How Does Makeup Affect Men's Attractiveness?

Contrary to some folks' beliefs, men didn't start wearing makeup because of social media (or any other type of media). While beauty trends and television shows like "RuPaul's Drag Race" have undoubtedly inspired some, men have been wearing makeup in many forms for thousands of years — all the way back to 50,000 BCE, as David Yi, the founder of men's beauty outlet Very Good Light, told GQ. Outside of the obvious makeup used on male film and TV stars, men's makeup throughout history has included an early take on blush in ancient Rome, and eyeliner, among other contemporary staples, was in vogue in ancient Egypt before that.

Men wearing makeup wasn't widely celebrated during the '90s and early aughts, but the 2010s saw change in this arena. Thanks to social media and progressing views on gender and gender norms, men began wearing makeup more openly rather than only around their close entourages, even becoming some of the biggest beauty content creators of the decade. (Hi, Manny MUA!) This led men of all sexual orientations, including many straight men, to feel liberated enough to don some foundation, mascara, lip gloss, and more. Not only that, but many men began to feel attractive in makeup, with others, including many straight women, finding men to be attractive in makeup, too. 

While we still have a ways to go before male makeup is entirely normalized, we're in a different world than we were in the '90s, and science shows this in spades.

Folks who wear makeup generally do so for themselves — it's a creative outlet, and it can help people feel like their best selves (not that they need it). Science proving that makeup really does make people appear more attractive to others is simply a plus. That's right: As detailed in a 2022 study published in PLoS One, scientists have long studied the role that makeup plays in making women appear cuter to others, and the study's researchers felt it was time to study the same scenario for men. To do so, they provided participants with two photos each of 20 men — one makeup-free and one with makeup on. Worth noting is that the study specifies "subtle cosmetics," so there were no stacked cat eyes or other big beauty trends being assessed here.

The PloS One survey concluded that the same results that have been found for women apply to men, with the ratings for the makeup photos being considerably higher than the ratings for the makeup-free photos. This comes as no surprise, especially when considering the "subtle cosmetics" used on the men. Concealer, for instance, is light and can go undetected, yet it covers what many deem to be "imperfections" (dark spots, blackheads, and more). Other products, like a light foundation or tinted moisturizer, can even out your skin tone, and powders can help prevent your face from looking oily or sweaty. These things enhance your natural features, not detract from them. 

Transformation is makeup's superpower, and in addition to enhancing one's skin, it can actually make you appear more masculine. The trick? Contouring, of course. Just ask your favorite drag king how they become their drag personas every day, and they'll tell you that contouring can work wonders.

Some facial features are traditionally masculine, like more defined chins and sharp jawlines, according to facial aesthetic surgeon Dr. Yirae Ort. However, every face is different, and men aren't a monolith — some men will naturally have more genetic predispositions for these traits. Still, men can use makeup to accentuate their jawlines or any other facial feature to appear more masculine. In this way, men can nail the no-makeup makeup look for the same reason many women and nonbinary folks wear makeup: to feel their best for themselves, not for anyone else.

This attention to facial structure was also noted in the aforementioned PLos One study. As the study's author, Carlota Batres, Ph.D., noted in an article for Psychology Today, a combination of even skin tone, less facial contrast, and enhanced facial structure all seemed to work in tandem to create a more attractive appearance for the 20 men surveyed. This builds on a 2019 study published in the scholarly journal Perception that found women to generally have more facial contrast than men, meaning that less facial contrast is deemed masculine (while more facial contrast is deemed feminine). The makeup applied to the 20 men created less facial contrast but enhanced their bone structure — the perfect double whammy for conventional attraction.

Science tells us that people find men more attractive when they have light makeup on, but what do everyday people online think? As with every topic, there's a Reddit thread for this very question, with its replies being mixed. "...I probably wouldn't date a guy who wears makeup, not because it bothers me, but just because it's not the type of a guy I'm attracted to, I guess," one Redditor wrote. This isn't a unanimous sentiment, though. Another commented, "There's something incredibly sexy about a man who can overcome a lifetime of (toxic) programming & master a skill that's massively frowned upon in masculine culture." Others simply said that they'd prefer their men to wear light makeup, not anything too excessive, which falls in line with the PLoS One study's "subtle cosmetics" approach.

This appears to be a common thread across the gender spectrum. A 2014 study published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology found that both men and women, when presented with photos of women sporting myriad levels of makeup, found the photos with less makeup to be more alluring. Though more research is needed to make sweeping statements, it appears that makeup really is transformative — at least within reason. Still, no one should ever give up their favorite looks or not try the next big beauty trend in the name of pleasing others.