Men & Makeup

After reading an article in a newspaper last week and seeing Hele Says post on how she managed to persuade her brother, Bart, to test out some guy makeup...it left me wondering how many girls would be comfortable with their boyfriends wearing makeup?

I'm always playing around with my makeup goodies and taking ages to get ready for nights out but I really don't think I would be entirely comfortable if Chris started to join in on this process! I like a guy to look after himself and look presentable but I think things are maybe starting to go a step too far! Chris is very old school and he would never dream of using fake tan or painting his nails. It took ages to convince him to use the Liz Earle for men Cleanse & Polish (he sometimes gets trouble with his skin when he shaves). But this is where the grooming ends...he does all the necessary stuff like cutting his nails, shaving, showering, etc and he takes about 2 seconds to do his hair with styling wax. He really does put me to shame coz it takes him 15 minutes to get ready and have breakfast every morning whereas it takes me an hour! Despite his moaning that I take too long, I wouldn't want him to be taking as long as me to get ready. I guess I just prefer the fact that he isn't overly concerned with his looks. It gives off a certain level of self assurance and confidence that I find very attractive. This probably makes me such a hypocrite since my beauty regimes takes up so much time but I think that for decades now, it's been 'the norm' for women to take extra care over their looks. It's a trait that's quintesentially female.

What with all the guyliner, men's mascara and men's tanning products flooding the market...do you think men are slowly losing their macho identity or is this a step in the right direction?

I once dated a guy when I was about 21 and after a few weeks, I started to notice that his skin looked a bit peculiar. He took me aside one night and confessed that he had been wearing foundation for the past couple of years. I have to admit that I was initially horrified and it really put me off him. Then I wondered WHY he wore it as when he showed me his face without it, he had perfectly good skin that didn't need covering up. As much as I tried to be ok with it...I just wasn't. I like men to be masculine and the fact that his foundation kept rubbing off on my shoulders when we hugged just really freaked me out. I didn't want to be narrow minded or shallow but I couldn't help feeling that he had too many feminine traits. I just wasn't attracted to him anymore.

I don't think there's anything wrong with guys who want to look good and like to spend a bit of time on themselves. I guess it's really up to personal preference as to where you want to draw the line.

What do you guys think?