It’s been awhile since I did an actual product review which was the contact lenses on 26/07/2015… Over 2 year ago.

Before I go on, in the previous post I said I have big news to announce… Well I do but it will have to wait as it’s not the right time yet thinking about it, all I can say is something mega has happened and could be a massive game changer to when I go full time as female and be my true self, as soon as I can say about I will.

Anyway, back to the feature of this post and by the title it’s all about nails. Fake nails are big business. You see them everywhere from market stalls to shop corners… Now you have the likes of Super Drug (Drug stores) that now do them, okay there are fake nails that stay on for roughly 2/3 weeks, saying that they also do the false nails I’m here to test also… even Primark have a massive collection of false nails. I’ve tried false nails before but I never really given them more than a couple of hours before taking them off.

• This is to list of some of the reasons why I never keep them on;
• It’s hard to type on a keyboard,
• It’s hard you use your phone,
• When I try to use my mouse, it gets stuck in the wheel hole,
• Trying to use zips is a nightmare,
• They practically get caught on everything and you feel it,
• And the biggest thing is picking most things up is a task and half.

I can’t say that they were bad quality nails, I just didn’t give them time and try to adapt when wearing them. That’s where these come in.

 

Elegant Touch Romance Collection French Kiss Stiletto Nails

I saw these on asos and cost £8.50. The Elegant Touch nails as a whole have pretty good reviews and with 10 sizes to choose from brought hope to me. On the website they looked great and for an event I went to the nails would have gone with my outfit…  But due to reasons beyond my control, I skipped wearing them for the event. So one day I thought I wanted to try them on and do some tests.

The first test was one I’ve always wanted to try that was my cat gloves I bought. The was normal gloves shaped like a cats paw with the bottom fingers and thumb cut out. So the first test was… Would they look good in the paw gloves? 

When I put these up on Instagram and my Facebook people loved them and combined I think they looked cute also. 

I might not be a great hand modal without the paw gloves on but I still felt the nails looked good and they looked like what was on asos website. After an hour I didn’t know the nails was even on and soon was going about my business as normal, so for the comfort, they also pass.

I might not be a great hand modal without the paw gloves on but I still felt the nails looked good and they looked like what was on asos website. After an hour I didn’t know the nails was even on and soon was going about my business as normal, so for the comfort they also pass.

The next was being productive… ish, this was doing what I do when I’m at home normally and that was playing games on my Xbox One, so would these affect me playing on my games?

I was playing South Park: The Fractured Butt Whole when wearing these nails and I spent 5 hours playing the game without the nails interfering with the controller so if you’re thinking of playing on your Xbox and thinking. Will false nails interfere with me using the controller? I wouldn’t worry. I know that South Park: TFBW is a turn-based game but I feel I could play Call Of Duty without them interfering. So, are these nails the right length to play games? Absolutely!

With previous nails I’ve tried I’ve always struggled and had to use the side of my thumb to spend 5 mins writing a simple Facebook status or text message on my phone… Not with these, I could use my phone as I do normally, in fact, I could do most activities pretty comfortable. The main things I had to do differently with the nails was zips and putting my boots on… and good luck using lip barm from a pot, stick only. All in all these nails are really good, they look good, make you feel good and easy to do things.

However.

There are some bad points, like in the bullet points they’re not good for typing on a typical plastic keyboard as they hit and slide off, they get caught in the hole where my mouse wheel is and also where some buttons on my mouse. Yes, these nails are aimed to be worn on a night out and not to be worn as an everyday thing but if you want just to feel good on a rainy day and get dressed up for no reason? This is important work.

There are some bad points, like in the bullet points they’re not good for typing on a typical plastic keyboard as they hit and slide off, they get caught in the hole where my mouse wheel is and also where some buttons on my mouse. Yes, these nails are aimed to be worn on a night out and not to be worn as an everyday thing but if you want just to feel good on a rainy day and get dressed up for no reason? This is important work.

Those might be little unimportant things and also irrelevant but there is a big flaw with these nails and I would say with any other false nail that have an opaque style and that is… well I will let you look at the picture first and see if you spot it.

I wonder how many of you have spotted it yet? No it’s not that the thumb is too small. No it’s not that the thumb is too small. That is another issue but to be fair being biologically male doesn’t help which can you really score Elegant Touch down for something that is aim at biological women?

Yes, the glue can be seen through the nail so if you begin to brag to friends and work colleagues about how good your nails are, make sure you check what they look like when they’re on as you might be left feeling embarrassed. Which is a shame as these nails ticks all the boxes for what you can do when you’re wearing them and also how good they look, I’ve managed to take them off carefully and not use loads of glue and manage to reuse them for a couple of hours to do other things and test them out. I’ve even had a few people ask where I got them from but I had to warn them about this issue and for the price this lets them down. I know these are a one-night wonder but I couldn’t recommend this product from Elegant Touch. I defiantly recommend Elegant Touch as nail brand and their Stiletto range. Just not these.

I actually loved wearing these nails and I will be giving these another try, which is why I will be wearing these bad boys.

I bought these on Ebay for around £6.50 but with p&p these came to the same price as what I bought on asos. 

Thanks for reading

Love 

Sarah 

xxx

Hey all!

Today is my blogs third birthday which means one thing... People are still viewing and reading!
I would like to thank everyone for your support. It's mental where I started and how I looked to now.

2017

2014

I know I still have a long way to go as far as makeup and how I want to go is concerned anyway, I still need to get more toned also. I need to give my head a shake and go to the doctors again and try better and say what I need to as last time it didn't go down to well. I know I will not reach my goal of 1.1.2018 of going full time but I know it will happen and when I'm ready.

2014

2015

2016

2017

I don't generally have many pictures from 2017 where you see my full body but hey I think I'm doing a great job. These two was from January so I can't wait to try new outfits and see and hope I've changed loads.

2017 has all about being as healthy as I can and as fit as I can, so I've spent loads of time at the gym sometimes doing 6 days a week in some cases. When I started I had build my knees up as I couldn't go on a treadmill because my knees would just give up and I would be in loads of pain so I had to do something so I spent about 6 months on the cross trainer which helped but it didn't make me as fit as I thought it would but it helped me and now I'm running a mile comfortably on the treadmill. It has taken a while but my arms and body in general are becoming toned slowly.

All I can say is thank you for reading and I can't wait to see what the next 12 months will be like. I'm praying I will be here typing away happily and proudly living my life as female... Also just over a week till I can make my big announcement.

Thanks

Sarah
xxx

  

Welcome back to this ep of my ‘Evolution’ part. On the last ep I covered Concealer, it was about how I covered my stubble and from showing how I prevented the dreaded 5 O’clock shadow (stubble) from showing. Like the last post foundation will always be ongoing till I hit hormones and have laser hair removal, but until then it’s about how to be comfy with myself.

This ep is all about Foundation so I will go through where I started to where I am now.
I hope you enjoy.

Okay, the foundation was the first thing I started with, and I think it’s where most girls start when it comes to makeup. I know when I was in high school I noticed loads of girls started to wear it. I was like what the hell is that what are they wearing? I noticed because it wasn’t blended at all it would generally go to the side of the head and just under the chin. Then came mascara and eyeliner but that is for another ep. Unfortunately, this happened to me when I started… But I didn’t start with your standard foundation.

The first time I came into contact with the foundation was when I was into my heavy metal, I dressed in baggy jeans, New Rock Boots, band t-shirt (that hasn’t changed for when I present male) and a big chain hanging on my jeans, so I started out wearing porcelain foundation. It wasn’t really branded at all it was just cheap stuff, but it was extremely thick and didn’t cover my face so it was spending time looking for ways to improve which was using Sudocream as what I didn’t know was a primer to help the white foundation to go on and this happens with most white foundations apparently… Never tried any since I came away from it.

I kind of think thank god, my photography skills were crap then as with my makeup skills, I had an extremely hairy chest which you can kind of see. When this pic was taken I already acquired eye shadow, lip gloss, and eyeliner which was from a gift set off eBay for less than a £10. The wig was a really cheap fancy dress one which you could do nothing with, but there you could tell that I had no idea of blending at all haha.

Within a couple of weeks, I had got concealer which I used once as it was really thick and hard to use for such a novice like myself. I got an eyeshadow pallet but I also got lipsticks which were in the bag and behind them was 5 foundation shades. These were a cheap buy and got on eBay which didn’t last long as it was too oily for my skin and to me looked fatty oily if that makes sense. For the first use which I think I’ve said this more than one occasion was I decided to use the darkest shade first, not because I thought I would be right, but because I could and I wanted to see what it would look like… but if people know me well enough is that I don’t take much stuff seriously and decided to have a laugh and take the mick out of someone I knew because she wore her foundation darker than her skin. To this day though I’ve never said who it was and never will unless you’re one of my closest friends that knew me before 2014. 

This was probably the first picture I showed people when I came out, it was probably one of the first pics on my Facebook profile when I created it! Looking back yes it was for a laugh but I think it portrays more people that start off using foundation, that includes not blending and I wonder how many people would admit to looking like this when they started out?

In July was where I started to change. I changed my foundation to another unnamed one and now I’ve started to see being sold at my post office, I got mine from off eBay where I can’t seem to find it now. I started to change in the way I dressed I got jeans in, I got more female clothes in and started really getting into fashion. Probably not the best outfit to wear in the middle of summer but at this point, I never went out.

  

This was September 2014, nothing had really changed but this was a very important night for me. This was the first time I went out as female to Blackpool. Foundation wise nothing changed even makeup. What did change was when I got home and looked at the pictures. I knew things had to change, such as how I looked and fast.

November and December were where everything changed. In November I got better at using the foundation I had, I got new eyeshadow from No.7 (Boots) and Max Factor Liquid Eye Liner. Along with Calvin Klein Blusher. For the first time, I met up with people I used to work with when I was at McDonald's as female. It went down very good and was at my local pub.

During 2015 I spent most time learning techniques and got in brushes, I spent loads of it messing around with makeup and seeing if I could go back to Blackpool looking better. 

Before I went to meet people I used to work with at McDonald's for the first time

I tried Avon but it didn’t work, it seemed greasy for me and never stayed on my face. Fast track to the end of 2015 I knew I had to do something. I was in a new job and was planning something big… Like really big! Where I currently work my colleagues are very supportive and they wanted to see me as female (I got pestered) which I felt very pressured by them but to be honest I pressured myself more as it was an opportunity that I didn’t want to regret and one thing I’m not great at is regretting. So, I went to Boots in the Trafford Centre and spent about £70 on makeup, for this I went to Max Factor. This was where I bought Pan Stick, Primer and it was the 3-in-1 Infinity foundation. At the time it worked great, which I soon used for the best part of 2016.   

Towards the back end of 2016, I started messing around with the higher end makeup brands such as  MAC and Dior which was very pricey only to not get the results I wanted. Unfortunately, I felt that I was still going back to Max Factor. In August I wasn’t getting much practice time as my dad took early retirement with Tescos laying off the night shift at his store, which I’m never comfortable getting ready when he’s around.

Here are some looks from 2016;

For 2017 it’s been a different story this is due to focusing on different things mainly fitness. I
want to go full time when I’m ready and that includes being more toned, being able to go out and not wear waist trainers and be able not to sweat when presenting female which is a massive issue for me. This year I've mainly been wearing Estee Lauder’s Double Wear but in January I came across Kat Von D’s Lock-it. The only issue I have with them both is with me having to wear prosthetics and a wig it gets very hot so even with setting spray I really sweat and I sweat the foundation off and setting spray. So, my question is… What Foundation can I use that won’t be as thick but offer the same coverage?

London 2017

My look for when I went for a tattoo

London 2017

Birmingham August 2017

Fitness has become my number one focus this year and will hopefully continue next year but it is also when I plan to go presenting as female full time at some point. My makeup collection has grown since but that will be for another post where I will talk about everything. However, I have an announcement in the next couple of weeks might be over a couple of posts I don’t know yet, but it is massive and this is a massive positive which possibly will help me with my transition.

That's it for this ep, thank you for reading and I will have more updates and I can’t wait for what my future holds.

See you all soon

Thanks

Sarah

xxx

Hey guys,

I hope everyone is doing well? This post should have been done a month ago but I've had loads of stuff going on from the good, bad and the ugly. From boozing it up in Birmingham to hitting it hard in the gym it's really kept me busy, but recently I had a thought and I wondered something: When was the last time I spoke about makeup?

Well, it's been over a year since I did which was back in June 2016 and that was for ‘Makeup Part 3’ Guess what! This isn’t part four! but a makeup special! Yes, this post is about the struggle I where I’ve spent stupid amounts of money to hide my stubble and On this post I will take you through the progress from where the results were pish poor to now where I think I’ve cracked it! Hopefully, this will help others that are struggling with the same issue as me and maybe come up with better ideas to cover up their stubble. Even when covering up the stubble shaving regularly with me doesn't go very well. 

Rash back in Jan and Sparkle wasn't far off

The never-ending quest to hide my shadow!

I think until I get laser I will never be happy with my stubble as I will always find a problem but I feel that we always want to achieve that image of ourselves in our heads to be perfect but as trans, I find this the biggest problem not just for me but I can probably for those with dark hair where you can shave and you will still have the shadow. You can put foundation on you still get the stubble showing which is awful as people can see it. This issue can look even worse when you use a foundation without a concealer as it shows up blue when you look carefully at it… Which gets worse through the day... Well for me it does!

I think I’ve spent almost 2 years trying to figure it out how can I prevent this without having laser hair removal? People would say they use red lipstick which does get covered well apparently by the foundation and hides it but I would think with lipstick being pretty thick and oily would never work well on me.

Shaving A Beard To Only Draw It Back On Again???

Yes, that shave/plucking it away to draw it on again (plucking meaning eye brows mainly) is a massive thing for me and I imagine most trans people when it comes to hiding that evil stubble/shadow only to draw it back on again using concealer.

It’s been a massive thing for years and being the noob at makeup that I was… and I feel still am. So, when I first started to realise that I need help to hide that abomination of bum fluff (stubble) growing on my neck and jaw I knew something had to be done about it and that was using concealer. How hard can it be!

Apart from screwing the lippy up I don't think it was to bad

Errr very! It turns out and can cost a lot. It was my first Christmas night out with my work and I had the opportunity to go as female which I’ve never done before, I wasn’t presenting loads back then so time wasn’t on my side to do research so I needed it to really work, from the outfit to the and especially makeup. It was time to up my makeup collection and take it from the stuff on eBay and the oily foundation from Avon (excluding the lippy and contour powder) and in what I understood to be a mid-range in the makeup world. The honour really fell to Max Factor. I got the Max Factor Facefinity Primer, Max Factor Facefinity Foundation, as well as the pressed powder and what seems to be a massive product and, is great and a life saver for me was the Max Factor Pan Stick.

Xmas Night Out

At the time, it was great it went down a treat I felt great and surprised loads of my colleagues and to this day we still talk about that awesome night. It was a month or two down the line when I had the chance to dress and take loads of pictures I noticed it wasn’t getting rid of the shadow at all, but only showing blue.

Why Was This Happening and How To Solve it?

This where I spent months trying to solve this, I was never going to try the lipstick or look on YouTube… stupid mistake. So, I went to work trying to find out how to stop this blue shite from showing. I've always said is if you’re trying out new things is buy low-end makeup first to test if it works well then start to work your way up to the high-end stuff. Which I didn’t and I wasted loads of money doing. (there’s no truth in that it’s just generally how I do it)

Covering Stubble Part 1

So, I went to MAC in Manchester and asked about how to conceal my shadow which I was recommended this;

MAC Studio Conceal and Correct Duo

This is where you get two shades of concealer one dark and one light which after opening it came with a little applicator which looks like the end of lip gloss wand or liquid lipstick wand. Which after trying it took ages to apply and wasn’t an even coverage, but it was too dark for my face so I had to go over it with the lighter shade, I knew straight away it wasn’t for that type of concealing… A nice £20 try out and only to use once. This didn’t blend very well with the Max Factor foundation either and not much difference was made. Fail

Covering Stubble Part 2

 Nyx Full Coverage Cache-Cernes Totale.

Next, I managed to get my hands-on NYX which was my next product which I was recommended to buy and a few people said to go orange. So, I bought NYX’s Nyx Full Coverage Cache-Cernes Totale, which is like a light cream (Not sure of what you call the substance) but it was better than being a liquid and it did cover up my stubble and after I applied my foundation it covered my stubble plus there was no blue either… But it was too good to be true as I hit yet another problem. It mixed with my foundation causing it to go darker. For £6 I think it was a step in the right direction. Still a fail

Covering Stubble Part 3

After the issue and listening to people online with suggesting it was getting harder and harder to find what would work and it took me a few good months to think of what would work, and I came up with the idea of just using a darker colour concealer to cancel out the dark hairs and then go over that with a lighter concealer to stop that mixing in with my foundation????? So, I went back to MAC because I thought it was the holy grail of makeup as so many people I knew used them. I spoke to a makeup artist and I got MAC Studio Finish Concealer ‘NW30’ and MAC Pro Longwear ‘NC20’ (I think) concealer.

These worked wonders but it stopped the shadow and the blue coming through and was amazing and I used this up until February this year (2017) that was until the Kat Von D foundation came which again will be discussed another time. But looking back it did cause my foundation to go Cakey so even though it did cut out the shadow and the blue which did work but it was too much using two concealers. The Pro Longwear was a liquid and the Studio finish was like the NYX one similar to a light cream. Unfortunately, this also caused my foundation to be lighter and heavier. Yet another fail

Covering Stubble Part 4

Okay so I started to see something more positive but I needed to add just as many layers but have them thinner and without affecting my foundation in colour and look heavy, again that came down to MAC with using the same Studio Finish Concealer ‘NW20’ but a lighter colour which I started using around mid-spring time when I dressed the odd time and I think in my first live of this year (2017) in a makeup group I’m in. I can say it worked pretty well it didn’t affect my foundation much either, my skin was able to breathe also. Pass… but still a fail.

Covering Stubble Part 5… Ish

This year I went to sparkle and I don’t think I used the NW20 concealer because of time reasons and it didn’t seem to have an impact on changing the colour of my foundation, so could this be the end of the road for me finding the right concealer to hid the blue? We will find out soon when I try it out more.

People will say well get laser hair surgery then? That’s true but there are other factors with this which will be addressed in a future post as this one is long enough. This is all for this post I will expand on this as soon as I have more info when I try it out.

Thanks for reading and I hope to post soon.

Much love

Sarah

xxx