Top Male-to-Female Face Contouring Techniques

Learn the best male-to-female face contouring techniques! This guide is especially for MtF crossdressers and transgender women!

Male-to-female (MtF) individuals desire a more feminine appearance.

There are many clothes to enhance your presentation. But your face remains the focal point of how you appear to the world.

No MtF should go under the knife and change their whole faces to look more feminine.

This article is all about MtF face contour! It’s one of the most crucial makeup techniques to modify your face so it looks more feminine.

Let’s emphasize your face’s natural feminine features and minimize the more masculine elements.

This guide is specially assembled for my fellow crossdressers, femboys, sissies, and trans women.

Choosing the Right Products

Makeup can be very expensive. All makeup consumers, no matter what experience level, need to try the makeup product first before deciding to use it.

This research phase may seem like a lot of work, and it is! But here’s a golden nugget of advice: All the effort is worth it!

Cosmetic products have different formulas and textures that impact the outcome of your contouring.

In my experience, I can confidently say that I like cream-based products best.

They are ideal for the most natural and subtle contour, so they are my go-to products.

If you want a more defined or sculpted look, powder-based products are for you.

Choosing the right products is critical to knowing what makeup formulas work best for you and what suits your individual style.

More on Makeup and Your Skin Type

As there are different skin types, makeup products also have various ingredients to care for the skin.

Transgender and crossdressers don’t have the same skin characteristics as women, so there will be more considerations.

Oily

Go for the oil-free, lightweight, and non-comedogenic (pore-clogging) products. Common comedogenic ingredients are shea butter and cocoa butter.

Your makeup keyword: Matte or Mattifying effect

Dry

The most important skip if you have dry skin, especially on your face, is to moisturize, moisturize, and moisturize!

Additionally, when looking for makeup products, avoid those with heavy textures or ingredients.

For example, instead of using foundation, prefer tinted moisturizers, BB, or CC creams. Lighter formulas are crucial to avoid dry flakes.

Oh, and always have a facial mist with you!

Your makeup keyword: Hydrating or Moisturizing (NOT “Glowing”)

Combo

Combination skin is more difficult to deal with as the face is both oily and dry.

Often, the oily part is on the T-zone (forehead and nose), while the dry one is on the cheeks.

Aside from religious skincare to battle these annoying issues, be more diligent in choosing and applying your makeup products.

For instance, use oil-free makeup on the T-zone while applying hydrating makeup on the cheeks.

Top recommendations include water-based moisturizers, sweatproof formulas, and matte setting spray.

Your makeup keyword: Demi-matte (for more oily combination skin) and Hydrating (for dryer combo skin)

Sensitive

Sensitive means you should avoid just about everything in a normal makeup product range.

Go for the hypoallergenic, fragrance-free, anti-inflammatory, etc. Mineral-based, without additional chemicals or additives are the best picks.

Your makeup keyword: Mineral-based

If you have very sensitive skin and trying makeup directly on the face is out of the question, invest in a realistic mask.

It’s silicone — the best material to mimic natural skin’s feel and texture.

Though these masks already often come with their own makeup, it’s minimal. You still have a lot of canvas to work with!

Essential Makeup Products to Contour

Let me narrow down what makeup products you should have for proper contouring:

Primer: Often clear or transparent; serves as a buffer between your skincare and makeup;

Foundation and Concealer: Must match your skin tone; evens discoloration and hides blemishes;

Shadow: A darker shade than your natural skin tone; for sculpting and adding depth;

this can be a bronzer or a dark brown shade in an eyeshadow palette, preferably matte;

Highlight: A lighter shade than your natural skin tone, can also be something glittery (fine glitter) or reflects light;

Put it on areas of the place that naturally reflect light (forehead, nose bridge, nose tip, cheekbones top, cupid’s bow, around the eyes, brow bone);

This can be a highlighter, illuminator, eyeshadow, or a concealer lighter than your skin tone

Blush: For the apples of the cheeks; it’s not necessary but it’ll make the makeup look more natural

Blending brush or sponge: Go for big, fluffy brushes or beauty sponges

Setting powder or spray: Settles the makeup products on the skin; Excellent for a seamless look and keeps the makeup longer

Top Male-to-Female Face Contouring Techniques

Any face shape, no matter the gender, is seen as feminine when it’s “rounder and softer.”

This is why there are men who look feminine or have a more androgynous or gender-neutral appeal.

Just imagine if The Rock played Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl instead of Eddie Redmayne.

Below are the best MtF face contouring techniques for beginners:

Soft Jawline

Biological women have smaller skulls. So for our crossdressers and transwomen, we’ll aim for a smaller-looking face.

The easiest way to do this is to create the V-shape line and less jaw definition.

Pick up “shadow,” (this can be a contouring stick, bronzer, or any product with a darker shade)

and draw a straight line from the bottom end of your ear down to the oral commissure or corner of your lips.

Do the same thing to the other side. Start blending close to the ear. Then, to the underside of your face, towards the neck.

To better sell the illusion, highlight the chin to make the face appear longer.

Defined Cheekbones

Female cheekbones are fuller, rounder, and more prominent. These make them appear youthful and healthy.

Contour under your cheekbones and highlight the apples of your cheeks. Don’t know where to put the contour shadows?

It’s where your buccal fat is located.

Alternatively, you can highlight just the tops of the cheekbones (not the apples) and apply blush.

Blush brightens the face and makes you look more energetic, awake, and glowing. 

Small Nose

Men have more lean muscle mass, so they need more oxygen. Therefore, they tend to have wider, broader noses.

In comparison, women have smaller noses with curved bridges. You can easily have a smaller nose by lining the outside of your nose bridge.

Use dark contours and follow the inner corner of your eyebrows down your nostrils.

Blend the sides of the nose and apply a highlighter in the middle.

Full Lips

Although there are different lip types, women generally have more pronounced and further lips.

General female facial structures also have a shorter nasal base or the space between the nose and the upper lip.

There are varied contouring techniques for the lips. But since we are focusing on beginners, I’ll share the easiest technique.

Note this down: dark colors equal smaller lips. Light colors equal fuller lips.

So, a neat trick is to add a lighter lip color shade to the center.

Additionally, you can also use a lip liner and overline your natural lips, then fill it out. Instantly get sexier lips!

Large Eyes

Biological women having larger eyes can also be attributed to their skull structure.

Since men have more protruding facial bones, they seem to have “smaller eyes.”

Additionally, larger eyes are an indicator of high levels of estrogen (female hormone).

How to have a larger, Bambi-like set of eyes? Now there are a few tricks to this, but honestly,

nothing beats Douyin makeup when it comes to making the eyes appear larger.

This subgenre has all the ploys and devices to get the biggest eyes.

Not to mention, they’re typically Asian people with generally narrower eyes.

They have curving mascaras, aegyo-sals, white liners, and more.

You’ve probably seen some Douyin makeup on your social media feed.

Although it looks really good on camera and in pictures, it often appears cakey in real life.

If you just want to have large eyes behind the screen, it will not be a problem.

But if you plan to crossdress or present outside in a feminine get-up, then you’ll have to settle for something more natural.

Necessary makeup products to have larger eyes are, of course, mascara, eyeliner, and if you’re comfortable contact lenses with bigger diameters.

Thin your eyebrows to further emphasize the eyes.

More Contouring Tips

When you’ve honed in the craft of contouring, you can gradually make it more complex to better shape your face.

The integral advice I can give you though is as follows:

Blend Properly

Flawless contour and highlight hinges on properly blending makeup on the skin. Doing so leads to a more polished finish.

A damp beauty sponge or a fluffy brush is your best friend here. Blend out harsh lines and make it your goal to have that smooth transition.

Learn Swatching

Makeup is art and swatching is sampling the product colors to see how it matches with your skin.

Swatching is a crucial skill to master in MtF contouring, especially since it can take your feminine presentation to the next level.

Knowing which color complements your tone saves you the trouble of looking uncanny or odd.

Unless you’re vying for attention, like our drag queen divas.

Practice and Experiment

Like any life, skill, continuous practice and experimentation are key to perfecting your contouring.

Be patient, take the time to learn, and practice different techniques.

Don’t be afraid to experiment outside of your comfort contour and highlight shades.

In doing so, you’ll discover better matches and intriguing colors to improve your makeup talents.

Practice regularly and try out new methods as a fun activity to lift the pressure off of it.

In time, you’ll refine your contouring skills and develop a personalized routine that suits your unique features.

Conclusion

Makeup is one of the best weapons any MtF crossdresser, transgender, and other individuals can sharpen to evolve to their best feminine presentation. Mastering these contouring techniques for newbies will be a tremendous help to achieve a more feminine appearance. Y

ou don’t have to go through any surgical procedures and change the way you look any time you like!

By focusing on the face’s key areas, you can enhance your natural, feminine features. Be confident and face the world!

FAQs

Why is contouring makeup important?

Contouring is important, not only for the crossdressing and transgender community.

It’s a makeup technique that has been used for many years, lifted from art theory.

It uses darker shades to create shadows and lighter ones to highlight specific areas.

It creates the illusion of a more sculpted or defined face shape.

Contouring also balances facial proportions and adds dimension to one’s overall look.

Should every crossdresser and MtF trans learn how to contour the face?

Although every crossdresser and MtF trans doesn’t need to learn face contouring,

I suggest learning it anyway. As I mentioned before, contouring is one of the greatest weapons in any crossdresser and transgender’s journey.

It can literally transform your face and assist you to look and feel more feminine.

if not, for you, then you can use your skill set to help others meet their feminine selves.

You can offer it as a free or paid service.