Transvestia

lids I touch with blue grease paint, so accentuating the white of my eyes. The lashes I lengthen with black. It sounds fairly simple in the telling, but a glimpse of my dressing table with a startling array of paint sticks, powder puffs and jars of powder might disillusion you.

After my face has been made up I attend to my shoulders, neck arms and hands. All but the hands are first treated with a white liquid of my own prepar ation which is rubbed in as a foundation. Powder is then dust- ed over it, and the result is the brilliant white for which I strive. One other thing on the stage I usually wear a bracelet on each arm to shorten the length of the arms. I can recommend the use of bracelets worn halfway up the forearm to any girl with thin arms, as nothing will give them such an added appearance of plumpness.

The hands are of the greatest importance in my im- personation, for they must be made to look quite fem- inine. While on the stage I think of them constantly, quite as much as I do of the carriage of my head, for instance. Of course, my object is to make them look small. The size of the hands can apparently be decreased by the way in which they are held, and any woman with a little practice can perfect herself in this graceful treatment. The first rule is never to allow the breadth across the back of the hands to be seen, but to hold the hands so that the narrowest portion, for instance, the thumb and forefinger or little finger, will show. This aids greatly in giving the impression that the hands are long and slender, although the exact opposite may be the

case.

There are artificial aids too, which I employ in re- ducing my hands from man's to woman's size. The hands are powdered very white, and then the fingers from the second knuckle to the tip are rouged very red. This gives the effect of tapering fingers, no matter how blunt and square they may actually be, and when the nails are polished the result is very good. You will see many women in Paris with their finger tips almost blood red. That is overdoing it, of course, but a little rouge used on the fingers will give a most attractive effect, as any woman will see who will try it. I also add a couple of lines in blue pencilling along the back of the hands to add to the

slenderness.