What I've been up to

Work has been busy for the last couple of months (it always is), but I've had a few outings nevertheless.

One of the highlights was a lesson/makeover at the Makeover Rooms in Liverpool. This was brilliant! Gordon gave me some great advice on colour, which kind of confirmed my instincts but helped me understand why some colours (basically, warm, autumnal ones) are the ones to go for ... but also how to make other colours work for me. Here are a couple of pics. In my opinion, two things in particular make these work - the orange jacket and the fabulous job he did with my hair.

I've had the auburn hair for a year or so, but haven't quite got it to work as I wanted so have stayed blonde most of the time. So now I need to go back for a lesson on wig styling - it's remarkable, in my experience, how hard it is to get guidance on this.

For comparison, here's a pic of my familiar blonde hair from the same shoot - unfortunately without the jacket.

Heloise's blonde hair, no jacket

And finally - in one of the artist's own wigs. I like this, but I'm not yet sure I see Heloise here.

Gordon's hair. Comments welcome!

Back at last

It's been ages since I was last on here! When I was last here I was going on about Mac and Clinique, but since then I've become an Illamasqua girl. That's mainly thanks to the lovely staff at the Selfridges Exchange Square branch in Manchester, but the products are lovely too. I can't do without their foundation - Rich Liquid in 210 for full coverage, but I also find that Skin Base (08) provides great coverage too. Both feel fantastic on the skin and I've been a new woman since I discovered them.

More about Illamasqua soon, but for now here's a pic of me outside their Leeds branch in February. OK, I've been playing with the Sketch app here.

My Sparkle 2012

For UK t-girls, July means Sparkle - the 'National Transgender Celebration' in Manchester. It's on my doorstep, of course, but this year for the first time I booked into a hotel adjacent to the Village to get the full experience. For most of us, what's fantastic about Sparkle is that we get to dress en femme for 48 hours. For me that meant lots of opportunity to work on make-up techniques, try out different outfits, and so on - as well as meeting friends new and old and partying in true t-girl fashion.

A few highlights for me:

• makeover by Jodie Lynn on Saturday evening followed by photoshoot at the Sparkle ball. You can get a taster on my profile, or see the set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgirlheloise/sets/
• Irish night at the Molly House on Friday evening
• Sunday morning went to church en femme! To the famous Cross Street Unitarian chapel. I'm not a unitarian - in fact this was my first unitarian service - but I knew they'd be welcoming since they're the first place of worship in the UK to be licensed for civil partnership. The minister, Jane Barraclough, is really cool and I had a nice chat with her at the end - quite brief, since I had to dash off for the Sparkle lunch. 
• Manchester was full of cyclists that day for the 'Sky Ride' event. I'm sure one of them took a picture of me as I crossed the road and another one wolf-whistled...

In praise of Mac and Clinique

Like most T-girls, I'm a great fan of Mac and rarely miss the chance for a mooch round one of their outlets. A year or so ago I booked in for one of their famous makeovers while on a trip to London ... I had a great couple of hours with a lovely girl called Nicky, which set me up for an early evening shopping trip followed by my first dinner out as Heloise. But I'm also addicted to Clinique - their moisturizers have long been a must for me as I approach middle age (lol), but I'm also a great fan of their airbrush concealer, and now I've found their Naturally Glossy Mascara this has made doing my eyes so much easier. And if you time your visits to coincide with Bonus Time, you get showed with gifts ... every t-girl's dream!

A new product worth having a look at is their Bottom Lash Mascara, featuring a tiny wand which is used vertically to apply the mascara. I never thought I needed a special mascara for the lower lashes, but now I've got one, I'm enjoying practising.

For any girls in Manchester - I strongly recommend Clinique in Debenham's, Market Street. There's a girl called Crystal (possibly misspelt) who is always a great help to me, even though I've only been when in boy mode. She is always very insistent that I look out for her when I'm around. So I'm returning the favour and giving her some publicity.