How to cover beard shadow

I had a request on how I cover black beard shadow, so I figured I'd do a write up on it. Just as a reference, I have that really thick Sicilian black hair that leaves beard shadow even after a close shave and this works well for me.

First off, make sure you are using a good razor. Personally I use the Venus razors (http://www.gillettevenus.com/en_US/products/refillables/embrace/index.jsp). The one I use is a 5 blade. Start with a close shave, then a good moisturizer. You also want to use a primer, which helps smooth the skin. I have a friend (another crossdresser) who developed and sells a moisturizer/primer made specifically with the crossdresser/trans person in mind. I use this moisturizer myself every morning. Here's a link if anyone is interested http://www.hisinhers.com/herculanm-facial-products. And, no I'm not getting paid to say this. ;)

Next I follow up with a liquid foundation to even out my skin tone. I have managed to match my foundation and my beard cover pretty closely. Getting a good match is important so everything is seamless. The beard cover that I use is from a company called colortration (http://www.colortration.com/). It isn't cheap at $37 for a small container, but one of these lasts me about 6 months with me using it on average 3x a week. It covers me all day even with my black beard shadow. If you aren't sure what shade to get, I recommend the sampler set they sell. Also, if you call them, they have trans friendly staff and are extremely helpful in choosing the proper shades to try. If you have a foundation that you use and like now, they will try and match their shade to what you use. I found colortration through a theatrical makeup site. This is actually one of the recommended coverups used in TV and movies.

To apply the colortration, you want to use a small stiff makeup brush. Go easy with this stuff as a little goes a long way, even better than products like dermablend. You don't need to apply it very heavily at all to get complete coverage. Also, you might want to get the mixing vial they sell. It makes dispensing and applying the makeup much simpler a process. If I plan to be out more than 8 or so hours, I will make sure I have a little extra colortration makeup in the vial and I mix it with a drop of moisturizer. I then take my small makeup brush and the vial and toss them in my purse and it works really well to do a touch up later in the day if I need to.

I use a tinted powder over it all when I am done just to make sure that there is no unevenness to the shades of makeup. By following this process I can go for 12+ hours and rarely even need a touch up. The makeup even holds up under flash photography, which tends to penetrate most makeup and reveal the shadow underneath.