However, although the survey, conducted by secret sales website HushHush.com, finds that one in ten UK men admit to wearing make-up, they are not quite ready to shout about it from the rooftops; preferring instead to keep their cosmetics regime a secret.
The survey asked more than 1800 men about their perceptions of cosmetics and beauty products, honing in on how often, if at all, they were used by respondents.
The study found that 11 per cent of men asked admitted to wearing make-up secretly with more than half saying they did regularly and one in five admitting to do so every day.
Favoured products
The products feeling the most love from the surveyed male population turned out to be concealer with 71 per cent admitting to using it.
Lip gloss and eyeliner followed up as most popular products with 64 and 49 per cent respectively. Mascara and bronzer completed the list of product most likely to be used in a man's beauty regime.
It appears the sun-kissed look is an increasingly popular choice amongst UK males as well, with HushHush noting that over a third of the respondents admitting to using tanning product, with leave-on and at-home products the favourite; fitting in with the growing trend of at-home beauty in other cosmetics categories.
Hush!
The founder of HushHush.com, Mark Pearson, explains that it is due to public figures and celebrities using make-up more and more, that is becoming the norm and becoming a more acceptable practice for men.
However, he adds: “Despite this, the majority of men who wear make-up feel that they have to do so in secret, although in reality, people around them are bound to have noticed but, in true British style are probably too polite to bring it up!”
Global trend
It is not just in the UK that the trend has been taking off either. Whilst men’s grooming has been on the up for a while, it is men’s cosmetics that have seen a boost in South Korea, prompting some of the country’s biggest cosmetic companies to target this new market.
Last year, market researcher Euromonitor reported that South Korean men $495.4 million on skin care products represented 21 per cent of global sales.
The market is expected to continue growing with traditional categories such as toiletries pitching in, but it is men’s skin care that has emerged as the best performing.
Face-creams, cleansers and foundation are among the products that men have been buying in large quantities in Korea, in recent months.