The Guy Who Wears Make-up
The quest to look good is not limited to fashion. Hamlet Chan’s passion is for skincare and make-up.
Chan is a part-time make-up artist. The 18-year-old estimates that he has tried more than 100 skin care and make-up products. The obsession began when he entered puberty and pimples started breaking out on his face. “Men put on make-up to cover their imperfections like blemish marks,” he says.
From an initial desire to cover up his spots, Chan’s daily skincare routine is now made up of five to six steps including the application of anti-wrinkle and whitening products. He also uses beauty masks twice a week. Apart from that, Chan goes to beauty salons for deep cleansing treatments every month.
To Chan, taking care of his skin care is more than just a habit, it is a responsibility. He maintains his complexion every day and has a beauty blog where he posts beauty-related articles.
Most of the posts are product reviews and articles teaching people how to put on make-up. Apart from the text, Chan posts photos of himself to show the effects of beauty products and demonstrate different looks using make-up. Recently, beauty brands started giving him free samples to try. “It’s a kind of recognition. It means people have confidence in me. I noticed there aren’t many men doing the same thing,” he says.
In one of his blog posts, Chan posted photos of himself wearing a pair of dramatic fake eyelashes with sequins. Some female bloggers mistook him for a girl. That post attracted a total of 205 comments including Chan’s replies. Most of the bloggers were impressed by his courage and make-up techniques.
Chan is now a skincare and make- up guru among his friends and fellow bloggers. Both men and women seek his advice by posting questions regarding their skin care routine on his blog. Some male bloggers have even asked him to go out with them to choose skincare products. Chan declined.
When asked whether his love of make-up and skincare was influenced by his mother or elder sister, Chan laughs, “On the contrary,, I am the one influencing my family.” At first, his parents did not support this hobby, but when his mother started to try out his products, skincare became a common interest among the family members. Chan’s mother now follows a more complicated skin care routine than before and even uses Chan’s skincare products .
Still, make-up and skincare alone are not enough to satisfy Chan’s hunger for beauty. He is planning to have Botox injections for face-slimming. “When it comes to cosmetic surgery, I think I am open to it,” he says, “I want to have a nose job. My nose isn’t straight at all.”
