my camera, which I'd planned to use to get some photos to help recreate the look later. So Mauro asked if I wanted to leave the eye make-up and I decided why not? Walking back to the car, only a few people seemed to notice, which is a bit surprising because it was a bit on the dramatic side. You can see the results in the thread about my new Hot or Not photo. (http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16964)
Got home, took some pictures and then decided the make-up looked so lovely that it was a shame to take it off when I went out to get dinner. So said, what the heck and decided to go shopping and eat something at the mall. Went to the Hillsdale mall on the Pennisula (which is in the subsurbs south of San Franscisco). I was a little nervous, since while trannies are common in SF, they aren't out in the 'burbs. Plus I knew I was going to be over-dressed, since I was wearing this (sans devil horns):
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/5802/img16838mm.jpg
But it was Friday night on Halloween weekend, so what the heck, people could always tell themselves that I was going to a party.
As it turns out I needn't have worried. Stopped first at a watch repair place because the battery had died on my watch. Then went to Boundin for a soup and salad. Was treated graciously at both places. The staff didn't bat an eye. Wasn't ready to go home, so I decided to hit Macy's and Lane Bryant. Unfortunately, there's on the other side of the mall so it was a bit slow going on crutches. Along the way I definitely did get read a lot more than usual, and yes I did hear some giggles. Fine. They didn't pass (the tolerance test). :spank:
Macy's didn't have anything that was too exciting. Got to Lane Bryant and the salesgirl wanted to know how I looked so put together. :c9: :luvu: Yeah, she could've been buttering me up for a sale, but she seemed genuine. I looked around and tried on a few things, but didn't find any tops that I loved. But I did find a nice ring in my size as well as two necklaces. When I paid, the salesgirl needed to check my ID for some reason. (I used my credit card and the signature has gotten blurred, so she was probably just following procedure, since I often get asked for ID when using that card.) She looked my ID and didn't miss a beat, just said cheerfully, "yup that's you."
Passed a drugstore on the way home and realized I'd forgotten to ask Mauro about a nail polish that would match the new look, and that I didn't have any polish that would coordinate. So a chance to do a little more shopping and also stock up on other girly stuff, like fake nails. The checkout clerk seemed a little nonplussed, but just went ahead and rang up the purchase.
Pulling out of the parking lot I saw the cops had a DUI checkpoint for traffic coming the opposite direction. It's a measure of how far I've come that I didn't panic, I just thought it was too bad I wouldn't have the opportunity to give some cute policeman something to talk to his buddies about.
Anyway that was it for Friday night. Saturday night I went to the TGSF Halloween party, with admittedly a lame costume (see above). There were probably 100 girls there all told. Since I couldn't dance, I spent most of the evening in the other room talking with people. Met a couple nice girls, who I might do some outings with in the future.
So all-in-all a fun weekend. Just need to write notes to both MAC and Lane Bryant commending their staff for the good service.
Anyone else got some good stories?