Quote Originally Posted by Gemina View Post
...or feminine.

From my experience, when a women is called handsome it is not used as a term of endearment. It is used offensively.
I use "handsome" in a positive tone towards women all the time, in particular, I am very fond of the "princely handsome lady" trope, y'now, masculine fashion sense, maybe a rapier... as far as popular/well known examples of the trope go, Utena is probably the archetype for it.