The month of June has been a busy period for my male alter self especially the 2nd half of the month. Events after events, incidents after incidents, activities after activities, endless matters to settle, family and work. There is hardly any time for a breather or energy left after each day let alone to CrossDress and let Francesca out…
However, Francesca did managed to get a break that she wanted so badly. She managed to go on a solo drive trip up to Melaka to visit Miss Y Studio again *grinning happily”. It is those once in a blue moon period where the stars are aligned, the wife is out for overseas work trip and the peak period for work was just over and I can make a quick getaway over the weekend to Melaka and let my male alter self just disappear for over 55 hours (close to 2.5 days).
Previously, I have made a few trips up to Melaka, either for Francesca or for my male alter self. However, this one is different because technically this is the first time I am driving up to Melaka alone. The first time I went up to Melaka, despite that I went up alone, I took a coach, so I did not have to worry about driving or traffic. The previous trip where I went for the CD gathering, I was with Katie. And for the rest of the time when I went up to Melaka, I was with my wife and her friends, so driving up alone is quite exciting but also scary for me as I do not know what to expect.
There are a few reasons for doing this solo trip. Although I would very much like to have some company to go up to Melaka but each of us have a different work schedule and I do not like to impose on others just to accompany me. This was especially true since the last trip when Katie had to wait for me while I was doing my bridal photoshoot in Miss Y Studio. I felt so bad that she had to wait for me and wasted her time instead of doing something she liked… I did considered asking other sisters like R but I guess it is not convenient as it was quite impromptu.
Another reason is that I really need to train myself to be independent and daring when it comes to driving in Malaysia. The last solo trip I did was more than a decade back in Australia (as my male alter self of course) and I did not feel as stressed. However, when it comes to driving in Malaysia, I was having more cold feet as I occasionally saw news of accidents on the North-South Highway and also Singaporeans and Malaysians drivers are not known to be friendly drivers unfortunately. So this trip was more of a dare mission for me to toughen up my gut and also to improve my skills in negotiating with other drivers on the road over this 240km long journey…
This time round, I decided to book 2 packages with Joyce to maximise my time there. I took a Personal Makeup Course and a Personal Album shoot package, which were spread over 2 days. My plan was to :
- Drive up to Melaka early Friday morning and arrive at the studio by 10am to 11am, do the Personal Makeup Course.
- Session should be done by 5pm to 6pm. Clean up my makeup, drive to hotel and check in (passport is needed to check in and the front counter service staff will need to verify your identity, that is why I cannot keep the makeup on).
- On Saturday morning, drive down to studio again, do my studio shoot then keep my makeup on and drive back to hotel in CD form.
- Then Sunday morning, drive back to Singapore.
This sounded like a perfect plan for me.
Enough of the background and rationale, now on with Francesca’s solo drive adventure… Did not realised that I wrote so much, so this blog will be split into 2 parts as usual…
Friday (Day 1)
Woke up early and prepared all the things needed for my solo drive trip. Before leaving, I then realised that I forgot about my bottled water for my medication, so I went back up since I was still at the carpark. All went well so far and I just set off for my journey. I thought I managed to clear my bladder but by the time I was in the Malaysia check-point side, my bladder was full again… A bit of FML moment… Must be my anxiety as it was my first time travelling up alone. Luckily there was no jam and I thought of going to the nearest petrol station, which is quite near to the check-point for a quick relief. However, little did I know that I need to turn out at a certain exit in order to get to the petrol kiosk… Another FML moment… I don’t know to laugh or cry. So I just hold on to my bladder until the next rest stop, which is on the North-South Highway.
When I saw the rest stop, I immediately pulled over and make a dash for the toilet. This is the part which I feared most about travelling alone… As I was in a rush to get to the toilet, I did not stop my car engine, neither did I pull up the handbrake. I only left the gear in park mode and I thought I locked the door before making the dash. It was after my relief and as I made my way back to my car, I realised that my engine was still running… Really a WTF moment. If I had someone beside me, they would have either stayed in the car or reminded me to off the engine. Luckily no one carjacked me or drove my car off… Looking back, no wonder my car was honking when I was rushing to the toilet. I guess the remote keyless system was trying to remind me to off the engine and my brain was too occupied to realise it. Thankfully nothing happened but this was the “highlight” of the trip.
After my relief, I was able to fully focused on reaching the destination without any other stop. I left my house around 6am and I reached Joyce’s studio around slightly before 10am. Since I was early, I went to the MacDonald nearby to have my breakfast. I realised that they had the Nasi Lemak breakfast set, which cannot be found in Singapore. I decided to give it a try. It was quite nice and really filling actually. As I was still early (Joyce told me to reach by 11am but I decided to leave early to avoid the check-point jam), I decided to walk around the neighbourhood.
At 11am, Joyce arrived and we started the Personal Makeup Course. Before the start of the session, I was asked to dress up in CD form first before the conduct of the lesson. I dressed up with a black OL outfit together with a set of straight wig. This is where Joyce pointed out some of the common mistakes of CD is that we tend to wear the wig too low as we wanted to cover our original hairline. However, not all the wigs are worn that way. Next, Joyce began conducting her lesson. I brought my own set of makeup kit and Joyce taught me how to use what I have. Of course I was lacking in quite a few items and she used some of hers to supplement. Guess I got a lot more to buy after the lesson. Joyce really took the time and effort to show how the makeup was done on one side of the face while I tried my hands-on on the other side. So it is not simply a session where she did the makeup for you, you have to practice it too. She also explained the rationale for doing certain things, such as using concealer for the eye bags area, bronzer for my puffy cheek. I realised that Joyce has very sharp eyes for highlights and shadows on the face. While it is obvious to her, it took me quite a while to notice it. This course was quite informative and it can be a case of information overload but thankfully I have some background in picking makeup from YouTube so I have some fundamental to work on. I tried to store as much information as possible and intended to jot down once I am back in the hotel. The session went really well. Thank you Joyce for her patience as I feel I am quite clumsy and unable to control the strength of some of my strokes and I tend go heavy on the colour… Joyce’s advice was to always go from light to heavy, to slowly build up the tone instead of going heavy initially. If going heavy on the initial stroke, then I will got to sweep and blend off or even touch up/remove with foundation.
After completing the makeup, I was pleased with the outcome. I looked different from my normal style of makeup where it looks quite heavy and flat. I could not help but admire myself. I took a few selfies and Joyce helped me to take a few photos in the OL outfit before we ended the session.
After the makeup session, I removed the makeup, wash my face and changed back to my male clothing before making my way to the hotel for check-in. The whole session took like almost 7 hours as I was quite a slow learner… Thankfully Joyce really took her time and guided me along.
I really enjoyed the course as I got to practice makeup, learned a lot of tips and tricks, and cleared a lot of misconceptions as I picked up my makeup skills using mainly YouTube and there are a lot of things I was unsure of or there is no proper explanation, I just simply follow and go with the flow. One thing that I realised about Joyce’s makeup style as compared to other CDs makeup. Hers has more focus on the contours of the face. Even though her makeup is quite subtle and light but her makeup was able to make the face pop and more 3D as compared to what I observed of others where they tend to do blanket cover makeup, which I was also guilty of…
After checking in into the hotel, I went to Jonker Street for a walk and grab dinner there before calling it a night. It had been a long day but I really enjoyed myself. Initially I wanted to use the rest of the night to reflect and capture what I learned and penned it down. But I decided to run through with Joyce tomorrow when I go over for my Studio shoot session. Looking forward to tomorrow.
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