Billy B. shares a few of his favorite tricks of the trade for the ultimate in makeup transformations.				January 1, 2005 American Salon
	When I heard that The Powder Group was going to hold a class called "Becoming She," I immediately called my friend Michael DeVellis and told him I had to teach it. So this fall I shared my best transformation tips with a group of about 20 makeup artists. I want to let you in on them too. For a makeup artist, there's nothing more challenging than changing a male's features to female. The great thing about transformation makeup is that basically it's the same makeup I do everyday on females, just "bigger." So I was excited about showing the class how some of these techniques can be used every day, whether it's for a fashion shoot with flawless female models, or even for a wedding party. Now of course some men are going to be more of a challenge than others, so I cheated a little by choosing as my "victim" a guy who is pretty to begin with—my friend Johnny Lavoy, a talented hair and makeup artist who's been my trusted assistant for several years.				After applying Traynor tapes to the temple area, Billy contours the features.
	Johnny, owner of Moda Rey Salon in Newington, CT, is a vision of transformation.		The first tip I showed the class is one of the oldest tricks of the trade: Mark Traynor tapes. They've been used for decades in Hollywood for lifting and tightening the face. The effects can be dramatic, making an older person appear younger, even changing a person's features. For instance, they used them in old movies to slant eyes on Anglo actors to make them look Asian. You place these translucent tapes at the temples, cheeks and sometimes the neck, securing them with elastic bands that reach around to the back of the head, pulling the skin taut. You cover them by using a lace-front wig or by brushing the hairstyle forward on the face. I applied the tapes to Johnny's temples to raise his eyebrows and slightly slant his eyes; then I contoured his nose, cheekbones and forehead to make his features appear smaller and more feminine. . The second tip is to layer multiple sets of eyelashes instead of just one large pair of fake lashes. Here, Johnny is wearing six pairs of false eyelashes. By selecting lashes of different lengths and thicknesses, cutting them and using pieces from each group, you can create a lash that looks more natural overall than one gigantic pair of false eyelashes. Finally, I lined the inside rims of Johnny's eyes with a beige eyeliner to make his eyes appear bigger. These three tricks of the trade can benefit anyone. The proof is in the pictures—so let the transformations begin!