From: Mary Beth (dlvdisc@geekbabe.com)
Date: Mon Jan 30 2006 - 20:01:02 CST
Very good refresher course!
Some added opinion for newbies on a budget:
>Undergarments: ..... The key points are fit, comfort, and
>wearability.
Two very important things here - first, you need to get a friend to
measure you properly to get the correct bra size. You can't do this by
yourself as your arms should be hanging at your sides.
A lot of newbies waste entirely too much money on overly expensive
lingerie. Save the Fredericks / Victorias stuff for the bedroom. For
just walking around town, I find that my outlet-store Playtex and Bali
bras are the most comfortable, and more importantly, hold my breast
forms in place better than the slinky/delicate stuff that is really not
functional for our needs.
The other important thing is to get a decent padded hip garment. If
you're going to want to wear a larger breast form, you have to have
proportionally large hips. A triangular figure, (broad shoulder
narrowing down to slender hips) is a dead giveaway. If you want to spend
a little more money here, Classic Curves makes a made-to-order hip pad
that is quite good.
A note about breast forms - a lot of us want really huge breasts (well,
who doesn't!), but going for the (dating myself here) Chesty Morgan look
will just draw unwanted attention. You want to blend in, right? When
shopping at the boutiques for breast forms listen to the sales clerks
and get something in proportion to the rest of your body.
>corsets and shapewear.
I'm probably in the minority here, but I think corsets are overrated,
overpriced, and a waste of money. Flexees makes an excellent line of
waist cinchers that perform better than corsets at a quarter of the
price. You don't have to bother trying to keep the strings hidden
either.
>Hosiery, pantyhose, stockings,
Again, for everyday wear you want to buy pantyhose in an outlet store or
the local Target or anywhere you can get them cheap. Until you get used
to putting them on regularly, you're probably going to ruin a few pair
just trying to get them on. Save the expensive stockings for your best
dress-up outfits.
>A good place for lingerie and hosiery at bargain prices is the
>Hanes-Bali-Playtex outlet in the Las Vegas Outlet Center. Much of their
>stock is "slightly imperfect" and is discounted quite a bit.
My favorite place to shop in Massachusetts as well.
>When shopping for shoes, regardless of what you've heard, the only way
>to be sure of fit and comfort is to try them on.
A cautionary tale for all you young'uns - I once found a great pair of
boots in a consignment shop. They were about a half-size too small, but
they looked great and I figured I could cram into them.
I wore them for a day, and when I took them off my feet were blistered
and screaming in agony, my toes were blistered and bruised, and a week
later the toenails on both of my big toes fell off. It took about 8
month for them to grow back out. The moral of the story is - MAKE SURE
YOUR SHOES FIT PROPERLY. The higher the heel, the more pressure you're
putting on the balls of your feet and toes. Improperly sized shoes will
damage your feet and increase any back problems you have as your spine
adjusts to walking in heels. Also, if you should buy shoes at a
consignment store / Goodwill / Salvation Army, by sure to spray them out
with a disinfectant (the kind they use in bowling shoes) to kill any
stray bacteria and mold that may be hiding in there. Your feet will
thank you later.
>For dresses, separates and coordinates, etc., a good place to shop if
>you're a beginner would be Dress Barn in the Las Vegas Outlet Center.
I'm a big fan of consignment stores, especially ones in upper-income
neighborhoods, where you can usually find recent fashions at big
savings. Consignment stores are usually run by the owner, who is only
interested in moving the merchandise. Her livelihood depends on it.
Consignment stores are a T-Girl's best friend. Use them.
>If you have absolutely no experience with makeup at all, I would
>strongly suggest booking an "instructional makeover" with one of the
>professional makeup artists listed below.
This is essential. If you can't find it someone to do it locally where
you live, your local Barnes & Noble has a good selection of books on
the subject. Kevin Aucoin's book has a lot of good instructional
chapters. Trial and error is really the only way to learn.
When it comes to make-up, the key is finding exactly the right shade of
foundation. This is the one place you shouldn't scrimp. Unless you have
an EXTREMELY light beard, forget about liquid foundation. It won't give
you the coverage you need. You need to start with Dermablend and then
get a good pancake foundation that matches your skin tone. I like MAC
pancake and one of the few places you can buy it is at the MAC store in
the Caesar's Palace shops. The salesgirls there are used to selling to
the performing community, and they (like most cosmetics salespeople)
work on commission and will bend over backwards to help you
(cha-ching!). To offset the price of the foundation ($26 the last time I
bought it), you can buy the best (and cheapest!) mascara on the market -
Maybelline's Great Lash. Yup, the same stuff your kid sister wore in
high school is still the best stuff I've found and a bargain at about
$3.00 when it's on sale at the drugstore. Drug store brand (L'Oreal,
Maybelline, etc.) lipsticks, eyeshadows and rouges are just as good as
the pricey stuff you buy at the Estee Lauder, Clinique, and Elizabeth
Arden counters at a fraction of the cost.
>For hair, some prefer to wear and style their natural hair
I'm lucky enough to be able to do this. Lisa Marie at the Sahara Hotel
Salon is an absolute genius with a curling iron.
>A wig shop that is not T-friendly is a wig shop that's soon out of
>business!
This is the other place you absolutely cannot scrimp. Nothing will give
you away faster than a bad wig. Try on a number of different styles
and colors, and get the one that best frames your face and looks like
what women your age are wearing. Forget about being a blonde or a
flaming redhead if it is not your natural color and doesn't match your
skin tone.
>If you're starting from scratch, you will probably want to concentrate
>on costume jewelry, as opposed to precious metal or gemstone quality
>items.
All I've ever done with expensive jewelry is lose it. Stick to
functional pieces that look good on you.
A note about ear piercing - do it. Clip-ons suck. Period. It's hard to
find any men under 50 who DON'T have at least one ear pierced. Unless
you're a bank president or the US Secretary of Defense you can probably
get away with it. Get one ear pierced, then six months later get the
other on pierced. Very few of your colleagues will care, and most
won't even notice when the starter stud changes from one side of your
head to the other.
>you will definitely need is a purse.....mainly determined by how much
>you intend to carry in it
I never understood women's obsessions with purses until I had to carry
one. It needs to be big enough to hold your wallet, car keys, cell
phone, kleenex, and most importantly, enough make-up to provide
touch-ups when you're out all day. Forget the little back bag that
barely holds a pack of cigarettes. It won't work. If you are, umm....,
big-boned, you need a bag that is proportionate to your body size. Too
big a bag will stick out, too small a bag will look
silly.
>Glamour Boutique:
John (the owner) is a great guy and a true friend to the community,
providing quality products at reasonable prices. I shop at his
Massachusetts store all the time. He deserves your patronage.
Thanks for reading my two cents worth. I've wasted a lot of money on
junk that didn't fit or didn't work over the years and hope I can help
you to spend more wisely.
Mary Beth Cooper
(still hoping to get to DLV this year, if finances permit)
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