What’s wrong with men’s makeup?

Why does he look like thatrdquo a friend asked us when this writer was watching Desi Bling The show is OTTrsquos latest offering which follows the entirely unrelateable and cringe lives of ultrawealthy Indians in Dubai At the centre of the show are reality TV veterans Tejasswi Prakash and Karan Kundra But all viewers can talk about is Kundrarsquos makeup which looks exceedingly cakeyIn April Nitesh Tiwari unveiled the first look for the highly anticipated Ramayana where once again Ranbir Kapoorrsquos makeup took centrestage in conversations Time and again the onscreen man shows up in a ldquofull beatrdquo a makeup look that includes fullcoverage foundation concealer and contouring that doesnrsquot look quite right So we decided wersquod answer our friendrsquos questionIn April there was also a conversation around Ranbir Kapoorrsquos makeup looking patchy in Ramayana FILE PICldquoYou need to consider how makeup reads on men because people donrsquot expect it A lot of people have a very heteronormative view of society and donrsquot expect men to wear makeup so it can come off as a little jarring initially when we see men with a full beatrdquo says 22yearold Aman S who is a budding makeup artiste He adds ldquoBut in these cases the problem is that itrsquos not a great job of makeuprdquoOne of Indiarsquos most popular makeup creator Ankush Bahuguna says ldquoSometimes makeup artistes take the concealer all the way up to the waterline which makes the under eyes look unnatural especially for men You then start to lose your skinrsquos natural texture and only see the concealerrsquos texturerdquoKatrina Kaifrsquos MUA and Subhash SinghAman explains the technicalities ldquoMenrsquos masculine features need to be highlighted mdash their cheekbones their jawlinerdquo he explains ldquoConcealer and foundation make a plain base for your face almost like a blank canvas You lose the dimension thatrsquos naturally present in masculine features And so you need to bring that dimension back to sculpt the face with shadows and highlightsrdquoIndia has another problem ldquoFoundation is always two shades lighter than skin tone This makes the makeup look quite unnatural You see it with brides toordquo says AmanOne thing hersquos noticed working in both the stage and the camera format is this ldquoWhen yoursquore doing makeup for cameras you have to be subtle In a public appearance or stage show you donrsquot really see every detail of someonersquos facerdquo he says ldquoBut on camera everything is visibleANKUSH BAHUGUNA and AMAN SIn maybe Amitabh Bachchanrsquos generation the camera wasnrsquot picking up as much Now it picks up everythingrdquo Bahuguna adds ldquoIt also depends on the light sometimes The makeup you do could look very good under natural light but the minute you switch to studio lights it could appear yellowrdquoWhat are some tips that might help ldquoUnderpainting applying contour concealer and blush before foundation is a wonderful technique that doesnrsquot look like there are layers and layers of product Powdering is very important You can cover your dark circles very well But if you have natural hollows underneath your eyes those natural contours will show if your face is shinyrdquo Bahuguna says ldquoOne product you really need is a colour corrector Without it you might put on too much concealer And always blend your makeup into the hair line It shouldnrsquot look like yoursquore wearing a mask of makeup Another very important product is a contour You lose a lot of dimension with a foundation and concealer base So itrsquos important to bring it backrdquoSubhash Singh who has been in the industry for decades and is best known for his work with Katrina Kaif says the long hours of TV production do not allow for finesse in makeup ldquoMakeup has to be done in such a way that it doesnrsquot come off for 8ndash9 hoursrdquo he says ldquoTV and web series also run on much lower budgets than films With such little budgets what can the makeup artiste even dordquoIn his experience ldquomen sweat a lot more So that leads to a lot of creasing Then makeup starts looking yellow in some places orange in othersrdquo he says ldquoYou have to make sure to moisturise and prime very well Use as little coverage as possiblerdquoHersquos also worked closely with Govinda and Shah Rukh Khan for many years We ask him are we just not used to seeing men in makeup ldquoIn the old days what great makeup Jeetendra ji used to wearAmit ji Amitabh Bachchan Dharam ji Dharmendra mdash all of them have been doing beautiful makeup since their daysrdquo Singh explains ldquoHrithik Roshan too is always in full makeup with proper contouring and highlightsrdquoThe financial lull in the industry is affecting their artistry ldquoThese days shoots stretch from 12 to 15 hours Before we would never have such hours I have never worked for more than eight hours and even when I did I was paid overtimerdquo Singh says ldquoEven the actors get too tired for touchups They want to rest in that free time where MUAs can do touchups Producers are squeezing artistes and technicians and minting money in that processrdquo