Lipstick On My Collar

Adventures in men’s makeup.

- Tom Lazarus

Sleek, dark cylinders lined up in my bathroom cabinet: if this is transgression, it feels like the business-class end of it. As you may have noticed — or not, depending on the level of skill in its application — men’s makeup is going mainstream, following the genderless revolution that has swept fashion, fragrance and haircare. The potential market is huge — half the population — and boldface brands are jumping at it, from early adopter Yves Saint Laurent, which reformulated its Touche Éclat concealer pen for men in 2008, to Tom Ford, Chanel, Marc Jacobs Beauty and Givenchy. And today, as a man whose toiletries bag is always emptier than a bachelor’s fridge, I’ve been asked to trial it.

Arrayed in front of me are products from the Boy de Chanel line, the simple-clever name a nod to Coco Chanel’s lover Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel, and Givenchy’s newly revamped Mister range, which is pitched as unisex (though it stopped short of spelling itself ‘Misster’). I have a Matifying Stick, a Corrective Pen, a matt liquid foundation, a lip balm and a brow pencil that doubles as a facial hair filler. We’re at the define-and-conceal end of the spectrum, with shimmering, colourful self-expression being the other; somewhere beyond grooming, but not quite makeup makeup, either.