If foreign markets are any indication, men may be slathering on foundation soon enough. The past decade saw the “metrosexual” phenomenon, with men paying more attention to shopping, dressing and grooming. Now, established companies known for makeup and skin-care products for women are catering to the other gender with products to push men’s style boundaries.

Clinique has nonstreak bronzer and concealer for men. Jean Paul Gaultier, which is mostly a fashion house of haute couture, has a two-in-one stick of concealer and eyeliner, also known as “guyliner.”So the question we really want to answer is:Are we ready to embrace makeup on men?

The ubiquitous “High School Musical” star Zac Efron has been setting teen hearts aflutter for the last year with his gleaming white smile, artfully tousled hair, and that poreless, bronzed complexion Cleopatra would envy. But what got the blogs and gossip columns buzzing this year was not what hairspray he uses but his foundation.

Then there are celebrities like John Mayer, Jesse McCartney, Ryan Seacrest who have been known to powder their noses. Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, and husband to singer Ashlee Simpson, has a line of guyliners called “WentzPentz”. He even gave a demonstration on applying eyeliner in People magazine a few months ago.

Patty Bunch, a celebrity makeup artist who has worked on actors Halle Berry, Billy Crystal, Tony Danza and Jennifer Aniston, says she knows men who dye their lashes or wear waterproof mascara to give new dimension to their lashes.

And then there are those who laugh at the the direction cosmetics have taken.

GQ fashion editor Brian Coats can attest, “I just think it can be a scary thing for guys to wear makeup. I kind of understand that.” “A guy should look like a guy. I think in general, guys just look better natural.”

Tyler Thoreson, executive editor of men.style.com, the online home of Details and GQ magazines, says he’s noticed “man makeup” but doesn’t believe it’ll ever become popular. In fact, he laughs at the suggestion.

“I think it’s completely idiotic. It gives true men’s fashion and men’s style a bad name. All of that should accentuate your masculinity, not undermine it,” Thoreson says.

He acknowledges a demand for more grooming options for men: Almost $5 billion was spent in 2006 on male grooming products, a 42 percent increase from 2001, says Euromonitor, a London marketing and research firm.

But Thoreson says there probably are very few guys who would wear concealer or bronzer and stick with it.

“If one of my friends showed up to my house wearing a Thom Browne suit, I’d say, ‘Cool, pushing some boundaries,’ ” Thoreson says.

Only time will tell whether men’s makeup will someday be celebrated as a trailblazer in the evolution of men’s grooming or go down in history books as a faux paux that never really took off.

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Natasha
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