Friday 4 February 2011

MENS GROOMING

Do men wear make-up?
yes they do. I remember when I was working at Urban Retreat - Harrods having a long consultation with 3 nice American guys. They all loved the Retexturizing Face Primer by Daniel Sandler and the Super Mineral Make up SPF 15 by Daniel Sandler for a groomed natural, healthy look. They listened carefully to my advice and bought all I recommended.
It's quite popular in the UK too. I've noticed once myriade of cosmetics at a boyfriend's house and later on found myself buying make up for him during sales time at Space NK.
In Italy it's a different story though ..apart from the "paninaro era" when even the macho-est type was wearing foundation and bronzing powder, these days they tend to stick to sunbathing and sunbeds which is so so damaging...but I'm sure that they are getting more and more sensible to the subject.
Anyway this is for what concern their ordinary life, when it comes to a professional level they certainly do.
So when I'm  on a photoshoot, or film set, or catwalk show and the models are males I do apply make-up, but in a different way then what I would do for a femal model.
It's very important to discuss the look with the photographer or art director or designer, basically the person in charge. They might ask you to keep it extremely natural and use just moisturizer and primer, like I did for the David Mayer campaign (to come out).
Or they might want the guys to look healthy but not too groomed: for the Z-Zegna show last season under Wendy Rowe's guidance we covered spots, blemishes, dark circles but  left some of the natural redness on the cheeks so that the guys looked "real".
Models know that they look better with make-up and sometimes it's them asking you to put more on, like it happend this season at the Missoni mens show, when one of the model asked me to give him cheekbones motivating the request by saying "I've been doing this for years I know what looks good on me".....
My routine for mens' grooming is quite simple, I'm going to write down the steps, so if you feel stuck you have an idea.

1 cleanse and tone to make the skin alive and check if there's need for shaving.
2 if  you have time give him little face massage (they love it and won't give you troubles for a while)
3 apply moisturizer: oil free one or  light texture.
4 spread a little foundation on your fingers and apply from the center of the face taking it to the side.
5 conceal dark circles and spots or blemishes keeping it very soft i.e. build layers but blend it well so that you won't se the marks.
6 libbalm on the lips (tone down reddish lips with a bit of foundation if needed)
7 powder well
8 check if the body needs any make up or body moisturizer.
Any extra step (bronzin powder, sculpting, shine) depends on the job request.

Here some pics from my portfolio:

Photographer: Roy Schweiger

Photographer: Cristina Capucci

Photographer: Francesco Brigida

Photographer: Diego Diaz

Photographer: Cristina Capucci

Photographer: Doo Hyun Kim

Photographer: Stefan Giftthaler
                                                   
                                                    

1 comment:

Lynn Golovich About Faces Michigan Makeup Artist said...

Well written article on Men's grooming!

Keep on writing!

Lynn Golovich
About Faces
Detroit, Michigan Makeup Artist
http://aboutfaces.tv