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News : Issues : 220 : Make-Up For Men
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Make-Up For Men
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|  |  | | by Bernardo van Eekhout, in Lifestyle & Fashion , posted 14 January 2010 |
Men will have to get used to the idea that make-up is no longer the exclusive territory of women. Now that piercings, tattoos and body decoration have been adopted as acceptable for men, make-up will inevitably follow suit and gays will as usual be the early adapters...
Rough And Sexy
According to trend watcher Antoinette van den Berg make-up for men is really gaining popularity. She owns the Italian based forecasting studio Future Touch, a trend-watch bureau specialized in forecasting and developing concepts for the entire cosmetics industry. She advices international cosmetics labels on global trends they spot. Future-Touch has released a trend guide for the cosmetics industry on men’s make-up, which aims to point the direction of future products for men.
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It explains why men are ready for make-up and shows what will be the trends when it comes to eyeliners, mascara, nail polish and foundation. It also includes tips for the application of make-up products for men.
“Twenty years ago people were still very apprehensive towards creams aimed at men. If you look at the current offer of men’s products, we have seen a tremendous development. It’s very normal nowadays to use lotions and creams. I expect this will also happen with men’s make-up,” says Antoinette.
“Especially in the music industry it’s very normal for men like Pete Doherty for Cavalli and Keith Richards for Louis Vuitton, who both wear a lot of make-up. Placebo on MTV as well, or the boys of the German band Tokyo Hotel. If you specifically look for it’s amazing how common it really has become. Not just with musicians anymore either. A man with eyeliner is rough and sexy, not feminine at all. All that fuss over what’s gay or not doesn’t interest me at all anymore, fortunately these boundaries are fading more and more. We are spotting men using make-up so we’re developing products for them. Men’s cream has also become normal, right? Look at what’s on offer already.”
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The products can’t be derived from women’s products. “So no black nail polish in a glass bottle but marker pens so men can more easily decorate their nails. Packages have click systems so they can be transported more easily.”
Is the Dutch man ready for this? Antoinette is convinced labels could have big success and take hold of key positions in the market if they play their cards right. “We signal the fact that men use make-up so we advice the companies to develop innovative products, new concepts with a male identity. Like the nail marker we developed at Future Touch. It’s very easy to make a striped nail design instead of the classic polished look.”
 
The big companies have caught on to the fact that products for men have big growth potential. The industry is convinced the time is ripe. Concealers and tinted creams for men are now widely available already.
Evgenly Levchenko, who was elected as Most Fashionable Football player of the Year, has his own opinion: “A sophisticated approach towards fashion also includes personal care, so I put some cream on before I go to bed at night. I don’t spend much time in front of the mirror, but I’m into trying out new things. With my ex Victoria I was in Paris once, and I had my toenails painted black. Soccer has turned my toes into a mess, they’re black and blue. I didn’t mind it but it doesn’t mean I kept doing it. But I’m willing to try such things.”
Macho Look
When it comes to recognizing the fact men’s make-up can be very lucrative they’re way ahead of us in England. Last summer saw the launch of “Taxi Man.” Inspired by the English male role model Russel Brand (actor, comedian and radio and television personality), who’s not wary of wearing eyeliner and mascara. Available in the British Superdrug, with products like “Manscara” and “Guy-liner.” They made the Guy-liner thicker than women’s eyeliner pencils, so they’re easier to use by bigger men’s hands. “Nowadays one can be macho and wear make-up. Men are obsessed with how they look more than ever before,” concludes Taxi Man manager Jeff Wemyss.
“We are convinced that there’s a real market out there. Most of our customers are the women buying products for their partners, but men come to buy it themselves too. I want to state clearly that it’s not aimed at drag queens because men’s make-up is to highlight their natural male features and hide irregularities so that it looks like no make-up is worn at all.”
“We’ve developed essentials that every man has used from his partner incidentally anyway. It’s about a subtle use,” confirms creative director Peter Kelly. Lucrative indeed, for the British male is said to spend an annual 700 million pounds in order to look good. Predictions are the market will grow to some 820 million pounds by 2010.
Superdrug has seen sales for men’s facial care products double since 2005. In Holland the turnover of men’s products has been the fastest growing segment of the entire industry for years already. |
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With his eye on that development Jean Paul Gaultier launched his “Monsieur” label, also available in Holland. An extended men’s grooming range of eighteen products for shaving and specific skin-care. Each product has been specifically developed for men’s skin and his life style. It also includes a make-up line for men with, for example, a powder bronzer that covers spots - a just-back-from-holiday-look for everyone the whole year through, an eye pencil for a deep and intense look or correct thin lashes, corrective eyebrow pencils, eyebrow gel and a concealer. All with the thought that there’s a Monsieur in all of us, even in the Dutch.
Unfortunately the Dutch distributor doesn’t want to give sales information of the Gaultier Monsieur products in Holland to magazines.
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