Doing Drag

Hello again! I know it's been a while between posts, but my husband has been working out of town pretty regularly so my time is kinda pinched. But I've got a fun little post for you guys today that stemmed from a random bit of conversation with one of my male friends. We were talking about how when we had met a few years back he had been sporting a penciled in mustache and how it had looked pretty cool. His faux-stache had looked pretty natural and that led me to start wondering how much skill was involved in pulling off a believable penciled in mustache. So I decided to give it a whirl and see if I could pull off the faux-stache. After fiddling with it for a while I figured out a decent technique to make myself a mustache, but it didn't look right with my feminine features. So I decided to do a full drag look, I even raided my husband's closet and strapped down my breasts to really get the look. And I've got to say, it was a pretty believable look. As always I'll list the products I used, but I will also try to explain the process I used to create this look.

Face Products Used: NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Mont Blanc mixed with Sephora Collection Full Coverage Foundation in Light; e.l.f. Studio Contouring Blusher & Bronzer Duo; Mary Kay Mineral Powder Foundation in Ivory 2

Faux-Stache Products Used: Medium brown and dark brown eyeshadow from the Sephora Medium Shopping Bag makeup palette.

Butch and Femme Comparison Picture

Eye Products Used: Medium and dark brown eyeshadows from the Sephora Collection Medium Shopping Bag makeup palette; e.l.f. Studio Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter Duo.

Don't I make one pretty man, haha? To create this look I mixed my usual stand by NARS foundation with a foundation that's a bit dark for my face to try and get rid of that pretty glow that is far too feminine for a male look and applied it over my face, neck, ears and eyelids. Then I took the cream bronzer from my e.l.f. duo and contoured like crazy. I have very well defined (and feminine) cheekbones, so I had to really lay on the bronzer starting in  the hollows of my cheeks and working up onto the apples. This helped to take away from the fullness of my cheeks and give a more masculine effect. I also contoured my nose a bit and around my jawline. Then I set the foundation with the mineral powder foundation.
For the eyes, I just took a medium brown eyeshadow and brought it through my crease and my lower crease. I'm calling it the lower crease as I'm unsure as to what it's called, but it's the little crease you get on your lower lid. I also used just a dab of the e.l.f highlighter on my brow bone to give the eyes a bit of dimension. Don't use a lot of highlighter if you're really trying for a masculine look though. Now the hard part about the eyes for me was the lashes. I had to do something with them as my lashes grow in nearly clear, but mascara was out of the question as I didn't want them to appear long, full and curly. So I decided to take the darker brown eyeshadow, barely dampened on an angle brush, and worked it through my upper and lower lashes.
And now the fun bit, how I made the facial hair. I took my angle brush and dipped it into both the medium brown and the darker brown eyeshadow and VERY lightly brushed it over my mustache area. You want to use light, short strokes to help with the facial hair illusion. I went over it several times until the desired level of darkness for my facial hair was achieved. Then I took my bronzing brush and dipped it into the same two brown eyeshadows and dotted it lightly across the jaw up to the hollows of my cheeks for that little bit of stubble shadow. A stippling brush would work work as well, if not better, but I don't actually have a stippling brush as I don't generally have much use for one.

That description got a bit wordy, but I really thought it was important for you to not only know the steps but why they were important. And I think it really made for some great results. I would recommend using a setting spray after you're done, I didn't use any and after a half an hour to an hour I definitely had some smudging. And I do plan on wearing this look out and about sometime just to see how well I pull it off. I would love to hear what you guys think of this look, it's definitely different than my usual looks! And I would love it if any of you guys decided to try this and share your pictures with me. Til next time!