Men and make-up: Male cosmetics in the spotlight
By SIMON MILLS
Last updated at 23:08 22 April 2007
Take that: Robbie Williams wearing more eye make-up than Geri Halliwell
Twenty years ago it would have been unusual for a man to be buying under-eye concealer for his girlfriend, and unthinkable that he should be buying it for himself.
But, if trend predictions are correct, it seems our department stores are about to be over-run with men buying make-up.
Market analysts Mintel valued the UK male grooming market at £685million in 2004 and predict that this figure will rise to £821 million by 2009.
And, according to some, a significant amount of that cash will be going on cosmetics.
That's right, girls, expect to be fighting for space in front of the mirror as metrosexual man breaches the final frontier.
Earlier this year High Street store, H&M, made headlines with the news that they were stocking mascara for men. Apparently 'customers were asking for it in stores'.
Now, Clinique, one of the High Street's biggest brands, is making its first foray into the male cosmetic market, with M Cover, a concealer for men that launches early May.
But what happens when the man on the street goes out in make-up?
Armed with a mascara wand, Simon Mills hit the town. He says:
Make-up for men is quite the thing right now. Not just among the creative, edgy and experimental metrosexual classes, either. It has been inspired by the recent punk/goth revival, the proliferation of startled stickthin males such as Russell Brand, and something American called Emo - emotionally charged punk rock music - from which mascara-wearing group My Chemical Romance are proving rather popular.
But if I'm intending to wear mascara, how should I do it? 'All or nothing,' advises make-up artist, Kay Montano. 'I find men who wear make-up that they intend to be undetectable, a little bit creepy. Trowel it on and forget all about subtlety.
"Someone like Russell Brand employs the 'last night's make-up' look made famous by Kate Moss. Thick, black eyeliner and gloopy, heavy mascara. That's the only way forward for boys."
Apparently H&M and Clinique aren't the only ones tapping into the male make-up market. Jean Paul Gaultier has a range that includes a bronzing powder, concealer, lipstick and an eyeliner and High Street favourite, King Of Shaves, recently launched a skincare line that includes a self-tan moisturiser, a tinted moisturiser and a mattifying gel.
A showbiz friend told me that Robbie Williams is prone to mascara, that David Beckham wears mascara every day and that Michael Caine was so enamoured of his slightly over-egged mascara in the 1964 film Zulu! that he carried on wearing it in several subsequent movies.
Now a Mr Danny Ventura, a Paris-based beauty and male make-up expert, is going so far as to call male mascara a "nonconformist seduction tool", dubbing it "tuxedo for the eyes". Blimey.
H&M, like Clinique, meanwhile, is saying that its new launches are customer-driven - that is to say they had lots of men asking for it. What's wrong with these men? Can't they just nick it off their mums or girlfriends, like I did? Oops. Gave myself away there. You see, I have to confess that this was not my first time in make-up. Indeed, mascara and me have a long and shameful history. My first application was as a young boy, probably just nine or ten years old.
Inspired by a poster of Malcolm McDowell's Alex DeLarge and his single mascaraed eye from A Clockwork Orange, I sneaked into my mum's bedroom and tried some on, stroking on great clumsy clags of Boots No.7 in the half light.
Six years later, when punk rock came into my life, I was back in her make-up drawer again for black eyeliner, mainly. (Girls loved that, I remember.) Then, by the time New Romantics had hit the Hull area I splashed out and bought my own mascara and kohl pencil; Miners from Woolworths.
Ooh, I was trying so hard to be misunderstood and outsider-ish. In fact, such was my sense of shame I had to wait until I was actually outside our front door before I brushed it on, often without the aid of a mirror. (Mascara on boys will never be a big thing in east Yorkshire, I fear.)
But back to my social experiment. Well, I did the lashes on my eyelids OK, but the sparse follicles in the lower ocular area seemed prone to clogging. It wasn't pretty. Think off-duty Dusty Springfield drag queen and you'll start to get the picture.
But my male "mascaradventure" wasn't all bad. In a bizarre twist of fate, I ended up at a friend's dinner party sitting between two experts on the subject.
On my left was a man called Gerry de Veaux, a musician and songwriter with a speed-dial overloaded with glamorous celebrity friends. At first he seemed appalled to be next to someone of my lowly civilian status but warmed considerably when he clocked my eye-make up.
"Are you wearing mascara?" he said, almost admiringly. And like millions of mascara wearers all over the world we struck up a conversation about make-up. Gerry, it transpired, wears mascara every day. His, of course, is applied skilfully with a practised hand, and is all but invisible.
On my right was Yasmin Le Bon, wife of the Duran Duran singer and a woman very used to sitting next to men called Simon wearing mascara.
I fluttered my lashes at her, but they stuck together on one side and I may have given the impression that I was having a minor stroke. What did the delectable Yasmin think of my make-up, I asked?
"It's nice," she said. "But way too subtle. My Simon wears much more than that." Does she approve of men wearing mascara? "Oh yes," she said. "I love it."
I think she was just being nice. Girls are like that when it comes to each other's make-up, arnt they?
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