Men can be beautiful too, let's normalise male makeup

"You look around and everyone is very much the same. I just want to be different and I want to stand out."

The man sitting in front of me has dressed up for our Skype chat, and is wearing a full burgundy suit and a set of nude acrylics that are still very much on point, despite the current Covid-19 pandemic. Though it's an unusual way to meet an interviewee, there's a big, cheesy grin on his face - which draws my attention to his perfectly painted red lips.

This is nothing out of the ordinary, however: it has now become a rather usual sight to witness more and more men wearing makeup, whether it be a small amount of concealer to mask blemishes, or a heavy-glam statement look that puts some of us women to shame (we're not bitter at all). The truth is that male makeup is making a comeback, and society has taken a gigantic leap in the right direction for gender equality in a previously female-dominated beauty industry. The sheer talent that we are encountering from men is beyond incredible.

For the last eight weeks of isolation, there has never been a better moment to get creative and spend quality time on perfecting your hobbies. Social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have been flooded with imaginative makeup looks and pure artistry, and the ever-growing amount of beauty content produced by men advances every day.

It is because of the pandemic that I find myself talking to Davion Nandhra, a 22-year-old self-taught makeup artist, via Skype rather than meeting with him in person and chatting over a cup of coffee as planned. Instead, we are bonding virtually and he is holding a rather large glass of gin and tonic. He has certainly not allowed quarantine to get the better of him, and is enjoying experimenting with makeup during isolation.

"Makeup has been a real escape during this pandemic. It's helped me with boredom as it has given me something to focus on during this time, and it has really helped me to relax.

"It's nice to be able to experiment with ideas that I've never tried before and to see if they work for me, and to get new ideas to expand my horizons through the use of social media, showing off the looks I have created."

Davion has an Instagram account full of vibrant makeup looks, and a YouTube channel which is home to beauty reviews, tutorials and hauls. But unlike some other beauty influencers, his main focus is not how many views he gets on his videos, or the number of followers that he attracts, but how he can look back and reflect on his progressive relationship with makeup.

"I don’t even care if my [YouTube] channel doesn’t blow up dramatically, that doesn’t bother me." He says with certainty. "It documents what I’ve done at that time in the year, or at that time in my life. I love the fact that you can document your whole life on there, and people will actually sit down and watch it, I think that’s amazing. It helps me a lot, especially when I get comments that say I’m inspirational. It just helps knowing that I’ve helped that one person out, and that’s all I want."

Although male makeup has been around for centuries, it is within the last 20-years that it has been deemed 'acceptable' to wear it to the same standard as women. Indeed, there continues to be a bit of taboo around the subject. Throwing it back to Egyptian and Roman times, men wore makeup such as eyeliner to signify their wealth and status as opposed to making them look more attractive. Since then, various male beauty trends have emerged but haven't stuck around, until the 20th century where it is finally quite normal to see men wearing a full face of high-coverage makeup.

I think it's fair to say that the male beauty gurus of YouTube are responsible for this revolutionary change. Patrick Starrr, James Charles, Manny MUA and Jeffree Star are just a handful of users who are each accumulating millions of subscribers and followers across their social platforms.

In an interview with COOLS, Manny Gutierrez, (better known as Manny MUA to his 4.78M subscribers), talks about how he began his YouTube career.

“When I started on YouTube and Instagram—I started, like, five or six years ago—I never really knew people to make a living off of YouTube or social media,

“I did it because I felt like what I look like was under represented in social media and in the beauty scene. You know there’s not a lot of men doing it, and we got criticised so much back in the day."

As one of Davion's beauty inspirations, Manny MUA's above statement sparks some self-recognition as to why he chooses to wear makeup and document his passion online.

“I wear makeup just because I feel like everyone follows a trend. You look around a town and everyone is very much the same. They’re all following the same thing. I just want to be different and I want to stand out."

There is one male influencer who he is particularly fond of, though, and who has had a major impact on his beauty journey.

"Oh, Jeffree Star. HONEY, Jeffree Star! I have every single one of his palettes." A look of pure excitement takes over his face as he puts down his gin glass and turns the webcam toward a very large collection of 'Jeffree Star Cosmetics' products. He has been on the YouTube beauty scene posting makeup videos since 2014, but Davion has followed him since the beginning of his popularity as a MySpace musician way back in 2003.

"I love the fact that he is so original with his designs, [they're] nothing like anyone has ever done before. Some of the looks that he creates are literally incredible."

It was actually Star's one-of-a-kind image and unfiltered personality, along with his music, that attracted his fan base and propelled him into immense internet fame, making him one of the very first 'internet celebrities'.

With originality comes great confidence, and this is a trait that I have noticed Davion also possesses throughout our Skype call, as he talks so candidly when expressing his adoration for makeup, and wanting to stand out from the crowd.

"I want to be that person who walks down the street and someone turns their head and thinks ‘did I really just see that right? Was that a man wearing makeup?’ I just think if people want to stare, they can carry on."

I'm intrigued to find out where his journey with makeup began, and how he has become so courageous to completely express himself without really caring about what other people might say.

"I was about 14 when I started playing around with makeup. I wanted to start doing drag - when I first started doing it, I looked like a hot mess! I never used to wear it out, I never used to wear it with anyone. I used to just play around with it in my house.

"I’m very much self-taught. I just practised and practised, and I carried on doing it without giving up, even if I looked like an absolute shambles."

It seems as though men are generally more confident experimenting with makeup on their own first, rather than wearing it out in public straight away. Although is it becoming more 'normal' for men to wear makeup, some still feel as though it's 'unusual' and that they don't feel they need it.

While 64% of survey participants said that their overall view of men wearing makeup is neutral, 9% of men said that their view is negative. Although this is a small amount, it doesn't take away from the fact that men still unfortunately receive negativity from other people when wearing makeup, and this is something that Davion is no stranger to.

"People stare at me a lot because I’m wearing makeup, as if to say 'Oh, that’s not right'. But really, it shouldn’t matter. I do get a hell of a lot of looks, especially when I’m out in the club. People will say to me ‘oh you look amazing, but you know that’s for women?’ but I think, actually it's not, it's for anyone'."

He says this without any sign of sorrow, and instead with a wry smile on his face, as if to say 'I'm used to it now'.

In contrast, 19-year-old makeup artist, Mac Allison, doesn't receive any bad judgement towards his beauty choices, apart from the odd puzzled look when he's dressed in stereotypical women's clothing with a full-face of makeup and a long wig.

"When I do any appearances for events in drag or teach masterclasses, I will of course always have a full-face of makeup to show off what I can do. Only then is it a case of people will have to take a second look, especially when I’m in drag because people can’t initially tell if I’m a woman, or a man dressed as a woman."

As makeup is becoming a more usual day-to-day thing for some men, others prefer to be a part of the beauty community for the art that they can create, and for the business side of it. With a range of vivid, multicoloured and drag looks to showcase his talents, Mac is a professional MUA and business owner, who loves makeup for those very reasons.

"I mainly wear makeup for the purposes of promoting my business and my art through Instagram. I don’t wear makeup outside of that as I never feel the desire to do so in my day to day life.

"Usually when I say that, people assume it’s because I’m concerned about other people’s opinions of me which is the furthest from the case. I just never feel the need to wear it aside from promoting my makeup business and drag art."

The art of drag has been around for centuries, but has received even more popularity since RuPaul Charles, one of the most well-known drag queens of all time, launched his own show, 'RuPaul's Drag Race' in 2009. The influential artist and his show have played a huge part in bringing drag queens to the forefront and increasing people's acceptance towards them.

Mac has communicated to his 2,281 Instagram followers that, although he enjoys creating drag looks, it does not mean that he is planning to become transgender.

"Being trans and being a drag queen are two totally different things and not many [people] understand that.

"I enjoy partaking in female impersonation because it's one of the easiest, and my favourite way to express how I feel sometimes, whether that be me taking an interest in female fashion of a decade or just wanting to feel like a bad bitch in some lingerie."

The self-confidence that both Mac and Davion portray in the way that they express themselves is something that they would like to share with all men who want to wear makeup, but are too nervous for the reaction they might receive. Their advice contains some significant suggestions about overlooking negative opinions, and having the ability to believe in yourself.

Mac recommends, "Teach yourself to not care about what others think, otherwise it’ll stop you doing more than just using makeup. People’s potential negative opinions will prevent you doing all sorts of things, so teach yourself that these opinions are just that, an opinion!"

Davion very much agrees, advising that you should live your life however you want to. "Just go for it. You never know until you do it. If people want to give a look and if they want to say something, they can carry on - we don’t want to hear it. It’s your life, you live it how you want to live it, and if you want to live it wearing makeup then go for it. The only person that’s holding you back is yourself."

Reflecting on his journey with makeup so far, Davion is excited for the future of male makeup and hopes for it to be a normalised occurrence without fear of being targeted and judged by society.

"My journey with makeup has been a roller coaster. When I first started, I wasn't good at all! It's been nice to grow, now knowing what different products are for and how to make my makeup look good.

"I feel like more men are getting into makeup because it’s just empowering, and because they can now do it without so much abuse, judgement and trolling on the internet. They can just live their lives to how they want to. I love it."

Let's hope that for future generations, it will become the norm for males to wear makeup without fear of being targeted and judged by society.