Ok so today I had the day off and took a trip to the city. Well I had to go in style so I curled my hair, which I have been growing out a bit. It's not long, but long enough that a 1/2" curling iron can be used to give it a lot of body and give me a short feminine style. So once my hair was satisfactory I put on a pair of white tights. I don't yet shave my legs because everyone who knows me knows that I am hairy and I LOVE wearing shorts. It has to drop below 40 outside before I will ever put on long pants. So therefore I use tights, which I love. So a pair of white cable knit tights, then a pleated skirt, a polo shirt from the guy's department and a sweater vest also from the guys department. However I applied NO make up.
So my first stop was at a Gordman's as I was wearing a skirt and do not own any purses. This makes things difficult when shopping carrying your wallet and keys in one hand. So I picked out a small black purse, casual, one that looks like it could go with about any casual style of dress. I went up to pay and the only one at the registers was a guy and so I took my place in line, careful to not make eye contact with anyone as I am always nervous when dressed like that to interact with another guy. Much to my relief another clerk came up and said 'sir I can get you over here if you are ready'. It was a young girl. She never even commented or even acted as if she noticed the skirt.
Quickly making my way out of that store I then went to a few more stores in my skirt, purse over my arm and had a good time just browsing. Every sales person I spoke with was very friendly and willing to help. I really think going in wearing a skirt but not trying to pass at all just put me at ease. It's like just walking in the door I announced, "that's right, I'm a crossdresser and I am fine with that". I even tried on a couple of dresses at Maurices that I have had my eye on for a while. *Sigh* One was far too formal and the other looked like a maternity dress on me. <curses her pudgy belly>
Ok so my last stop on this outing was going to be sephora, inside of a JCPenney. I had no desire to stand in a store of that size, in a skirt, hopefully having make up applied. So I slid the jeans I brought along under my skirt and then took the skirt off. However, still have the feminine styled hair.
So now we're at sephora, the real highlight of my day. I went in and that JCPenney was quite busy for a thursday. I was there around noon. Made my way to the sephora area and thank goodness I was the only one there. So the SA greeted me immediately and offered help and I explained to her I was looking for an easy way to cover my beard shadow. I didn't elaborate, no mention of being a cd, and she didn't even ask. She showed me some concealer then asked me to wait where I was and went and called someone. I could hear her asking for tips on this, and I can only assume she was talking to someone with experience in this area. So she came back and tried a few concealers that lightened it but didn't really cover. So finally she said that foundation would cover much better than concealer, but said it would be a bit heavier. I knew this of course, and told her that was fine if it made the process of eliminating the beard shadow easier. So she got some Cover FX Total Cover creme foundation and some primer. She applied the primer first (I had removed the earlier applications). Then using a brush she applied the foundation. Amazing! Beard shadow gone! And I have very dark hair and a thick dark beard shadow. Well the results were very acceptable. I could still see a tiny bit of shadow on my moustache area, but I think with some lip stick and blush on you wouldn't notice it. Plus I was really looking, and that was with the mirror a few inches from my face. Someone not specifically looking for it wouldn't notice. Ever try to look directly at the area between someone's nose and lips? It's kind of hard to do, try it when talking to someone.
So now the reason why I'm upset with sephora, why do they have to be so nice and helpful?! I spent almost $90 in there on the foundation, some primer and a nice brush to apply it! And they most definitely have a repeat customer so I'm sure more of my money will be disappearing to buy lipstick, mascara, eye liner, eye shadow, etc. I think I have a new favorite store.
Thanks for reading, and hope you all have days as fun as mine.
-Hugs,
Kylie