Uniquity!

I am weird. Totally, completely odd. People look at me weird in the street and people I don't even know yell stuff at me at college.
How to respond to it? It'd be so easy for me to tone it down, so easy for me to put away the lipstick and get out the lip balm, put away the foundation and just use concealer. But I really can't, my androgyny isn't as much a style choice as a attitude and lifestyle, for me to put away the teal lipstick (yes, Illamasqua) and the purple eyeshadow would feel to me like hiding my sexuality.
I don't know if anyone else (boy, girl, old, young) feels the same way, like you're hiding who you are and want to be.
I feel like I've been doing this, and I want to change. I've been really consciously been thinking about who I want to be, what I want to achieve and on an aesthetic beauty level, what I want to look like. These thoughts have spearheaded into me launching my own 'renewal' process over the summer.
I'm going back to college next week as a new person, I'll hopefully look different, be a more loving, optimistic and truthful version of who I was.
I hope this post might make you think a little bit about who you are and and what you want to be, I'd love to someday live in a world where everyone is exactly who they want to be!
I will be doing an other post on the more aesthetic side of this in the next couple of days.

Yours Uniquely x

Lips, Lipstick and Love

Lipstick! Probably one of my favourite things on this planet. Okay, maybe not the most meaningful of things, but they do really change how you feel. A girl, or boy, wearing a delicious shade of red lipstick certainly stands out from the crowd; when they speak you listen. Anyone who has the confidence to wear red lipstick in a unique way probably has something decent to say.
Boys don't really have lips that are that different from girls, the only difference might be that they might be thinner, but that's purely genetic and there are plenty of boys with luscious plump lips. Lips are a really exiting (that sounds odd!) part of the face, they are very sexually charged and can be a beautiful canvas for makeup; Okay, I kind of sound like I am sexually attracted to lips... I'm not.
In all honesty I am a bit of a lipstick addict, I generally hate having two of the same colour - with the exception of very different formulations; but still manage to have far too many - probably because I have a very fine tuned eye when it comes to colour so what you might see as identical colours I see as quite different!
A huge thing among the androgynous, transvestite and transgender makeup world is overdrawing; because large plump lips are so feminine and on a woman are a subconscious sign of fertility they make for something that is natural to play on if a man is wanting to look more feminine. This is often exploited by these communities in a very extreme way. Overdrawing has became synonymous with drag artists so it can be something very hard to translate into realistically and intensely artistically changing your facial appearance. However - do not be deterred! Overdrawing isn't just something found in extremes, when done subtly it can almost invisibly make you lips look plumper, even done extremely - in a faux natural way (case in point - Joseph Harwood) It  can look very beautiful, it can also be taken to artistic extremes (Case in point - Sharon Needles).
Lipstick is a wonderful way to express yourself artistically, colour, size and shape are up to you; there are no limits.

The Facts about Mens skin

A pretty much unavoidable fact is that all mainstream makeup is designed with women’s skin in mind. This is quite understandable and I'm not complaining; a huge majority of people who go out and buy makeup are women and girls, so for any cosmetics brand to release a makeup line for men would be illogical! However, this does mean that us boys to have to be a bit more careful when we buy makeup, mainly base products.

The Facts: Sorry, this bit is going to be dull unless you are a nerd like me!

Men’s skin is different scientifically; Evolution is to blame for this, in the early years of humanity when men were hunter-gatherers male skin adapted to cope with the elements. Men no longer need to be in such extremes any more, but the differences remain.

THICKER SKIN - Men’s skin is on average about 20% - 30% thicker than female skin; Men’s dermis and epidermis layers are thicker than a woman’s. The upside of this is that one of the reasons for this is that men have more elastin and collagen fibres in their skin. Elastin and collagen are the connective fibres in the skin; they give it its elasticity and strength. They also have a denser and tighter network of fatty tissue under their skin (a good thing!) This all means that men’s skin is less fragile and more supple and bouncy (for want of a better word). Yay for men in that it'll contribute to our skin aging slower, boo for men in that it means our skin is coarser.

MORE BLOOD VESSELS - Men have more and higher concentrations of blood vessels, which may sound like it doesn't affect your face but it does, Male skin blushes easier, they are more prone to red patches and are more likely to have a ruddy complexion when they are older.

THICKER FACIAL HAIR - Everyone knows that men have coarse hair on their face. It’s kind of obvious. This, for any boy wanting to wear makeup is an absolute pain. Your skin is often a slightly uneven texture because of stubble and it might (if you have dark hair and dense facial hair growth) be slightly grey with a shaving shadow. It also means that even if your skin has small pores elsewhere, your pores around your jaw will be larger as they have to have hair growing out of them.

MORE OIL - This is the bane of any makeup wearing boy's life; unless you are lucky and have normal or drier skin. Boys have larger, more numerous and more active sebaceous glands which mean their faces make LOADS of oil, this is because back in our hunter-gatherer days we were exposed to the elements, which lead to dry skin so our bodies adapted to make more sebum to make sure we didn't dry out. The upside of having oily skin is that although you may be a shiny mess at times, you will age slower, have softer and supple skin (provided you exfoliate as well) and as your sebaceous glands start to decrease oil production around 20 years later than women. This means you won’t get so wrinkly. Yay!

BIGGER PORES - This is something that not all men suffer but is a load more common in men. Men have more oil coming out of their pores, hairs sprouting all over the place so men generally have bigger pores. There’s not really an upside to this one. Sorry!

What does this all mean!? It means that generally we have to get base products for: Coarse, uneven, slightly red, oily skin with large pores. A tall order for most base products.

x

Coming up - How to by a foundation if you’re a guy!

Hello

Hello, Blogging world. I am here, and I really don't mind if no-one reads me, This is judt going to be where I post my life, ups, downs, loves, dislikes.. everything. I decided to start this blog because my friend Alice has a blog, check her out; http://alicebeablog.blogspot.co.uk/ , she's pretty awesome. So.. urm, bye :)