When Can Men Wear Makeup Again?

Applied science

Men Should Wear Makeup

This is my final column for Slate, so I'grand going out on a limb. Guys, pick up the airbrush already.

"You know, y'all don't really need makeup," Rose Colina told me when we first met. Nosotros were at Hill's studio in Los Gatos, Calif., where I'd come to see what a practiced makeup artist could do for a man (i.e., for me). Loma, who's 60, has been doing makeup for picture, boob tube, theater, and commercial photography since she was a teenager. She's worked on Pecker Clinton, Barack Obama, every tech executive yous can name, and Hugh Jackman—"my most favoritest person in the whole world," she said as I thumbed through her portfolio.

Studying my face, Hill told me she didn't come across any obvious areas of concern. As I'd long suspected, I've got a good mug on my shoulders. Of grade, she went on, nobody really needs makeup, not any more than than one needs a fitted suit, a fancy motorcar, or deodorant. But modernistic cosmetics are astonishing. They remove blemishes, redness, signs of aging and fatigue, cuts or nicks from shaving, and most other indications that y'all've had a well-lived life. And they do and then without looking similar cosmetics. "When men retrieve of makeup they remember it'south heavy, that it'southward unnatural, but we're living in a new century," Hill says. The most advanced cosmetics are designed to be photographed close-upwardly with high-definition cameras, then they need to add pigment while leaving one'southward pores visible. "Today's makeup looks like pare," Hill says. When I asked her what I'd look like with makeup, she was definitive: "You'll merely look improve. It'southward a large difference."

She was correct. This is what I looked like when I entered Hill's studio:

Farhad Manjoo, no makeup.
Courtesy of Rose Hill

Mostly I looked OK. Just there were some obvious places where my confront could be improved. My forehead has a few light blemishes, and at that place are a few more than under my eyes. I'd merely shaved, and at that place were some carmine marks across my pare, plus some nicks. I had a just-visible pimple under my left countenance.

Over the next hour and a half, Loma put me through a series of makeup sessions. She applied "loftier-definition" makeup with an airbrush, a gun that sprays a very fine mist of colour at your confront, so fine that the dyes blend into your pare in a way that looks and feels like you lot have aught on. Later on on, she applied makeup the quondam-fashioned way, using brushes and sponges. Some other time, she fabricated me up using cheap, drugstore-counter foundation. After each session we stopped to photograph my face. Beyond the range of applications, I could meet the good and the bad of makeup, from just enough to too much.

The bad makeup looked worse than no makeup, but the expert makeup? It looked awesome. With some quick, easy-to-utilise fine-tuning, I discovered that my pretty face can get even prettier. Here'due south me looking all-time—this is afterwards the first application of makeup, a light layer of Hard disk foundation applied with an airbrush.

Farhad Manjoo, airbrush makeup. — Farhad with airbrush makeup.
Courtesy of Rose Loma

At that place are very few differences between this picture and the one above. But the differences are enough—overall, with a light layer of foundation, my skin looks more than even, less patchy, and less shiny. The reddish spots and blemishes are yet visible, merely they're more subtle. I look more put together; the outcome is roughly the aforementioned as if I'd combed my hair or put on a well-ironed shirt. Compared to wearing no makeup, with simply a flake of color, I wait like I took the time to bother nearly my appearance.

Which prompts the question: Why don't I wear makeup all the time?

Men should article of clothing makeup. I mean to say: Plain men should habiliment makeup. It'southward sort of crazy that we don't, actually. Human beings take been adorning themselves since forever; evidence of the application of body paint dates back at least 50,000 years and is taken to exist one of the first signs of modern human behavior. For nearly all that fourth dimension, both men and women indulged in cosmetics. As recently as a few hundred years ago, it was common for upper-form men in Britain and France to clothing rouge and powder. It was only around the plough of the nineteen^thursday century that facial beautification for men began to go out of fashion—though at the same time, other cosmetic enhancements for men, specially hair-care products, took off. This makes little logical sense (though, granted, it'southward folly to utilise logic to mode trends). If it'south seen as necessary for a modernistic man to comb and sculpt his pilus, why isn't he expected to make up his face up, too?

Note that I'grand not advocating for men to wear lipstick, blush, or other obvious signs of makeup. Blood-red lips and cheeks and dark optics are perceived as feminine because they cannily simulate female fertility—when a woman is ovulating, increased blood menses reddens her lips and cheeks, and so lipstick and rouge are a style to mimic that effect. But skin tone isn't sex-specific; studies show that when humans are presented with faces with even color distribution—faces whose peel tone looks the same from region to region—we find them more attractive than faces with uneven color. This has been shown in female and male faces. (The theory is that even colour distribution is a token of youth, and youth, in plough, signals fertility.) Study after written report has shown that people are disarmed by makeup—even though it's obvious when a woman wears makeup, she'due south judged as more than attractive (by both men and women) than when she'due south not wearing makeup.

Information technology stands to reason that men could benefit from the same upshot, peculiarly if the makeup isn't obvious. When you're trying to impress someone—prospective dates, prospective employers, business associates, your spouse, your family, your employees—at that place's no reason not to wear a little foundation. Really I'd go further: You should wear makeup. We're in a tough economy that rewards youth and beauty. Nosotros live in a world constructed of artifice—where non only magazine covers only even snapshots are now retouched, filtered, presented in the best calorie-free possible. You might admirably, justifiably recoil from this trend, you might yearn for a fourth dimension when people had no trouble accepting a man for what he really looked like. Simply if there ever was such an age, information technology'due south gone. Nosotros live in a Photoshop world. Retrieve of makeup as a real-globe digital-effects organization. The foundation airbrush is similar Photoshop for your face up—armed with this gun, you lot can pull a fast one on the world into loving you.

There are signs that some men are beginning to understand this. Over the past decade in South Korea, makeup for men has become a culturally accepted fact of life. The bourgeois, male person-dominated social club was prompted to cover male person cosmetics in role considering makeup worked—men who wore makeup found that it gave them a leg upwards romantically and in employment markets. Hill says she's heard the same thing from some of her clients. "I've done makeup on corporate executives for photos, and then they run into how they look, and they'll call me to ask if I can lodge makeup for them," she says. "Especially if they're single—they just feel better about themselves and look better." Over the past few years the marketplace for skincare products for men has been booming, though cosmetic companies have been wary of products that resemble traditional makeup. Lately that seems to be changing. Marc Jacobs recently unveiled a line of makeup for men, including a concealer to encompass upwardly bags under your optics. But even he'due south wary of advocating for foundation for men—that seems to be deemed too feminine.

I can see why. When it's overdone, on a man, makeup can look very strange. Here'southward me with 2 colors of foundation that Colina practical on my confront past castor. This awarding covers upward many blemishes and cherry marks, simply to me it looks too pretty.

Farhad Manjoo, manual brush makeup. — Farhad with manual brush makeup.
Courtesy of Rose Hill

This ane is even worse: After a quick application from a bottle of Revlon foundation—that is, non the high-definition stuff designed to look like y'all're not wearing anything—I look way too orange, like I've been colorized.

Farhad Manjoo, cheap makeup. — Farhad with cheap makeup.
Courtesy of Rose Hill

Only I found that it'south piece of cake to avoid this fate. As yous know, I'm a sucker for engineering science, then nearly the end of our session, I asked Hill if I could use her airbrush on my face. She showed me how to use it—hold it like a pair of chopsticks, press the push to shoot. It was totally piece of cake and fun, very much similar using the airbrush tool in any photo editing software. Starting with a clean face, I managed to make myself up in near three minutes' fourth dimension. After that 24-hour interval, I bought an airbrush kit online for near $100, and I've since tried it out a couple times at home. I think I'grand skillful at it—I can quickly do my face up in a style that improves the skin without looking apparently touched upwardly.

I'm married and I have a job—though we'll run across what happens after this commodity runs—and then I don't remember I'll be wearing makeup every day. But if I ever need an actress boost, the airbrush will exist right there waiting for me. Here's my face with a bit of airbrushing by yours truly. This is non a confront you tin can easily reject.