My favorite color is black and I love black nail polish. When it looking feminine (or trying to), I think my color choices differ from many. I generally do not wear bright, colorful clothing. I prefer dark, neutral colors. Dressing all in black is my favorite, and that of course includes black nail polish (check the photo below).
At the risk of sounding like an advertisement for the “Hot Topic” chain, I do like many of the things they carry. Some of the hardcore gothic-types make fun of the chain for various reasons, but I don’t really care. I like what I like regardless of what others have to say about it. I’m not exactly goth, but love many of the female gothic styles and plan on exploring them more in the future… in my own way, of course. Many gothic men wear black nail polish, by the way, which has nothing to do with crossdressing (as in, they’re not crossdressing by wearing it).
To me, black is a very feminine color, or more accurately, how I use black is feminine. At least it is to me. I do not follow the latest (women’s) trends or styles, but rather prefer to explore the looks and styles that I enjoy on a personal level. I really don’t care if they’re “in” or not.
The photo up top is that of the very first item I purchased en femme. I spoke about it briefly here. In addition to the fact that I love black as a color, I also love the fact that this particular nail polish came in a bottle decorated with a skull and cross bones. It almost looks like a bottle of poison. Some people may not think that is very feminine or girlie, but it is to me. More accurately put, it’s just plain cool.
It always irritates me to hear people say “Why not try a pretty color?” A pretty color? Black isn’t a “pretty” color? Come on! Black is beautiful to me. Beautiful, pretty, cool, sexy, attractive – whatever you want to call it. Black just rocks!
Truth be told, I have a thing for skulls, skeletons, the darker side, and the whole b-horror slasher movie genre. The skull and crossbones bottle is perfect to me. I’d rather have a “bottle of poison” than some “pretty” bottle of something bright. That’s my style and preference. At the same time, I have no nothing against those who prefer the lighter colors and styles. To each, her own.
The fabulous Mrs. H. recently painted her nails black, using my new “poison” nail polish. That’s one of many perks to having a crossdressing husband, by the way – we can swap and share things. ;) Her nails are usually painted variations of red and other bright colors. The black nail polish worked really well on her, going great with her pitch black hair. She thought they looked nice, too. For my wife however, it’s just a Halloween theme. She’ll soon return to her brighter colors, and that’s fine by me. Whatever color she wears, her nails always look beautiful.
I planned on taking a photo of her running her nails through her long, black hair and share it with you here. Unfortunately, she had a mishap on Sunday morning, broke a couple of nails, and trimmed the rest to match. In short, she’s not happy with her nails right now and refused my request for a photo. Bummer.
Although many t-girls and genetic women may be breaking out the black nail polish for the upcoming Halloween holiday, it’s a year-round thing for me. When it comes to nail polish, black is always my color… with the occasional near-black alternate color (usually at my wife’s request).
Is black not your thing? That’s cool. You won’t hear me say “Why not try a prettier color?” I’m glad everyone has their own style preferences. The point is self expression, as in be yourself, and not what someone else would have you be.
I think a lot of crossdressers go with that which is expected of them (generally by other crossdressers) and try to conform to socially accepted female styles. I’m already breaking social acceptance rules in choosing to be myself and express my feminine side. In terms of personal style, I may as well go with what I like, from black nail polish, to my beloved thick, black eyeliner. It’s not what many genetic women wear (aside from gothic women), but it’s a look that I really love, regardless of it’s lack of fashion popularity.
What’s your color of choice? Do you go with your own distinct personal sense of style, or do you follow the ever changing fashions and style trends? Tell me about it.
I wish I could convince my oldest daughter of that. She has this great strawberry blonde hair, light complexion, big blue eyes… and because of her age, all she wants to wear is pink. I ask her to wear different blues because it is so complimentary to her coloring and often she retorts “Blue is a boys color, Daaad!”
I know it is her age and that she will grow out of it and hopefully find her own voice, but also maybe not. She gets so wrapped up in what other people will think of her in most situations, that it concerns me.
BTW people do overlook black. The ultimate in sexy terminology is not little pink dress. Or little green dress. Not even little blue or red dress. The ultimate in sexy terminology is Little BLACK Dress. It is also the one item no femme wardrobe should without. I know after I stopped purging (purging = clothes while I was still entirely closeted) the first thing I started to look for was the perfect Little Black Dress. It took a few purchases to find the perfect one for me (too bad we can’t really be safe to try clothes on in the store) but when I did… OH HONEY! It was like wearing a bit of heaven but in a sinful way ;)
I did want to mention that things work a little different in my house with femme items. It is a bit of a one way street here now. From me to my wife. She runs out of base she always knows I have some, I get something that I don’t care for, she gets it if she likes it, if not she takes it back and gets something she likes. She borrows something and it ends up in one of her closets and I will see it much later, tell her it is mine and she will not remember it that way LOL. I guess it is ok though, when I was closeted it went one way the other way =)
And your look is fabulous! Don’t change what makes you happy!
Thanks for pointing out the little black dress, Erin! :) It wasn’t even on my mind when I wrote this up, and it makes a great point.
I’m sure your daughter will grow out of the color thing in time. She’s young yet – you know how kids are. :) In terms of blue, well – that’s one of Mrs. H.’s favorite colors… and there’s NOTHING boyish about her, trust me on that. Something to share with your little one, perhaps. :)
So your wife has some trouble returning borrowed items? lol I’m sure there are many similarities in other marriages (with a cd husband). In some, I’m sure the husband “forgets” to return items, and in others… well, that’s where you now, it seems. Isn’t it great that the two of you can enjoy it together though? I’d say that’s more than worth a few forgotten borrowed items.
And thank you for your compliment. I don’t plan on changing a thing. I’m a work-in-progress, but my style is my style and I’ll work it regardless of who says what. :)
Black can be very glam, but personally I find it the hardest colour to wear. The lighter – and more pastel colours – are more forgiving in terms of application.
There are some fab deep, dark shades out this season. I guess a jump against the acid brights of the summer.
You’re right with the application thing, Lynn. The contrast in color (from skin tone) doesn’t leave any room for coloring outside the lines, so to say. In terms of the lighter colors in season now, I’m seeing mostly square-tipped, French manicures on women. I’m not sure if it’s wide spread or fairly local, but that looks seems to be all the rage around here lately.
I just discovered that I’m “the other” Erin…the previous post was not mine, although I did enjoy reading it.
On to the topic…black nails look great on you Gabrielle! I “might” try it myself this upcoming weekend, if all goes as planned with my costume.
I have also recently noticed more women with square tipped nails…though, I think I’ll keep mine rounded.
@ (the “other”) Erin – You know – I’ve run into other “Gabrielles” out there as well. Not to worry – they’re not our evil doubles, just t-sisters with great names. :) Thanks for the compliment on my black nails. :) I hope your plans this weekend go according to… well, according to plan. I think the square-tipped nail look works well on some women, though it’s not my style, personally. I kind of have to keep mine rounded though – they’re not very long. lol
@ Jaye – I’m sorry your black with white tip nail application didn’t work well. I hope you didn’t tip the nail tech well either. ;) heehee She sounds like a real flake, anyway. lol Ok, ’nuff with the puns – couldn’t resist. :) Black nail polish isn’t for everyone and it sounds like you’ve got other looks you prefer, and I’m sure they look fabulous on you. Like I said – it’s all about self expression and enjoying the looks and styles we prefer. We ALL look better when we follow our own preference in style.
@ Stacy – Don’t worry about “pulling off” the black nail polish. You can use nail polish remover instead of trying to pull it off. lol Sorry, there I go with the puns again. :) Seriously, go with a color and style that best suits you. You’ll look and feel more attractive when you work your own personal style preference. I think we can all agree about the amazing power of the little black dress. That one is pretty universal. :)
I’ve never worn true black nail polish. I’ve worn really dark purple, or midnight blue, or sometimes a deep glittery grey. Once I tried a look I saw in a magazine: black with white tips, but the nail tech futzed it up, and the whole thing started to flake off within a couple hours of the application. I’ve seen black manicures that looked good, but not on me.
Whilst I think black nail varnish can look good, I don’t think that I could pull it off… As Erin said though – a little black dress is another question altogether :)
Oops. I will go with Erin P from now on =) I started commenting as Creative Dreams here but I noticed that everyone seemed to be commenting more with their first name and not handles. Handles are rather impersonal anyways, but much of my online experiences lately has really been more handle oriented… I do tend to be a “when in Rome” type person.
It’s all good, Erin P. :) Happy to have you around.
Glad to see that you have discovered the wonders of black nail varnish, have you tried dark purple nail varnish? (it looks just as cool and kind of looks like black nail varnish from a distance).
Both “en homme” and “en femme”, I generally tend to wear a lot of black clothes and pretty much constantly wear black/dark purple nail varnish. It does look very cool.
Jaye, I tend to apply my nail vanish on myself (it takes practice but it saves you a fair amount of money) and one trick I have discovered to stop my nail varnish chipping [as it usually tends to do after a day or two] is to apply a coat of clear nail varnish after the original nail varnish has dried. Sorry if this sounds obvious.
Glad to see you’re fan of the darker colors, too, Chris. :) The very first time I was en femme and in full makeup, I wore black nail polish! :D Haven’t tried dark purple yet, but I probably will at some point. Got to see how it looks.
To Erin P…no worries, I was just making a note there. It’s not a name one runs into often.
To Gabrielle…the plans “seem” to be working out so far, my GF let me borrow her dark grey nail polish, so I will try it…I think it’s a bit sparkly though, we’ll see.
I’ve actually been growing my own nails out, I’d like to get away from the “glued on” ones. No problems at work yet, but the nails do take some getting used to.
By the way, thanks for this great topic.
I’m glad your plans are working out so far for you, Erin. :) Good luck with growing your nails out. I let mine get a little long (for a guy) at times, but not too long. When they grow a couple of millimeters beyond the tip of my fingers, they usually start to crack and split and I need to trim them before the split works its way to my skin (ouch). Glad you enjoyed the topic. :)
I’m hard on my nails or they would be generally long all the time. Gabrielle have you looked into dietary means of strengthening your nails? Like your wife (and mine), I usually only trim for uniformity. In fact I have found even just a little longer, when i have a break it hurts less than when I kept my nails traditional male short.
However be careful what you wish for as far as growing nails. It is a huge adjustment typing on modern keyboards. I have learned to double and triple check everything when my nails are longer.
On a cool side note, my 6 yr old is home on next three days on “fall break” (wish i had the run up to Halloween off as a kid) and I have Ozzy playing on the stereo. She knows the words to “You’re No Different”. Of course she is strangely a huge Bonnie Tyler fan. So it is a mixed bag =P
Thanks for the tips on growing my nails long, Erin P. :) I’d love to see them long and sculpted some time, but it would interfere with other daily activities too much to be practical. My wife keeps hers what I call moderately long, or just longer than not-long if that makes any sense. Here’s a great close-up of both of our painted nails together. Her nails are actually on the short side (for her) in that photo.
Give your daughter the proper “rock on” hand gesture for me, please. :) A 6-year-old that knows the words to that song is mega awesome in my book! Very interesting lyrically, too, don’t you think? Fitting for a cd to be singing, even. Yes, very cool song. :)
This is “the other” Erin again, I’ll try to use “Erin K” when posting, it’s only fair since Erin P was gracious enough to add an initial.
Erin P, I would also like to thank you for the advice on growing nails. They do take a bit of getting used to when typing though, you are quite correct about modern keyboards.
Gabrielle, my plans did work after all for Halloween…my GF and I had a great time out at a local club (I was a witch and she was a punk fairy). We saw two memorable groups of people in themed costumes…one was the “Wizard of Oz” (complete with a flying monkey), the other was an all GG “KISS” (with Peter Chris, of course). And I did use the dark grey nail polish which was close enough to black.
Thanks again for this topic.
Glad everything worked out well for you, Erin K. :) Sounds like you and your girlfriend had a great time out together. A witch and a punk fairy… now that’s an interesting Halloween couples-photo I’d like to see! :D
Ok I found what it was that I was looking for. Foods high in Vitamins A and E was well as Biotin help grow strong nails. The easier way is Pregnancy Vitamins… if you are comfortable with that.
Interesting enough when I was looking for the foods I did come across articles that state it is mostly good nail health maintenance that that improves nail strength. Simple things like fixing chips, don’t bite them, keep them polished even with just a clear coat (I don’t but should), keep them filed, moisturize and soften, maintain your cuticles, avoid chemicals & dishpan hands, and buff/manicure to encourage growth.
Gabrielle, it did work out well and we had a blast! She even got me out on the dance floor…I still don’t believe it myself. Unfortunately, I broke her camera on the way there, so no pics from the event. I did manage to get a few terrible pics when I got home with my old Sony camera (the one that uses a floppy disk)…they are not good, but I think every outing needs some documentation.
Erin P, thank you for the good advice. I am planning on keeping the nails (my GF says that they are now a “scary, Saruman” length. I will try your advice, but am afraid of the notices that I will get at work with the shiny clear coat…but, no one has said anything yet.
@ Erin K – Totally awesome that you had such a great time! :D Totally not awesome that your girlfriend’s camera broke before the event. :( Oh well – at least those memories will be etched in your mind for a long, long time. :) Do what you can with the poor quality photos you have.
@ Erin P – Perhaps if you chose one of your kids to teach a new trade… maybe something like how to give a professional manicure! Then you could have your kids take care of your neglected nails for you while you attend to other parental responsibilities. Not realistic, perhaps, but I figured I’d put it out there for a smile, anyway. :)
I always think I will maintain polish on my nails but never do. I might try black for a while. It is a nice contrast to my skin color (I am closer to transparent than white =P) My nail maintenance has fallen off in the past year as well. Where I used to be able to do quick manicures in the car have given way to more kid related stuff. I wish they did mommy makeovers for crossdressers lol. I desperately need one =P
I let my 4 and 6 yr old’s do my toes last night. Ruby Red. It was fun for them. A bit of a mess for me ;)
@ Erin P – You said you let them do your “toes”, I take it that is where all the polish ended up? As opposed to on the actual nails? lol Messy or not, I’m sure it was a good time for the kids and a memorable experience for you. Hey – they have to learn how to color in the lines somehow, right? :)
@ Erin K – That is one reason I don’t bother trying to grow mine out. There are too many things in my daily activities that would cause them to break. About your toenails, I hear Erin P’s kids could use some toenail painting practice. Perhaps you can help them out? :) heehee
Well, of course it happened, I broke a nail yesterday while helping my GF with yard work…so, I had to cut that one and trim the rest to match. At least I got to have them long and painted for Halloween. Not quite back to the beginning, but a bummer anyway.
Erin P…I have yet to paint my toenails. Good for you to let them have a go at yours.
Ok you talked me into it. I am now going for a while with black instead of clear coat. I think I can pull it off day to day. We’ll see. Keep your fingers crossed I don’t get too much grief for being a man wearing nail polish.
Black rocks, Erin P.! :D About getting grief, many gothic men wear black nail polish, as do many rock/metal artists. Our friend Ozzy is a great example: Ozzy’s black nails
Play up to the goth and/or rocker thing if you’re questioned and don’t want to explain your femme-side. :)