Girl Talk Redux

I’m standing on the subway platform, waiting for the E train – my iPod blasting Pendulum – when I notice a woman talking to me. I turn to her and pull one of the earphones out. Still unable to hear, I remove the other and put my iPod in my bag.

“Your eyebrows look great” she says.

“Thanks!”, I reply and make what I am sure is an awkward smile.

“Do you do them yourself?” she asks.

“Yes. I fill them in a bit with powder and then finish them with some gel.” I tell her.

I’m not accustomed to being complimented by people I know, let alone a stranger. And I do not consider myself to be anything special in the looks department regardless of my gender presentation – so I was caught off guard by the whole thing. But I realized quickly she was being sincere about it and before I knew it, I found myself caught up in another conversation with a woman about make-up.

She asks if I pluck them and I tell her I do. She gets her’s threaded in California she tells me, as she’s out there about once a month. A bit more chat and we get on the subway and sit to continue our discussion.

“Your makeup is nice. Who’s shadow do you use?” she asks.

“It’s Bare Minerals powder” I tell her.

She confesses to having never tried it because it seems messy. As with Dana a few weeks back, I explain to her the proper way to put it on as she listens intently. A bit more about how nice it looks and I can feel myself blush a bit.

“Do you use shadow primer?” I ask her.

“What’s that?” she asks.

There is something not right (in my opinion) with the idea of me giving make-up tips to a woman. Nonetheless, I continue and explain what the primer is, how to apply it and I recommend she get the Urban Decay Primer Potion. She has dark skin and I tell her that it goes on with no real color, so it’s a good choice.

“Have you been wearing that all day?” she asks, motioning to my eyes again.

“Yes – Did my eyes at 6:30am” I tell her and smile a bit. “It really makes your shadow last.”

More chit-chat about how much we both love MAC and such when the train gets to 34st and I have to get off. I get up and tell her it was nice to meet her and to have a great evening. “Same here – and thanks for the tips!” she smiles and waves and the doors close.

As I walk up the stairs, I have this funny feeling about me. I’m not sure how to explain it other than it felt really really good. I know she didn’t think I was a woman, but then it didn’t seem to matter to her either. We talked like me being me was the most natural and ordinary thing in the world. Maybe that was what I was feeling… For a few minutes, I wasn’t a transwoman or transsexual or crossdresser or genderqueer or anything more (or less) than just a regular person in the world.

A girl could get used to that if she’s not careful… 🙂