"Drink plenty of water and use moisturizer every single day."

January 6, 2017 4:31 PM

Manny Gutierrez (a/k/a Manny Mua) has a YouTube channel with two million subscribers, an Instagram with three, and as of a few days ago, is the face of Maybelline's new mascara. Per his instagram bio: "I think boys deserve just as much cosmetic recognition."

Manny's not the only beauty boy to grab attention. There's Patrick Starrr, Jeffree Star, James Charles, (Covergirl's first Cover Boy), Thomas Halbert...

posted by Sokka shot first (24 comments total)

Oh, I was just talking about these guys with my teens!
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:57 PM on January 6, 2017

Thomas Halbert has some serious highlight/contour skills.

I'm really glad AMAB people are getting into makeup in a visible way. I hope they will help transform it into a form of personal self-expression for everyone, as opposed to a gender performance imperative.
posted by Lycaste at 6:27 PM on January 6, 2017 [12 favorites]

Oh awesome thanks for posting this. I saw a little snippet in the NYT a while back and just LOVED the idea of a "cover boy" and guys bring the face of Maybelline, etc.

This may be because of my strident anti-cosmetics stance (for my own face only!!! Everyone else is welcome to apply or not as they see fit!!!) because I feel the social expectation that women don't look "finished" without them to be sexist and oppressive. But if everyone starts wearing them perhaps that will change!
posted by hilaryjade at 6:34 PM on January 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

Expand your customer base. Smart move!
posted by jeff-o-matic at 7:18 PM on January 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's awesome to convince another gender they are ugly without chemical products applied to the face...

Ugh
posted by Windopaene at 7:23 PM on January 6, 2017 [17 favorites]

Love it that guys are getting into the makeup world and up for beating their faces like the rest of us. HOWEVER, I'm not sure if this is the wrong thing to say, but it's nice to have some places that ladies can excel in without challenging. It seems like there is a new wave of guys coming into the makeup world and doing 25% of of the shit the great lady artists are doing, and being rewarded with cosmetic contracts cause they're doing it on male faces.

I know I am wrong about a mix of happy for these makeup contract guys, and resentful for the ton of girls that do this every day just to leave the house and get no recognition.
posted by elvissa at 7:27 PM on January 6, 2017 [20 favorites]

Well I certainly wouldn't want to derail this fabulous discussion of cis women's feels about seeing AMAB people in the beauty world, but as an actual AMAB genderqueer person I think it's nice to see representations of people slightly similar to me (or how I wish I were) being treated as normal. It would be nice to feel like a normal person.
posted by ceci n'est pas une sockpuppet at 7:40 PM on January 6, 2017 [39 favorites]

I'm a straight cis guy who once had his concealer thrown out by an ex who was female, lefty as hell, and an ostensibly-staunch feminist who nonetheless could not deal with a guy wearing any makeup. The hypocrisy there was pretty evident from the get-go and it still bugs the shit out of me, years later.

I don't think that projecting artificial beauty standards onto men as well as women is in any way great, but I'm bluntly onboard with this as a small but needed fracture in the wall that is toxic masculinity.
posted by ZaphodB at 7:47 PM on January 6, 2017 [18 favorites]

I've been following Manny for a while. I live my eye makeup fantasies vicariously through him and others now that I have Sjogren's syndrome and can only keep even the hypoallergenic stuff on for a couple of hours. Then again, I was a kid in the eighties and David Bowie in Labyrinth was my first crush.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:53 PM on January 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Wasn't David Bowie in Labyrinth basically every girl's first crush for like 15 years?

Makeup is cool. Being expected to wear it or not depending on what people think is in your pants is not cool.

This thing is cool, but it would be even better if it weren't news.
posted by Night_owl at 8:01 PM on January 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

It's awesome to convince another gender they are ugly without chemical products applied to the face...

I'm don't think that's what is happening here. The consensus message seems to be "It's fine for guys to wear makeup if they want, it's not a gendered thing" as opposed to "Guys can't be good looking unless they wear makeup." I'm not seeing that second message anywhere at all.

People expressing themselves, it's a cool thing. Today's youth give me so much hope for the future.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 9:22 PM on January 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

It's awesome to convince another gender they are ugly without chemical products applied to the face...

Historically, that's not the way this goes. Years from now, elaborate makeup will be one of the signs of a "real man", frowned upon or illegal for women to wear, and best of all, it will Always Have Been This Way.
posted by maxwelton at 10:12 PM on January 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

Patrick Starrr is my hero. I love him so much (and his mama and papa who have overcome a lot of cultural stigmas to show their support for their son). If he offered me a makeover I would accept it without hesitation and I am so, so thrilled that he is as beloved as he is.

Manny MUA and Jeffree Starr, however, are bullies, and I am not as fond of them as I used to be.
posted by Hermione Granger at 10:21 PM on January 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

I feel the social expectation that women don't look "finished" without them to be sexist and oppressive. But if everyone starts wearing them perhaps that will change

Alternatively, it may become the case that nobody looks "finished" without slathering on the high-priced mud.

The consensus message seems to be "It's fine for guys to wear makeup if they want, it's not a gendered thing" as opposed to "Guys can't be good looking unless they wear makeup." I'm not seeing that second message anywhere at all.

Give it time. The advertising industry has strategic as well as tactical skills.

my strident anti-cosmetics stance (for my own face only!!! Everyone else is welcome to apply or not as they see fit!!!)

Right there with you. Long may this view prevail.
posted by flabdablet at 10:46 PM on January 6, 2017

I have to laugh at a 17 year old dispensing wise advice like "drink lots of water". Call me when you're 40 kid.
posted by fshgrl at 11:55 PM on January 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

I feel I've been reading stories about how men are starting to wear make-up now for about forty years.
posted by Segundus at 4:38 AM on January 7, 2017 [14 favorites]

Goodness, I would KILL to be able to nail a cut crease the way Manny MUA does. I'm glad he's getting a pay cheque from Maybelline, glad that L'Oreal and P&G, in their ham-fisted attempts to appeal to 'millennials', are giving under-represented groups both money and representation.

Also pry my highlighter* from my cold, dead, flawlessly contoured hands. Signed, a make-up wearing tool of the patriarchy.

*Becca Moonstone, if you're curious.
posted by nerdfish at 5:33 AM on January 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

The phenomenon of men rising more quickly and being better compensated when they enter fields traditionally dominated by women is a real and well studied thing. That it overlaps here with questions of queer representation makes this a more faceted discussion, not a less valid one, and I'm disheartened to see that dismissed as a "fabulous discussion of cis women's feels."
posted by kelseyq at 6:24 AM on January 7, 2017 [31 favorites]

I definitely respect the full self-embracing and exploration. To me, that kind of behavior is incredibly attractive, independent of gender. If that's the message we should take away, then give me a placard and I'll be on the street corner to spread the gospel. It is a huge mental rush to see people be themselves in all their unapologetic and unmitigated glory.

If, however, this morphs into the unfortunate path that females* have had to endure for too long, where you're not really "done" or "presentable" until you wear X, Y, and Z on your face, then I want no part of it.

*and from what I've read, South Korean males
posted by Conway at 7:29 AM on January 7, 2017

Manny Mua is an artistic genius and I love what he does. Boy George and many others incorporate makeup into their image in a way I admire mightily. I am 100% behind the idea that cosmetics should have nothing to do with gender and that all should be free to paint as they please. I do wonder if new techniques (such as airbrushing) that have emerged as a response to the brutality of close-up HDTV may have upped the ante on expectations of what makeup can do.

That said, if I apply makeup it's guaranteed to be messed up within an hour. Maybe I'll cry and go for a kleenex... oops, there goes the shadow. Or laugh too hard--same thing. Lipstick will myseriously end up smeared indelibly on my palest accessories. I'll get an itch--oh no, didn't I put blush there?

No matter what, I lack the discipline to keep a laboriously-applied "face" in place. I admire the Hell out of people who can go forth layered in glitter, paints and powders and still look good hours later.

I was once shown an article in something like "Glamour" which stridently insisted that makeup users had to toss everything out something like monthly and replace it with new mascara, shadow etc to keep it fresh. I did the math and tossed everything out for good.

Optional makeup is great--for other people. All kinds of other people.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:36 AM on January 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

I have a lot of AMAB genderqueer friends and I think this is mostly great for them, but I'm not convinced it will really increase the range of male expression, longer term. Appearance trends tend to start in the gay community and then get co-opted by young straight men, cf. buff, waxed chests and hair products. Something changed in the 90s/00s, compare their chests* to film stars' chests in the 1970s-80s. Guys were muscular back then, but it was nothing like now. So eventually young men who want to appear attractive will be expected to wear makeup. Obviously this is more attainable than Chris Evans' body but it's not really increasing the range of acceptable expression, just like women and makeup. Many women don't wear makeup, but it's not "acceptable" in many social contexts, and certainly not if you want to find a male partner.

*ye gods it's hard to find pics of shirtless celebs that aren't a slideshow. But I tried, for Science!
posted by AFABulous at 8:50 AM on January 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

kelseyq: " I'm disheartened to see that dismissed as a "fabulous discussion of cis women's feels.""

No doubt, and I do agree with your point about the implied sexism with men rising rapidly in traditionally female fields. More than that, I certainly don't mean to sound dismissive, but I'm tired of feeling like I'm not allowed to be angry about gender. When I go outside in skirts and makeup I don't feel like a powerful man challenging women's dominance in the beauty world - I feel fucking terrified, and I wouldn't be doing it at all except for the fact that overwhelming gender dysphoria feels even worse. Yet, when I want to talk about my experiences as someone who presents as "feminine guy", I find that cis women in particular act as if my actual lived experience is irrelevant to the "more important" conversation about how cis men and cis women interact, and there are so many cis women wanting to have that other conversation that if I'm not aggressive then it becomes the only topic of conversation. As a transfeminine person I start to feel invisible: when I try to gently ask cis women to maybe dial it back because genderqueer/GNC amab folks are also a kind of marginalised group, I am ignored. When I push harder, I'm told that I'm hurting your feelings. So yes, while I totally agree that the dynamic you're talking about is real, I'm not sorry for being angry.
posted by ceci n'est pas une sockpuppet at 12:24 PM on January 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

I recently had a fall and wound up with a black eye - realized my concealer and foundation compact were about 15 years old at that point and so treated myself with a trip to MAC cosmetics. I know MAC has always been pretty Queer positive but it was nice to be able to go in, get a consultation with one of their impossibly flawless beauty counter elves, and not have anyone blink an eye.

I mean, the fact I was willing to spend money probably helped, but the person who did my colour-matching etc. was helpful even to the point of asking how I wanted to approach the beard issue.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 7:07 PM on January 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Guys were muscular back then

It was even worse in the 70's - look at Charlton Heston movies; he's basically the only one (and Yul Brynner) who has muscles. Soldiers? Bodyguards? Bah, toothpick arms.

Even Steve McQueen was what we might now consider "lean." Good grief, I've been bigger and as/more cut than Steve was at his peak.
posted by porpoise at 2:41 AM on January 9, 2017