Pinterest and more

I did use Pinterest before but in a casual way and only for the usual boring stuff like garden design, meal ideas etc. In truth though it is quite a natty little tool for keepings lots of web page links in one easily identifiable place and as you have pictures too it is easy to navigate.

Lucy has started using it more recently for makeup tips, clothes and links to transgendered relevant stuff. So I have now created a new profile on there and am using it to save stuff that is relevant to our transgendered life. As well as searching for pins in the app itself, I’m still learning all the things I can discover outside of Pinterest and ‘pin’ to my boards. My Pinterest I'm getting there slowly but surely.

It is quite amazing how many other people have pinned links to very interesting articles, blogs and web pages and it has opened a whole new information pool for me and better in many ways than bookmarking a webpage. I do like reading articles and blogs about other wives/partners in the same position as me although in many instances they don’t seem to have the same relationship as I do with Lucy or see things from a different viewpoint to how I see things. I think that I have been very lucky that Lucy confided in me very early in our relationship so I did not have the shock of living with a ‘man’ for many years only to find out he had been keeping a huge secret from me and behaving differently behind my back. I am very grateful that I have nearly always known about Lucy. However it is always good to understand about the challenges that other people are facing.

Of course too I like to read the transgendered persons story and see if there are any parallels to Lucy or if there is anything we need to take on board. This also helps me understand more how I can support her in this long journey she is taking but also how she can support me too. There will be huge changes to our lives yet to come and many challenges along the way which we will fight together as one. To be fair, Lucy is way ahead of me on this one and anything I usually mention she has read or thought about ages ago.

One of the pins that Lucy had found which was about body shape which gave us a bit of a giggle. Apparently Lucy is a ‘strawberry’ shape….. I didn’t bother doing the test and told her that if she was strawberry I must be an orange!! Ha ha!

Some of the makeup pins have been very interesting too. Being cis-female I have been doing makeup from as long as I can remember however my own mother did not have much choice of makeup, usually blue eye shadow, mascara and bright red lipstick (which I used to really love the smell of) and whenever I did my own makeup she never said it looked nice and no matter how old I was she would tell me I looked like a clown. Very good for confidence - not!

Length of years doing makeup does not necessarily mean that I am any good. When I was a teenager there was a thing you could subscribe to and every week you would get sent some facts sheets to put into a folder along with 2 or more bits of makeup for you to try whatever it was for that week. This was great and over months it built into an A5 size folder encyclopaedia. Over the years I have seen many different trends in makeup as well and there is always something new to learn. As previously mentioned on other posts our older daughter has studied makeup at college and is excellent and Lucy and I have both learnt makeup tips from her but there is so much more out there. This is where Pinterest and You Tube are very good. You Tube for the action demonstrations and Pinterest for charts about colours and design.

I have always wanted to wear fake eyelashes and have tried them on and off over the years with little success and usually ended up with the eyelash stuck half way on my eyelid… not a good look I can tell you!! If you don’t get it right it also messes up all your makeup too as you have to apply them last after everything else is done including mascara. Last year with some perseverance I at long last seem to have got the knack. If I am going anywhere special or am out partying with Lucy then I always wear them (annoyingly she has naturally gorgeous long eyelashes that only need a bit of mascara to show them off!). I still have the occasional panic if they don’t look like they are sticking in the right place. The first time I wore them I could feel them and see black feathery bits over my eyes which was really annoying. Once I get them on these days I forget I’m even wearing them. I am also amazed that no matter how tired or inebriated (ha ha) I am when I go to bed I still manage to take them off. There is such a huge choice and it looks like a total minefield but when you find a style you like it is best to stick with them but also remember that usually they will need to be cut down so they fit your eye lid size and shape. The most popular ones are sold in multi packs which is more economical even though they can be reused several times before being discarded. For me I prefer the type that thicken and slightly lengthen my lash rather than the outrageous.