What Oriental Tradition Is It When Somebody Wears Makeup At Home Instead Of When She Leaves
BEIJING — Wang Yuepeng is still angry about the first time he tried to buy a Dior lipstick.
"Are you going to employ it?" Wang recalls the female salesperson request dubiously, afterwards staring at him for a few seconds. Wang was already fond to makeup — he'd begun experimenting with information technology in high school when he spent 15 yuan ($two) on a concealer at the grocery store in a bid to cover his acne.
"What's wrong with me using it?" Wang retorted angrily. Well-nigh a decade later, his face still scrunches into a pout as he recalls their interaction.
Much has changed since Wang's teenage years in central Red china's Henan province. The 25-year-old with dyed olive-green hair is now a professional makeup artist and one of the few well-known male makeup vloggers in China. He boasts nearly two one thousand thousand followers online, where he posts video tutorials on everything from applying double eyelid stickers and eyeshadow to making cosmetics last longer. While virtually of his followers are women, he believes that one day, wearing makeup will exist every bit common among men in Red china as it is in South korea and Japan. "I already feel like everyone wants makeup," Wang tells Sixth Tone from his seat at an net-famous yogurt shop in Beijing, having just attended a cosmetics outcome.
Popular male beauty vloggers and makeup wearers share their experiences of using cosmetics in People's republic of china. By Tang Xiaolan and Lu Yunwen/Sixth Tone
There's little data on male cosmetics utilize in China, but reports suggest men are investing more in their appearance. Sales of men's training products — which include men'south toiletries and fragrances merely not cosmetics like foundation and mascara — grew at an average almanac rate of 7.nine percent between 2012 and 2016, much higher than the global boilerplate of five.ane percent during the aforementioned period, according to market place inquiry firm Euromonitor International. By 2021, Euromonitor expects the market to be worth $2.2 billion — 20 percent college than in 2016.
Experts put the growing popularity of men's dazzler products in People's republic of china down to a number of factors, including a global trend toward men caring more than about their advent and the influence of the fragile, feminine Yard-pop artful on immature Chinese celebrities. Such stars have earned the moniker xiaoxianrou, or "little fresh meat," for their flawless skin and boyish mannerisms — and they are even changing what constitutes a desirable man, says Song Geng, a University of Hong Kong professor whose inquiry focuses on Chinese masculinity. E-commerce giant Alibaba predicts that the nation's obsession with fiddling fresh meat will heave cosmetics consumption amid men — although it noted that most male person makeup customers simply buy BB cream, a form of low-cal foundation that covers blemishes in a natural-looking way.
The changing mental attitude toward men wearing makeup is as well driven by beauty vloggers, with many makeup companies hoping to cash in on their fame and the beauty boy trend. Wang, for instance, recently flew to Singapore to attend an outcome held by American cosmetics brand Urban Decay, and his schedule is packed with like events organized by other international and local makeup companies. The most popular male person beauty vloggers can make as much as 10 million yuan a year through a variety of avenues, including selling their ain products and being paid to advertise products past cosmetics companies, co-ordinate to industry insiders.
A screenshot from a video posted past Bilibili uploader Wang Yuepeng on March 23, 2018.
These male beauty vloggers act as trendsetters, showing viewers how to attain certain looks, says Babette Radclyffe-Thomas, a Ph.D. candidate at the Academy of the Arts London who specializes in Chinese manner, beauty trends, and gender studies. "Every bit there is increased online representation of men who vesture makeup, this will definitely atomic number 82 to changing cultural ideals of who can and how to habiliment makeup," she says. "[It will also change] ideals surrounding masculinity and what products or behaviors are seen every bit masculine or feminine."
For now, about male vloggers still target female viewers with their makeup tutorials, just 22-twelvemonth-old broadcasting student Zeng Xuening wants to interruption the mold. His first makeup video, filmed in his 4-person dorm room at Zhejiang University of Media and Communications in 2015, was aimed at men. At the time, videos showing men's makeup routines were unusual: Guys posting makeup tutorials — almost using but text and photos — typically donned long-haired wigs and made themselves up to wait like women. All the same, Zeng's approach brought him 200,000 followers in 1 night.
Zeng Xuening prepares to tape a video at a hotel in Shanghai, March 27, 2018. Tang Xiaolan/Sixth Tone
Zeng, who now has one.7 million followers on microblogging site Weibo, believes he might be China's offset male person dazzler wanghong — a Chinese term for "internet celebrity." In a recent video series, he teaches viewers how to look like a "cute puppy" — net slang referring to an innocent, young, and loyal young man. He dons a chocolate-brown men's wig and applies ivory foundation, earthy eyeshadow, and a rose-tinted gloss. Zeng sometimes receives negative feedback — he has often been chosen a "sissy" — just also gets positive comments from male fans asking how to get started with makeup or how to improve their advent. He believes men at present make upwards forty pct of his followers.
One man who has tuned in to Zeng's videos is Che Huixuan, a student at Beijing Forestry University. At first glance, the 21-year-sometime's cramped and messy dorm room looks no different from any other boy'south bedroom. Only amid the stacks of books, scattered stationery, and tangled cords on his desk-bound is an extensive drove of dazzler products.
"No i ever said merely women tin can habiliment makeup," says the landscape architecture major, who's decked out in an oversized hoodie and skinny jeans and flaunts a shock of flamingo-pink hair. The slender Che first wore makeup as part of a pupil street dance organization in his freshman yr — at present, he wears primer, foundation, concealer, countenance pencil, and lipstick every day.
Although Che loves how he looks in makeup, it has occasionally acquired difficulties. At a family dinner back in his home province of Liaoning in northeastern China — where the patriarchal culture dictates that men should act tough and administrative — a eye-aged relative teased Che for "painting [his] little confront too white." The clumsiness hung clearly in the air, Che recalls. He thought of explaining himself, but it was likewise much of a hassle. "Most people however hold prejudices against men in makeup. The current situation in Mainland china makes people assume that to exist a homo, y'all take to be scruffy," he says.
And it tin can be excruciating shopping alone, says Che, who likens the experience to inbound a classroom full of girls. "There are empty seats, only I nonetheless feel awkward joining them by myself," he adds. "Information technology would be much meliorate if I had company."
Che Huixuan puts on makeup in Beijing, March 23, 2018. Tang Xiaolan/Sixth Tone
At that place's a bigger problem Che has encountered while shopping for cosmetics: There aren't enough products specifically designed for men on the market in China. He points to the lack of neutral-colored lipsticks that would adapt men and says cosmetics brands often assume their male person customers all have oily peel, rather than because different skin types.
Although Chinese companies are seeing the benefit of utilizing male beauty vloggers' influence, they've been ho-hum to roll out products specifically aimed at men. Internationally, Maybelline recruited its first male brand ambassador concluding year, and other companies have introduced men's cosmetics complete with masculine names like "manscara" and "guyliner." But in China, in that location are few male-specific makeup products available. L'Oréal, for example, has a men's skincare range rolled out globally that includes a BB cream, but it's not marketed as makeup. "Since L'Oréal Communist china doesn't have cosmetic products and brands specifically targeted at men, we tin't reply to questions on this topic," L'Oréal Red china wrote in an email to Sixth Tone. The company added that, even when a male Chinese celebrity is selected to endorse a product, brands commonly expect him to draw female person fans rather than male person followers to cosmetics counters.
A screenshot from a video posted by Bilibili uploader Zeng Xuening on January. 29, 2018.
Zeng is less focused on addressing the lack of men'due south makeup options. Instead, he's on a mission to evidence that makeup and masculinity can coexist. Zeng pays close attention to his presentation in his videos: He lowers his voice while speaking on camera and cuts scenes in which his pinky finger sticks out. "I want to link boys who wear makeup with a manlier epitome," he says. "I don't desire to increase the public prejudice."
Zeng dreams of a future where men can wear makeup without having their masculinity called into question. "Some women on social media say, 'Even if I smoke, beverage, and have tattoos, I'chiliad still a proficient girl,'" says Zeng. "So I say: I make myself up, I tattoo my eyebrows, I use foundation, and I'm still a real man."
The Men Who Wear Makeup
Jace Ma (aka Jiesi Tela), 25
Virtually men still don't want others to know that they wear makeup, says Jace Ma, who goes by the dazzler vlogger proper noun Jiesi Tela and who didn't want to use his given name for fear of inconveniencing his family. Ma has no such qualms. "I still recollect 1 twenty-four hour period asking my mother whether my makeup was besides heavy, and my mother request why I cared so much about other people's opinions," says the 25-year-old, who often uses blush, pink lipstick, mascara, and eyeshadow. "If fifty-fifty my parents don't care that I habiliment makeup, I don't take to consider other people's reactions."
Jace Ma puts on makeup at his home in Beijing, March 25, 2018. Tang Xiaolan/Sixth Tone
All the same Ma has been exposed to his fair share of negative feedback. In college, he majored in traffic engineering science — a male-dominated field — and feels that most people idea he was a "weirdo." Afterwards graduating, he worked at a game company, where over again about of his colleagues were men. His addiction to makeup prompted his boss to question his professional abilities, says Ma. Eventually, he quit his job and became a full-time beauty vlogger in September 2016. "Makeup is such a primal matter that everyone should try — it made me amend [inside and out]," Ma says. "I think there is however a vast ocean of potential in the [male person beauty vlogger] market."
Wu Shengjie, 22
Currently a student at Shanghai Second Polytechnic University, Wu Shengjie first got into makeup in high school when he started training his eyebrows. Three years subsequently, makeup has become every bit much a role of his daily routine as showering and shaving. He spends xx minutes every morning doing his makeup in front of the mirror, using foundation, concealer, and contouring products. "I experience naked walking on the street without makeup nowadays," Wu says.
Wu Shengjie poses for a photograph in Shanghai, March 28, 2018. Courtesy of Wu Shengjie
Dong Zichu (aka Benny Bowwow), 22
Beauty vlogger Dong Zichu produces exuberant, sassy videos nether the moniker Benny Bitch. "Welcome to my channel! I'm Benny Bitch," he says at the offset of his videos, which he churns out at an incredible rate. Although he'south received plenty of cruel comments since he first started posting videos in August 2016, Dong makes a point of reclaiming the abusive words so they lose their strength against him. "Since they call me 'bitch,' I'k glad to take on that name," the 22-year-quondam vlogger tells 6th Tone.
Dong at present has most a million followers on video-sharing platform Bilibili. His success came every bit no surprise: When Dong was younger, he recalls, he had a knack for suggesting products to friends based on their specific needs. Nowadays, when he recommends a production to his mainly female and gay male person followers, sales spike: He claims that ii 1000000 items of a product he once recommended sold within two days.
A screenshot from a video posted by Bilibili uploader Dong Zichu on March 24, 2018.
Though men marketing makeup is non a new miracle in many Western countries, Dong believes that China needs its ain men's makeup tutorials. Chinese people often have different eyes from Westerners, Dong says, which requires a dissimilar technique for applying eyeliner or eyeshadow. He has built his own cosmetics brand and dreams of becoming Mainland china'south Jeffree Star, an American makeup mogul with 6.6 million followers on YouTube.
"Why can't a man be a beauty vlogger?" Dong says in the aforementioned dramatic tone he uses in his videos. "That stance is no different from gender bigotry in the workplace."
Editor: Julia Hollingsworth.
(Header image: A vlogger puts on lipstick while livestreaming in Shanghai, Jan. iii, 2018. Niu Jing/VCG)
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