Sarah Hélène : MAC makeover and Dr Russell Reid appointment.
(17th November 2004)

 Well this is getting serious, very serious. From here on my life starts to change for ever.

  I had an appointment to see Dr Russell Reid at 3.30 and I had booked myself a makeup lesson at MAC in Kensington for 11.30, and hoped to meet my friend from work for lunch, but that failed to happen cause I spent longer in MAC's than I expected.

  I left home wearing a nice day time outfit, lambs wool "Bardow" top in Fuscia / purple, with a below the knee black skirt with floral pattern to match my top, black kitten heel shoes, a new matching bag lent to me by my wife and my long overcoat. I used very little makeup at all for me. NO foundation, and just a little of everything else, enough to give some colour but not a lot. I risked this cause I didn't know how MAC would expect me to arrive. I felt quite self conscious so plain looking and was worried about outing myself, but nobody seemed to see anything odd, I didn't get stared at and everything went normally.

  I chose to go by train again, and took the 10.13 train from Sunningdale to Richmond and then the tube to High Street Kensington. Sunningdale station car park was full, so I had to use the free car park about 500 yds down the A30 and walk back to the station.

  I arrived in High Street Kensington with 30 minutes to kill so had a wander around some of the shops. However, worried I didn't know where the MAC shop was exactly, I went to look for it early and arrived in the shop about 10 minutes early. I introduced my self and "Nadia" was assigned to give me my lesson.

  I have never had a professional makeup lesson at this point .. I've always been my own product.  Although I am fairly competent and  confidant with doing "evening" makeup, having had years of experience and an avid reader of women's magazines beauty pages, I felt I needed advice on a subtle day time look.

  Nadia was very kind, and commented that my makeup I had applied was good and well balanced for my outfit. She asked me what I wanted to do, and I asked for a day time look. She set to work on me, showing what she was doing in mirrors and doing me a colour chart face map to remind me what she had used and how she had applied it. So why no picture here you might ask, was I disappointed with the look ? Far from it .. I spent 100 minutes in Nadia's chair, and the end result was very nice indeed, and ended up spending £60 on "product" she had used on me, including the foundation she used, which I must say is marginally better than my beloved Dior "Skin" foundation for daytime ... but only just. The reason for no pictures of the makeover  result, is simple. The blusher she used on me looked so light and delicate in natural and artificial light, but with my camera's flash, I loked like I had clowns cheeks, how strange, and as I don't put touched up pics on this site, I'm not posting them this time.

  Now .. about MAC .. when I booked the lesson I made them aware I was transgendered, they had NO problem with that or that I would appear enfemme. It turned out that Nadia had done some research on tg/ts issues having seen many of us in her chair. She was very knowledgeable of our issues, and took an interest in me, and my decision to see Russell Reid later that day, and chat was divided between tg/ts issues, makeup and skin care.

 Anyway, I left the shop at 1.15, to late for lunch with my friend, so I went and did a bit of shopping, as you do, to kill some time before getting the tube to Earls Court for my appointment with Dr Reid. Nervous of being late, I got to the London Institute where Dr Reid practices about 25 minutes early. My heart was in my throat I was so nervous, this is crunch time, my life may change irreversibly as a result of this appointment. To try and settle my nerves, I walked round the block to kill time, and stay cool, the wind was blowing round my legs, and although I thought I'd dressed lightly to stay cool, a thin lambs wool jumper under a long coat was quite warm for sure. I gathered myself up at about 3.20 and went down those awful steps to his office reception. I rang the door buzzer, and Dr Reid's secretary Sue invited me in.

  Well Sue could see I was nearly falling apart with nerves and did her best to make me feel easier. I paid the £180 fee to her while I waited to see Dr Reid. Dr Reid was running about 15 minutes late, not unusual I have been told by others. I went to the toilet and tidied up my hair before returning to my seat. Had a quick look around at various services being offered on his notice board, then his other patient left and I was introduced by Sue in my drab name that I had booked the appointment in to see Dr Reid.

  As I made my way in through his door he said welcome, and he couldn't address me as male the way I was dressed as it was inappropriate to do so, and asked for my femme name. Well the rest of the next hour and ten minutes is confidential, I gave him a five page bio of myself, that he worked through, asking some searching questions at times. Well his end conclusion was that he was very sure I was transsexual, and due to my history, the guide lines he had to work to allowed him to prescribe hormones for me immediately. So I left his office, more sure of myself, relieved that "Uncle Russell" is as nice a man as other girls had told me he was. I had a prescription for hormones and Fanisteride, my "get out of jail free" notice for me to carry when I'm enfemme and some sheets of other useful information for my as yet unknowing son. I booked the next appointment for Febuary 16th 2005 at 4.0pm

  I'll tell you, I floated up those awful steps of his and I'm sure I felt about a stone lighter as I walked back to the tube to get a train home.

 Back on tube to Richmond on the Tube, train back to Sunningdale. Eventually got back home at 6.45 pm ... and my wife and I went to a Reading Beaumont's evening pub meal to meet some friends. Some of them there seemed to blank me .. odd ... they knew where I had been, was I getting paranoid, I don't think so, some friends were just like normal, others just wouldn't communicate at all , just have to see what happens next time.

... back to Trips out index ...