Jonathan Trew - Male make-up the foundation for success at work and play

IT USED to be easy to list the qualities needed for a man to get to the top of his profession.

Good leadership, strategic thinking and an appetite for hard work would be the sort of attributes any thrusting young executive would want on his CV. But now it seems a deft hand with the bronzer brush could be just as important as an MBA.

Thanks to the influence of actors like Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Caribbean and singers such as Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, blokes wearing eyeliner is, apparently, no longer seen as provocative. So much so that last week an enterprising company launched an eye pencil called Guyliner, prompting an agonised debate about the boundaries of male grooming. Do we really have to slap on the mancake if we want to be thoroughly modern misters?



David Graham sells men's Dior products at Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh and is convinced a touch of blusher in the boardroom could be an asset to just as many men as women. "If you are high up in your job and are a role model for a lot of people then you can't afford to look tired or drained," he says. "You need to look fresh and professional and there are cosmetic products out there that can help do that and will benefit your career."



Hmm, maybe this is a theory worth putting to the test. After half an hour of being treated with men's lotions and potions at David's Dior counter, my career has yet to rocket but my habitual pasty complexion is looking healthier. I work from home and can easily go three days without stepping outside. Combine this with naturally pale Celtic skin and more often than not I look as though I need the services of a mortician rather than a beautician. However, after being cleansed, moisturised and lightly bronzed, I look pretty damn perky. My boardroom coup at Scotland on Sunday may still be some way off, but I no longer look as though I have crawled from under a stone. Fortunately nor do I look like Dale 'Dayglo' Winton.



"The trick is to enhance your features and cover up blemishes without it looking as though you are wearing make-up," confides David. Certainly the bags under my eyes are less visible, the broken capillaries on my nose are well hidden and my eyes look brighter. "No matter if you have had one hours sleep or nine you will always look refreshed," says David diplomatically.



Male grooming products accounted for £685m of sales in the UK last year and overall the sector has increased in value by 800% since 2000. The cosmetics industry has not been slow to fuel the demand. Clinique, Dermalogica, Jean Paul Gaultier and Dior have all launched men's cosmetic ranges in the past couple of years and, while guyliner may still be a rarity in the average wash bag, there can't be many blokes who continue to think that a tube of moisturiser poses a question about their sexuality.



Surfing the wave of male grooming for the past five years, HIM salon on Edinburgh's Queen Street is dedicated to making men look more presentable. A bloke-friendly beauty salon, it is decorated with sporting memorabilia such as signed Scotland rugby tops, baseball mitts and hockey sticks. Chilled beers are available to help calm customers who might be feeling nervous about getting their eyebrows tinted. Under a reassuringly blokey pic of Billys Baxter and Bremner, beauty and massage therapist Judy MacGillivary explains that she does a good business in male waxing, facials and massage.



Her average customer is in his mid-20s and keen to have a more sophisticated grooming regime than the splash it on all over approach favoured by their fathers. "We do a lot of facials for men concerned about their skin," she says. "They get to 25 or 30 and someone points out a wrinkle or they notice a line on their faces and that's when they start thinking."

Judy can't quite imagine that guyliner is going to be a regular sight on Scottish streets but she points out that it would have been just as hard to imagine men having facials 10 years ago, never mind back, crack 'n' sack waxes. Rather like the first rule of Fight Club, the first rule of male grooming is that you do not talk about male grooming, is that there is no male grooming. Or at least no one wants to own up to it. Looking snappy is okay but being seen as vain is nearly as bad as having streaky foundation. "If a man has his eyebrows shaped or the bit in the middle trimmed then they worry that someone else might notice," Judy says.



The products aimed at men follow the same no-fuss concept. On the back of the Dermalogica skin kit packaging, the blurb begins by asking, "Want a low maintenance relationship?" before detailing how little hassle their ointments are. "Women's products will go into great detail about the ingredients and what they do," says Judy. "The men's cut to the chase a lot quicker. They say what the effect will be rather than explaining how amino acids work."



Traditionally, women's beauty products claim to make the users look slimmer and younger. Men's products make a more basic implicit promise which can be distilled down to this: "Use me and you will pull fit birds."



"There is a peacock factor," acknowledges David. "Men want to preen their feathers so they appeal to the opposite sex. Footballers and actors will always use a skincare and make-up line and men follow those role models. They mimic the success by buying the clothes their role models wear and emulating their grooming. They want to be David Beckham or whoever it is."



Beckham's recent bulging underwear campaign has probably created more anxiety than envy among many men, but at least now it is becoming more acceptable to use foundation to cover our blushes. Admittedly, it may be some time yet before the fishermen of Peterhead are swapping mascara tips, but a discreet dab of bronzer could be a start. It might not make you CEO, but it'll help you hide your hangover from the boss.