A Beginner’s Guide To Makeup - For Men

Posted by Zoe Barnes in Makeup

Makeup is fun. High heels were originally designed for men and the pharaohs of Egypt were partial to more than a little bit of dark kohl around the eyes. Thank goodness, traditional notions of masculinity and femininity are slowly ebbing away, giving way to a joyful new world of creativity, experimentation, acceptance and kindness. Now, many men will be quite content to continue as they have done all their lives, free of the potential burdens of smudged eyes and caked foundation, but more and more are looking to give makeup a go. Here is our quick guide to makeup for men.

Skin

Good skin will always hold you in good stead. You must take care of your skin because, even if every cell in your body renews every 7 years, it’s just going to be renewed as it was before. So, before anything else, there are two things you must consider:

Exfoliator Moisturiser

You’ll want to make sure you have the right skin products for your skin type, and that’s an area where My Beauty Matches can help. Remember, exfoliator is good for rubbing off old skin cells and allows the moisturiser to seep in more satisfactorily.

Foundation
Finishing Powder
Concealer

Once you've got your skin sorted, you'll want to make a base of makeup. This includes foundation, to make for a smooth complexion, concealer to cover any imperfections and finishing powder to keep your face from looking shiny.

Colour

Ah, colour. The real deal and the real trial of the make-up wearing male. Rock stars have long embraced black nails and black eyeliner, but reds, pinks, yellows, greens, blues (etc.) are another question entirely.

Remember, you'll want to base the colours you are using off of your skin tone, but also off of what you personally like.

Lipstick
Eyeliner
Mascara
Blush
Eyeshadow

Colour is all about building on the base you've made with your skin, and remember that you don't have to do everything all the time, or all at once. In fact, it's probably better to keep some of it natural and some of it more raucous.

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Definition

What does definition even mean? To some it means contouring, highlighting your bone structure, added shadow and light. It can also mean using bronzer and tan to give yourself a more defined jawline. Using highlighter to draw attention to your cheekbones. Using an eyebrow pencil to give your eyebrows and (while you're at it) your beard to add a bit of oomph and prominence.

Bronzer
Highlighter
Tan
Eyebrow pencil

Occasion You’re not going to want to wear makeup all the time. Maybe you’re only planning on wearing it once, for a costume party. Maybe you’d like to have fun every so often, playing with bold graphic shapes or colouring your moustache purple to match. Either way, you need to have a sense of what 'occasion' means personally to you, and how you want to adapt makeup to that.