L’Oreal’s UK Marketing Director Vismay Sharma has claimed male makeup counters in department stores could be a reality within “five to seven years.”
During an interview with the Telegraph, Sharma also claimed that makeup-wearing men were becoming more accepted in society’s “selfie generation.”
“Today you have a very small proportion of men who want to use makeup products but that proportion is growing and it will continue to grow,” he proclaimed. “I think its just awareness — two things are happening, men know they can use makeup, and they know what it does when you use it.”
“The second thing is that the taboos are going, so between my generation and my son’s generation the taboos are very different,” Sharma continued. “Is the trend going to go towards bold colours or more subtle? I don’t know. But what I do know is we are listening very carefully to consumers and what they want.”
Last month, fashion and beauty store ASOS started selling makeup for men.
“We’ve been trying to get men’s makeup into the mainstream for the past five years and the launch at ASOS is a massive breakthrough not only for our brand but for the male beauty industry as a whole,” said Alex Dalley, co-founder of MMUK, whose MMUKMan brand is now being stocked by ASOS. “Men have been dabbling in men’s concealer and foundation for many years now, but on the whole stealing their wife’s, girlfriend’s or sister’s. Now that there’s a brand dedicated for them that could even soon hit the high streets, they’re almost certainly going to want to start collecting their own products.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.