Should make-up be the sole preserve of women?
These athletes have been referred to as ‘perfumed ponces’ by their critics, and perhaps to some (like me) they are over the top when it comes to looking pretty. But there can be little doubt a boyfriend or a husband somewhere near you is looking better due to the example they have set.
Historically of course, men have worn make-up for as long as women. According to ancient documents, Asian men were painting their nails as far back as 3,000BC. And let’s not forget that a man was not a man in 18th century Europe without his white chalky mask of make-up.
The latest available figures from Euromonitor show that spend on what they classify as men’s grooming in Ireland has increased from just under €79m in 2006 to €108m in 2010. The rise has been gradual and it appears that the recession has been good to men’s grooming products. Just like women’s beauty products, they are often picked up as a small indulgence.
“What you do find more and more, particularly over the last ten years, and particularly at weddings, is that men are asking for more make-up,” says make-up artist Derrick Carberry.
“I’ve had brides’ brothers who were rugby players ask me for make-up just because they know how redness can look in a photograph and they know what a light application of make-up can do.”
I meet Derrick in his apartment in Kilmainham in Dublin along with photographer Nick Bradshaw to find out exactly what make-up can do for me.
The 37-year-old Kildare native started in make-up 13 years ago.
“One day a friend, make-up artist Paula Callan, suggested I come in and try out for MAC,” recalls Derrick. “The night before the try-out we brought a model over to her house and went through a few things and she said if you can do that after one night what will you be like after six months?”
Within a year Derek was working at London Fashion Week and he would go on to work on the BAFTAS and the MTV Awards. After nine years of jet-setting, Derrick broke into the freelance area which has allowed him stay closer to home.
Perhaps his most famous client to date has been Kevin Spacey, who he had to shadow for a day during a recent shoot in Dublin. Today he has to settle for your scribe and what a job he has on his hands. The first step involves giving my face a bit of a wash with an energising face scrub (No.7’s Energising Face Scrub, Boots). It’s perfectly pleasant and does leave my skin feeling noticeably fresher. Derrick recommends men do this at least twice a week.
“Guys tend to get a bit of dryness around the nose, so you might just focus the scrub on that area and then just rinse it off,” he says. “It brightens up the skin and deep cleans it. A lot of guys would think that this stuff wasn’t important but even if you did just the face scrub and the moisturiser that would make a huge difference.”
I then apply what Derrick describes as “a pea-size amount” of cleanser, to the skin, foam it up and wash it off.
We are now ready to prep the skin. Derrick first uses a product which contains vitamin A and helps maintain the skin’s elasticity. As a moisturiser Derrick uses a small amount of Kiehl’s Facial Fuel anti-wrinkle cream.
“This is quite well-known in the industry and it’s specifically for men,” says Derrick. “This has a eucalyptus kind of feel so it’s quite cooling on the skin. After a shave this can have a cooling effect as well.”
Finally, and this is before any make-up brush has been brandished, Derrick applies some eye cream from MAC.
“A lot of guys, and girls, get that bluey-purpley tired look under the eyes,” he explains as he dabs it under my eyes. “So this nourishes the area around the eye. It basically increases circulation around the eye and minimises the dark circles.”
By the end of the makeover I have to admit that my eyes look a lot less like those of a man with a bouncing year-old baby.
Before moving on to the application of make-up, Derrick gives me a quick rundown on what we should do at night. Again the cleansing gel needs to be applied and “you need to wash the day off your face”. He then recommends applying Iseree Night Cream from Lidl (€2.19, 50ml) to give your skin some help while you sleep.
“It’s as cheap as chips,” says Derrick. “It’s won a lot of awards and just proves that you don’t need to spend a fortune.”
Welcome news, up until then the cost of this regimen seemed hefty enough to me. All told, preparing the canvas takes no more than ten minutes and by the end of it I have to admit to feeling like something of a new man. A day’s worth of dirt and grime from cars and dirty winds has now been swept away and my face is tingling.
“After that you’re going down the road of the more cosmetic bit,” says Derrick. “So when you’ve prepped your skin I would go into a tinted moisturiser. This is from MAC. It’s water-based and it’s very lightweight. I use the one for face and body, simply because it stays on longer. Foundation must match your skin tone. It just doesn’t look natural to have tangoed skin and white hands.”
Derrick applies all make-up with a brush as it allows for a more even distribution of the product and means that oils from his hand don’t interfere with the application. Apart from being rather speedy (the whole thing takes about 25 minutes), Derrick is comfortable to be around and has the sort of calm demeanour you’d want on a big occasion. “Then we’re going to use a bit of concealer under the eyes,” he explains as he applies it. “That zaps out the discolouration under the eyes and with this cream-coloured pencil which we’ll put this on the inside of the eye, we’ll zap out any red in the bottom of the eye.”
This turns out to be the most uncomfortable part of the exercise, more because I failed, initially, to take Derrick’s advice about staying focussed on one spot resulting in a slightly sore eyeball. “Now it looks quite sheer,” says Derrick. “So we’ll dab it down with a bit of powder.”
After a quick buff up and polish off with a brush, he pulls the mirror over. My face feels great; not cloying or claustrophobic as I had thought it might. Being a sufferer of psoriasis I had been worried that the products might spark a reaction on my face but even though I kept the make-up it on for the rest of the day there wasn’t a twinge.
For me, the big thing that stood out was the reduction in redness around the nose and the zapping of those dark purple circles under my eyes. But the evenness of it all seemed a little unreal to me. I should point out that I’m not a big fan of make-up on women either so there’s no surprise there perhaps. My missus took a slightly less balanced view: ‘Oh My God, get that off’.
There’s no pleasing some people.
* www.derrickcarberry.com
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