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It usually begins small.
A dab of concealer. A tinted moisturizer. Possibly a forehead gel that goes from borrowed to purchased. For a lot of males, like Daniel Rankin, make-up has remodeled from one thing taboo right into a instrument to make them look much less drained and extra put collectively.
“I bear in mind considering, ‘Am I actually doing this?'” Rankin, a 24-year-old promoting agent from New York who likes to buy at Sephora, informed CNBC. “However as soon as I attempted it, it simply grew to become regular.”
In entrance of loo mirrors and in fitness center locker rooms, extra males at the moment are including cosmetics to their routines, trade specialists informed CNBC. The boys’s make-up market is now one of the profitable — and largely untapped — progress alternatives left in magnificence, and specialty retailers like Ulta Magnificence and Sephora together with big-box firms like Goal and Walmart all see alternative.
“Males’s magnificence is among the final classes left the place manufacturers can doubtless nonetheless see simple double-digit progress potential just by displaying up,” mentioned Delphine Horvath, professor of cosmetics and perfume advertising and marketing on the Vogue Institute of Know-how.
Males’s grooming gross sales in the USA topped $7.1 billion in 2025, up 6.9% yr over yr, in line with market analysis agency NielsenIQ. The worldwide market was valued at $61.6 billion in 2024 and projected to surpass $85 billion by 2032, with the largest progress pushed by the skin-care sector, in line with Fortune Enterprise Insights.
A lot of the momentum is coming from Gen Z.
Within the U.S., 68% of Gen Z males ages 18 to 27 used facial skin-care merchandise in 2024, a pointy bounce from 42% simply two years earlier, in line with information from market intelligence agency Mintel.
“That is not area of interest,” mentioned Linda Dang, CEO of Canada-based Asian magnificence retailer Sukoshi. “Males are forming routines, that often begins at skincare after which expands additional, they’re not simply shopping for random merchandise. That is what makes this market so invaluable.”
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In contrast to one-off grooming purchases, make-up encourages repeat use and experimentation. A person who begins with concealer usually provides primer, setting powder or tinted SPF over time, mentioned Farah Jemai, international advertising and marketing affiliate lead at magnificence model Unleashia.
“When males uncover make-up that works, they do not use as soon as and by no means once more,” Jemai informed CNBC. “They restock.”
Market researchers estimate that in 2022, about 15% of U.S. heterosexual males ages 18 to 65 have been already utilizing cosmetics and make-up, whereas one other 17% mentioned they’d contemplate it, in line with Ipsos. Trade specialists say these figures are doubtless greater in 2026.
Openness to cosmetics has grown, because the share of U.S. males who say they by no means put on make-up has fallen from greater than 90% in 2019 to about 75% in 2024, Statista survey information present.
Retailers cater to males
Magnificence conglomerates and startups alike are responding to the expansion in males’s magnificence.
Ulta Magnificence and and Sephora have begun integrating males’s complexion merchandise into gender-neutral, pores and skin care-first shows slightly than having “Males’s” aisles. These gender-specific shows can really feel intimidating or stigmatizing to some males, Horvath mentioned.
Huge-box retailers like Walmart and Goal have additionally expanded their males’s cosmetics or grooming choices.
For instance, in 2025, Goal partnered with on-line streaming collective AMP, Any Means Doable, to launch TONE. The boys‑ahead private care model debuted in Goal shops nationwide in July, leveraging AMP’s large Gen Z male following throughout YouTube and Twitch.
On-line — the place a lot of the expansion and discovery is occurring — many magnificence manufacturers are pouring cash into influencer partnerships to extend engagement and gross sales on TikTok Store and Amazon.
“So many manufacturers at the moment are placing most of their advertising and marketing finances into influencer advertising and marketing to satisfy folks the place they already are on-line and make it simpler to click on ‘purchase,'” mentioned Janet Kim, a vp at Okay-beauty model Neogen.
Others are leaning into digital schooling to show males what completely different objects do.
The model Battle Paint sells make-up merchandise like concealer pens, tinted moisturizers and anti-shine powders that function QR codes on the packaging. Scanning them launches video tutorials explaining what every product does — with out forcing clients to ask questions in a retailer.
“The most important barrier is not worth, it is uncertainty,” Dang mentioned. “Males wish to know what a product does and how you can use it with out feeling awkward.”
However the path to mass adoption is not assured.
Trade analysts warn that social stigma stays excessive and inflation threatens to curb spending on experimental, nonessential items. Retailers additionally face a steep studying curve: It’s tough to scale a market when the core buyer does not know how you can use the product.
Goal’s SoHo retailer has an eye catching “Magnificence Bar” that exhibits off fragrances, make-up objects and extra.
Courtesy of Goal
The emergence of males’s make-up
Whereas males have worn make-up for hundreds of years, from historic Egypt to Elizabethan England, the fashionable industrial males’s make-up motion traces its roots to the mid-2010s.
In 2016, CoverGirl made historical past by appointing then 17-year-old YouTuber James Charles as its first-ever “CoverBoy,” inserting a male face on a mass-market cosmetics model for the primary time.
Nonetheless, magnificence conglomerates largely targeted on girls till not too long ago, Sukoshi’s Dang mentioned. Now, a broader cultural reset round masculinity is happening and firms are racing to monetize it, FIT’s Horvath mentioned.
Social media has been the only largest accelerant, Dang mentioned.
On TikTok and Instagram, male creators put up step-by-step make-up routines, product breakdowns and before-and-after outcomes that always emphasize delicate adjustments slightly than dramatic seems to be. Hashtags tied to males’s grooming and make-up have amassed billions of views, with #mensgrooming alone surpassing 26 billion views on TikTok.
“TikTok democratized the ‘how-to,'” mentioned Dang. “You do not have to ask your sister or guess anymore. You simply scroll, see a man who seems to be such as you fixing his zits in 30 seconds, and click on ‘purchase.’ It eliminated the gatekeepers.”
Gen Z males are additionally extra snug rejecting inflexible gender classes and extra skeptical of selling that frames merchandise as inherently masculine or female, Horvath mentioned.
On the similar time, make-up has more and more been folded right into a broader wellness and optimization tradition — generally known as “looksmaxxing” — that features health monitoring, dietary supplements, hair-loss prevention and longevity routines.
“Many males have began framing grooming and, for some, make-up as upkeep, not self-importance,” Horvath mentioned. “That reframing removes stigma and unlocks spending.”
Celeb affect has additional accelerated adoption, with stars like Harry Kinds, Brad Pitt and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson launching their very own skincare and make-up manufacturers, mirroring the development of celeb saturation largely seen in spirits.
Johnson’s model Papatui, which launched at Goal in 2024 and spans pores and skin, hair, physique and tattoo care, was created in response to ongoing questions on his grooming routine. It now competes immediately with legacy names like Clinique, L’Oréal and Kiehl’s.
CoverGirl James Charles
Supply: COVERGIRL
Transferring forward
Because the market matures, a debate is forming: Do males need “males’s make-up,” or do they simply need make-up?
Horvath mentioned there’s a “bifurcation” in how firms are advertising and marketing their merchandise.
Manufacturers like Battle Paint and Stryx argue that males want merchandise designed for his or her thicker, oilier pores and skin, and packaged in masculine, tool-like containers that really feel at house in a fitness center bag.
However Gen Z shoppers are more and more gravitating towards gender-neutral manufacturers like LVMH co-owned Fenty Magnificence, The Extraordinary and Haus Labs. For them, labels that say “For Males” can really feel outdated and even patronizing, Horvath mentioned.
“In ten years, I do not suppose we’ll be speaking about ‘males’s make-up’ anymore,” Horvath mentioned. “We’ll simply be speaking about make-up. The gender binary in magnificence is dissolving, and the gross sales information is lastly catching as much as the tradition.”
