Basic Tutorials - Feature by Feature
During 2006 I was really eager to create looks that represented the aesthetic of video games - a very specific v line face, slim and symmetrical nose, light but precise brows, open eyes, and a balanced heart shape lip. But when I looked in the mirror what I saw was flaws and I really wanted to change that, so I started to copy images I found in my pc folders of video games, the skins of the characters, and it became a transition into this CGI aesthetic. I began to wear circle lenses, a form of colored contact lenses with an extra few mm of black line outside of your iris, and this became my signature look.
I learned to create brows by sketching out the shape in a matte product and using a contrasting reflective product to sketch in the hair. I used to use pigments mixed with vaseline and apply them with a sharp-angled brush that I’d cut up to be super precise, and my other trans friends like Sphirex, who created blogs at the same time and is sadly no longer with us, emphasised our different interpretations of the same technique. I found out during 2014 that WunderBrow had begun to use my images to promote their product launches and I sadly was put into a situation where a threat of legal action was on the cards, and they paid me. I decide the use of all my images as I am the sole photographer in all my work, which caused surprise at the time but is so important when you’re dealing with larger businesses.
When Youtube started, there was this whole genre of Maury style videos where people during and after transition would be formatted into a slideshow, and then people would ridicule the transformation like a horrible talk show. So I created that style video which was the temptation, and then flipped the script with an in detail tutorial on how to create an indetectable look. I started the video off with a beard, which was drawn on at the time, and then transformed to my ‘everyday’ makeup look and collected the views. I went into the details of the contour and explained how I not only slimmed my nose but corrected the symmetry by bringing the concealer from under your eye, up into a harsh line against where you would traditionally contour. It was about bringing a light shade against where you want there to be a dark line, like the video game images I had played with.
I began to work with Japanese designer Hakohodo when I was a teenager and developed a series of makeup brushes; they had mixed fibers, unusual hair for powder lay down, and precise designs. These were how I first branded myself and I had a full product line before I’d ever encountered a mainstream influencer having something similar. It was what I wanted to capitalize on and they became something synonymous with my work. I launched a continuous series of designs in skincare, beauty, and grooming and some of my personal or named designs are below.
2019 I got the opportunity to really talk to magazines about the impact of what I’ve done, from Elle, Vogue to Marie Claire - it was a great year. Then to have awards and acclaim for my designs was a stamp of approval on what I think I needed to hear. When you are a trans person you are often forced to pay attention to visual details that cis people overlook, because the danger of not being precise can be extreme. And often marginalized people use that hyper-awareness to create things in a function that’s uncommon or new. What my group of trans creatives did, was innovate beauty looks and instead of being credited we have been minimized. I am unfortunately the jolly gay giant and I am too formidable even minimzed, so I recognize the work I have done and I celebrate it.
Lots of more to come in 2020.
Some of my prototypes and products under the Joseph Harwood brand are shown below. We have my designed Hakohodo brushes, which you can purchase under Hakohodo central, my first colour product with packaging on the right and the very low quality but sentimental brushes I created on the left when I started with the Princes Trust Enterprise program.
