Fashion & Beauty

Makeup is men’s darkest secret — here’s what they’re using

When John Sawyer noticed a huge red pimple on his nose, he was appalled.

“I couldn’t go to work like that,” the 45-year-old Jersey City resident tells The Post. “I called my girlfriend [over] and said, ‘We have to do something about this.’ ”

Reading between the lines, Elizabeth D’Aleo grabbed her makeup bag and bound into the bathroom.

“I put a little concealer on it, and then I used some bronzer to mix it into his skin,” says D’Aleo, 39, of that morning five years ago.

Now, the medical equipment salesman, and onetime college football player, regularly reaches for D’Aleo’s Sephora Make No Mistake concealer stick.

“I don’t care,” says D’Aleo about sharing it with him. “Well, as long as he puts it back.”

Guys are likelier than ever to lather on high-end shaving cream and lotion before bed, and now they seem to be warming up to the idea of wearing makeup, too. In a recent survey of 2,142 men conducted by market research company Morning Consult, 33 percent of men ages 18 to 29 said they would consider wearing makeup, and 30 percent of men ages 30 to 44 reported said they’d be open to the idea. Classic names in the beauty biz, including Chanel, Clinique and Tom Ford have all released dude-friendly products; and new cutting-edge brands have popped up, such as Stryx and War Paint, which market makeup specifically for men.

Still, a stigma persists. Even a guy like Sawyer, who touches up pimples and swipes on bronzer several times a month, feels bashful about his secret habit. “I don’t go around advertising it,” he says.

It’s not just heterosexual men who are primping in private either. Despite makeup becoming more accepted in the LGTBQ community, some gay men say that shopping for supplies still makes them uncomfortable.

“I’d be embarrassed to go to the makeup department in Bloomingdale’s because I think it screams ‘gay’ or ‘feminine,’” says Kyle Lee, a hat designer who runs his own brand, Henri Hats. He is gay but says that he doesn’t like being stereotyped.

Kyle Lee
Kyle LeeBrian Zak/NY Post

The 26-year-old Midtown resident says he prefers to buy his go-to face powder, which he brushes on for big events — or just when he’s breaking out — at Duane Reade, “where it’s discreet.”

“I don’t wear makeup to look fake, I just want to look like I have perfect skin,” Lee says.

Makeup artist Amber D’Angelo, who manages the Givenchy beauty counter at Saks Fifth Avenue, says she gets “all sorts” of men dropping by, including “finance guys” — albeit for cologne, at least initially.

“Just getting guys into the boutique is the first threshold, and our ‘Gentleman’ fragrance is what we’re known for,” she says. But that’s often the gateway to getting them to try the brand’s “Mister” line, which consists of concealer pens, brow products, a mattifying stick and a gel-lotion “that’s not too ‘makeup-y,’ ” says D’Angelo.

Givenchy Mister collection.
Givenchy Mister collection.Annie Wermiel/NY Post

“I ask all clients, male and female, what they do for their skincare,” she says. “Nine times out of 10, guys — if they’re over 20 — will say they’re concerned about their under-eyes.” She’ll prescribe an eye cream with caffeine and the concealer, which she’s sold about a half-dozen times in the past couple of months.

But not all guys are as game.

For James Buford, just entering the drug store caused his insecurities to kick in. “It was so embarrassing,” he recalls of trips to stock up on L’Oréal liquid foundation. 

Buford, 40, started wearing foundation in his 20s to cover acne bumps and scars. Early on, he figured out that he should buy two different colors, and mix them to match his skin tone. Still, he always worried that people, especially women, would notice.

“While you’re talking to people you can feel it on your skin, and you’re like, ‘I wonder if it’s visible?’ ” says Buford, now a married dad living in Troy, Mich. “I’d get so self-conscious and nervous. I was constantly going to the bathroom to check.”

More than once, he managed to keep his secret safe for long enough to bring a lady home with him, only to be outed the morning after a hookup.

“They’d see [makeup streaks] on my pillow,” Buford says. “I would just tell them the truth.” Most of the women were understanding, and one even shared some important advice: Wash it off before bed.

The factory owner even wore foundation on his wedding day five years ago, when he and his bride shared a makeup artist. Today, Buford says his days of wearing makeup are behind him, since his skin has more or less cleared up. But when he gets the occasional pimple, he knows how to handle it.

“If I have one spot I’ll get just a dab of my wife’s [makeup],” he says.

Reality TV star Tom Sandoval is working to break the stigma around men wearing makeup. He has used his role on Bravo’s hit show “Vanderpump Rules” to advocate for it.

Tom Sandoval
Tom SandovalGetty Images for AMC

“The way I look at it is, why can’t we take advantage of this basic technology?” Sandoval tells The Post. “It was taboo for guys to talk about shaving their [nether regions], now that’s normal. Why can’t makeup be normal?”

Sandoval, 36, was introduced to the magic of makeup while working as a model in LA in his early 20s, by a makeup artist who tipped him to a few go-to products, such as MAC concealer, Nars bronzer and Sephora brushes.

“From that point on, I was like, ‘S–t I’m going out tonight, I’ll put a little concealer on,’ or ‘I have a big meeting, I’ll put something under my eyes,’ ” he says.

Now, the reality star carries around translucent powder and a brush on set.

“All my guy friends are like, ‘Dude, I look like s–t,’ and I’m like, ‘Come here’ and I put on a little concealer,” he says. “They’re like, ‘Whoa, wow man, what is this? Show me.’ ”

The actor also took it upon himself to ensure all the groomsmen at the July wedding of his fellow castmates Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney-Schwartz were shine-free.

“I ran around touching up all the guys’ faces,” Sandoval says, adding that he hopes to launch his own makeup line, called the Groomsman’s Survival Kit, soon. He believes it’s just a matter of time before men’s makeup is mainstream.

“It’s gonna be common,” he says. “[Eventually] people are gonna be like, ‘I wear makeup too, bro.’ ”