Men Can Be Pretty 2

The week before last I did a Spotlight post on Adam Lambert and last week I did a post all about drag queens, so it only seems natural to stretch out this theme of Men wearing makeup for just one more week, right?! Back in December, before the blog was revamped, I did a post called “Men Can Be Pretty, Too,” which featured makeup looks from men in the music industry. That post focused on more edgy or rock-inspired looks, from artists like Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars, Marilyn Manson and, once again, Adam Lambert. I decided it was time to do a little bit of a sequel to that one, Men Can Be Pretty, Too Part 2. This one is different from it’s predecessor in a lot of ways, though – first of all, inspired by Adam Lambert and the drag queens from last week’s post, I definitely wanted to focus on more “glam” looks from men, as opposed to the whole “guyliner” look or whatever it is that you would call Marilyn Manson’s style. It got me thinking of this whole little sub-community of male musicians out there who actually have really flashy, glamorous looks and that was enough to get the ball rolling for me! Another difference with this post is that I was a little more focused on just finding looks that I loved than actually looking to showcase artists that I love because, in my researching for this post, I found myself really falling in love with the looks of artists who are either not very well established or, in one case, whose music I generally really dislike. So, the music is not as much of a focus of this post. Whoopsie Daisies! All that having been said, let’s get on with the looks!

BILL KAULITZ of TOKIO HOTEL

Tokio Hotel are a hot young rock band out of Germany who made a pretty major impact here in the US a few years ago with the release of their debut English-language LP, “Scream.” Tokio Hotel are led by singer Bill Kaulitz, who started the band in 2001 alongside his twin brother, Tom. To be quite frank, Bill & Tokio Hotel are who I was talking about in the introduction to this post, whose music I just generally don’t like. A few years ago two of my best friends had me tag along with them to see this band in concert at the House of Blues in Orlando, and I wound up spending the majority of the evening on the smoking balcony at the venue, checking my cell phone and being bored out of my mind. So, suffice it to say, I don’t really have a lot of great things to say about their music. They did have one song that I kind of enjoyed, though, called “Monsoon.” The video for “Monsoon” can be seen below. Either way, Bill Kaulitz’s look cannot be denied – it is fresh, young, sexy and transtastic! As I was trying to think of male musicians with cool, interesting looks that I would want to recreate, his look came to mind right away!

PRODUCTS USED:

FACE:
MAC Pro Longwear Foundation in NW20
MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NW20
Covergirl Cheekers Blush in Sahara Sands

EYES:
Stila Matte Eye Shadows in Nanda Devi, Ebony and Chinois
L’oreal Extra Intense Liquid Pencil Eye Liner in Carbon Black
L’oreal Infallible Never Fail Eye Liner in Black
Stila Major Major Lash Mascara

LIPS:
Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Air Kiss

SUTAN AMRULL aka RAJA

Okay, so this is perhaps a little bit of a cop-out, I’m not going to lie. One of the drag queens featured in last week’s post was “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 3 winner, Raja, and I recreated a look from the video for her song, “Diamond Crowned Queen.” Raja, when not in drag, is a professional makeup artist named Sutan Amrull. He served as makeup artist for 9 cycles of “America’s Next Top Model,” as well as being Adam Lambert’s touring makeup artist. I wanted to recreate a makeup look from Sutan when not in full drag, as well as the look featured last week, so I selected a look from, wouldn’t you know it?! The video for the song “Diamond Crowned Queen.” When I watched the video last week for the look featured in that post, I also kind of fell in love with this look. I just think Sutan is such a sexy man, as well as being a really sexy queen, and he just does such great things with makeup that I couldn’t help but showcase him again!



PRODUCTS USED:

FACE:
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Foundation in Natural Beige
Clinique Line Smoothing Concealer in Moderately Fair
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Protector Finishing Powder
Tarte Mineral Bronzer in Park Avenue Princess

EYES:
Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. 4 Eye Shadow in Crystal
Urban Decay Naked2 Palette Eye Shadows in Suspect, Blackout and Busted
L’oreal Extra Intense Liquid Pencil Eye Liner in Carbon Black
L’oreal Infallible Never Fail Eye Liner in Black
Urban Decay Supercurl Curling Mascara

LIPS:
MAC Lip Erase
Kiss My Face Lip Balm

TOMMY JOE RATLIFF

Tommy Joe Ratliff is the bass guitarist for Adam Lambert’s band and has made quite a name for himself among Adam’s fans. First of all, he was the recipient of the “kiss heard round the world,” when Adam Lambert kissed his male guitarist on the American Music Awards in 2009, which sparked a large controversy in the US, and caused Adam to be banned from any show on the ABC network for a while. What’s more interesting, though, is the fact that Tommy Joe is actually a straight man, who just happens to make out with Adam Lambert on stage at pretty much every show. Adam’s fans have dubbed the pair of them “Adommy” and YouTube is loaded with various fan-made video compilations of the two of them. It is a little odd, to be honest, but I could see the appeal. First of all, Tommy Joe is a really gorgeous man. He must have a pretty massive appeal to girls because he wears makeup and makes out with boys but is actually straight, so they kind of get the best of both worlds there. It makes perfect sense. It is also kind of a cool representation of a whole younger generation of men, in a lot of ways. That is a story for a whole different post, though. Anyway, below you can check out a video of Adam introducing his band, including Tommy, and their fun, sexually-charged banter back and forth, as well as Tommy playing a pretty amazing solo and Adam performing his song “If I Had You,” from Adam’s Glam Nation Tour. Below that, I also recreated a look from Tommy Joe Ratliff. This look was taken from… oh God, here we go again… Raja’s video for the song “Diamond Crowned Queen.” I apologize. I was just really inspired by this video! This is the last you will hear of it, I swear.

PRODUCTS USED:

FACE:
Clinique Superbalanced Makeup in Ivory
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Concealer in Fair
Coty Airspun Loose Powder in Translucent

EYES:
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Shadow Pencil in Rehab
Urban Decay Naked2 Eye Shadows in Busted and Blackout
L’oreal Extra Intense Liquid Pencil Eye Liner in Carbon Black
L’oreal Infallible Never Fail Eye Liner in Black
Urban Decay Supercurl Curling Mascara

LIPS:
Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in Watermelon

JEFFREE STAR

Jeffree Star is, according to himself, the “Queen of the Internet.” To be more specific, he is a singer-songwriter, model, designer, makeup artist and general social media whore, in the best possible way. Jeffree shot to fame via his popularity on Myspace. Do you remember the Myspace, kids? He began self-releasing music through his Myspace page, which received over 100 million plays. He used that as a platform to launch an actual career in music, eventually getting signed to Akon’s Konvict Records, the same label that broke the one and only Lady Gaga. He also served as key makeup artist for porn publisher, Hustler, and created a massively successful line of t-shirts, hoodies and accessories for American mall-goth retailer, Hot Topic. In 2009, Jeffree released his first full-length album, called “Beauty Killer,” which I was kind of obsessed with for a long time. In fact, it is still one of my favorite records for when I go walking or exercise in any way! I also find it pretty inspiring that he has managed to build such a big career for himself with just the internet as a platform, and that he did this back in the Myspace days when it wasn’t near as common, or as fleeting, for that to happen as it is today.

I also decided to recreate a look from the video for the song “Beauty Killer,” which you can view above, and loved the look so much I wanted to record a tutorial for it, as well! Check out the tutorial below! As a sidenote, I don’t really feel like this is one of my better looks or tutorials, but you gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelette. Does that phrase make sense in this case? I don’t really know.

PRODUCTS USED:

FACE:
Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation in Classic Ivory
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Concealer in Fair
Sedona Lace Contour & Blush Palette (white highlight as setting powder, light pink blush)
Urban Decay Urbanglow Cream Highlight in Moonshine

EYES:
Urban Decay Naked2 Eye Shadows in Tease and Verve
Tarte for True Blood Eye Shadows in The True Death and Stake
Smashbox Limitless Longwear Eye Liner Pencil in Onyx
Sugarpill Cosmetics Pressed Eye Shadow in Dollipop (brows)
Urban Decay Supercurl Curling Mascara

LIPS:
MAC Lustre Lipstick in Viva Glam Gaga
So, the “Diamond Crowned Queen” video – what can be said about it that hasn’t been said yet. Not a thing! I didn’t really stop and consider until after the majority of the legwork was completed that this post is basically just one big extension of the last two week’s posts. I may as well have called it “Spotlight: Adam Lambert’s Friends and Associates.” That wasn’t my initial intention but is just how it wound up coming together. I hope you guys don’t mind. I promise you all, though, next week’s Friday Feature will not have a single thing to do with Adam Lambert, Raja or that damned “Diamond Crowned Queen” video. Scouts honor! Until then, I wish you all a beautiful weekend and a beautiful life!

Jason