With the whole metrosexual wave taking over, and Kylie Jenner and the likes storming social media with beauty challenges, you’d think that the men in our lives would be more aware of beauty terms. Plus, of course, I work in this field and I have always been yapping to the men in mine and throwing beauty jargon at them from left field for a while now. I went into this thinking my guy friends would show me up and I wouldn’t get ANYTHING interesting to talk about. But, I was SO wrong! Read on to find out what happened when I got my guy friends to define common makeup terms and tools!
First let’s get the introductions out of the way, to save their FACE and their rear end from flogs, I’m going to keep their names a secret. But we will name them:
GUY 1: 23, Research Consultant
GUY 2: 26, Remote sensing researcher(Has an undue advantage because he is the recipient of all the beauty articles that I am intrigued about.)
GUY 3: 30, Runs a digital ad agency
ROUND 1: Beauty Terms
I did a whole article about this, but oh the irony when your own friends do not read what you have written. THANK YOU, GUYS!
1. Contouring
A way to play up the hollows of your face to get more chiselled features.
Guy 1: Leaving a mark or making your way through something narrow?
Guy 2: Brushing shadow on your breasts to give the illusion of cleavage. (Boobs amirite?) Can also be used on facial features.
Guy 3: Kylie Jenner! (Yup, I knew that was coming up.) You get all those chiselled jawlines and stuff.
2. Highlighting
Amping up the higher points of your face where the light naturally hits, to make it stand out.
Guy 1: Used for enhancement.
Guy 2: Marking features that you want to emphasize more with a contrasting colour. No, wait! It’s a hair thing, you have highlights in your hair. (yes I do!)
Guy 3: Something you do on your eyes. I know this!
3. Colour Correction
Colour correcting is the technique of using colourful primers, powders, and concealers to correct issues with your skin tone.
Guy 1: It’s like a photoshop tool!
Guy 2: Hiding small blemishes on the face with rub on makeup.
Guy 3: I do this when I create graphics! Wait, isn’t this what you do to hide your love bites? (yup)
4. Strobing
Strobing is a makeup technique used to layer highlights on the face to create an illuminated complexion.
Guy 1: To strobe with a brush? To create movement?
Guy 2: It’s a highlighting technique for the face. Like on the cheek bones? Kinda hard to describe. Saw it on a BuzzFeed video. (Told you, he has an unfair advantage.)
Guy 3: I know strobing are lights, but I don’t know what it would mean for you girls.
5. K beauty
Korean beauty products and skincare. (Surprisingly most of them got it, but even for a second none of the wild guesses said K stands for my name. Again, Thanks, GUYS!)
Guy 1: Skincare brand from South Korea!
Guy 2: Korean beauty standards and products. Many of them are weird to westerners.I want to give examples of lip modification devices….?
Guy 3: Kim Kardashian beauty?
6. Double cleanse
Double-cleansing is simply the act of removing your makeup and SPF, excess sebum and dead skin until all signs of grime and buildup are removed before then actually getting down to cleansing the skin.
Guy 1: To remove makeup?
Guy 2: Way to open up pores and get rid of dirt in an effort to reduce pimples etc . By using a specific sequence of face washing techniques. (WOW!)
Guy 3: To wash your face twice?
7. T-zone
The forehead, nose, mouth and chin area; basically drawing a giant T on your face.
Guy 1: Forehead, nose, chin!
Guy 2: It’s like a group of areas on your face – forehead nose chin, you’re supposed to clean it in a sequence. Forms a T on your face. (I am realising now that this one has sat through a lot of beauty tutorials with me.)
Guy 3: It’s the top part of your upper lip. Like from the bottom of your nose to the top part of your lip.
8. Cupid’s bow
A shape like that of the double-curved bow often shown carried by Cupid, especially at the top edge of a person’s upper lip.
Guy 1: Upper lip? Or lower. Some part of the lip.
Guy 2: I’m not sure about this. Is it an eyebrow thing? The shape of the eyebrow.
Guy 3: It is something to do with your lips. (He low-key pouted while giving me this answer though!)
9. De-pot
Depotting is the practice of removing a makeup product, such as eyeshadow, blush or lipstick, from its original container and placing it into a more practical packaging.
Guy 1: Depot? Is it a magazine?
Guy 2: It’s a vapour machine for the face? Also, places where buses go.
Guy 3: Does it have something to do with your bum? (Oh man, to watch him blush while saying this!)
10. Kabuki Brush
A type of makeup brush with soft bristles that form a dense, dome-shaped head.
Guy 1: The fat brush? The one that’s all puffy. Like a watermelon.
Guy 2: I actually own this one. It’s a domed brush – also called mushroom brush. For the application of foundation, blush etc… I use it for watercolour. You also get flat variants. (This one is an artist, should’ve known he’d get this.)
Guy 3: I know what it is! It is a brush, that you use for foundation.
ROUND 2: Beauty Tools
I showed them some random pictures of weird beauty tools. Everyone totally surprised me in this round!
1. Eyebrow razor
Used for face shaving and removing fuzz.
Guy 1: Looks like some sort of blade, for the eyebrows? I don’t know where hair would be that fine.
Guy 2: Razor? For Epilation?
Guy 3: Razor for the eyebrows.
2. Fan brush
Used for highlighting mainly.
Guy 1: It’s a brush. Used for the cheeks? I don’t know.
Guy 2: Fan brush. For highlighting. Also, own one of these LOL… Great for painting trees.(totally believing that.)
Guy 3: This is used for highlighting. We have this in photoshop.
3. Mascara and shadow shield
Used to save your eye makeup from mascara stains.
Guy 1: Looks like some shielding thing. To protect the skin? It looks like the moon but.
Guy 2: It’s a mascara with an applicator? To get like wing eyelids.(two different parts of the eye!)
Guy 3: It is to press your eyelids after you use the mascara and stuff on your eyes.
4. Derma roller
A derma-roller contains hundreds of tiny needles. These needles create micro-injuries on the skin, which aids in increased collagen and elastin production – leaving your complexion tighter and plumper than it was beforehand.
Guy 1: Must be a skin care thing. It looks a bit odd.
Guy 2: Hair curler?
Guy 3: It is a face massager!
5. Facial hair removal spring
This tool through inward rotating movement pulls hair out from the area it is used on. It works similar to threading, but the only difference is that hair is pulled out from its root. It’s a little painful.
Guy 1: Hair remover of some kind.
Guy 2: This is a modified tweezers… For removing hair. You pull it apart!
Guy 3: This is for your upper lip.
6. Cat-eye stamps
Used with your eyeliner to get the perfect winged eyeliner.
Guy 1: Is it for the skin too? They look like sandals, to be honest!
Guy 2: Stencil for eyebrows.
Guy 3: This is to get that wing thing. (WOW)
7. Dense foundation brush (Oval)
Used to blend face makeup for an airbrushed finish.
Guy 1: It’s a brush to put foundation.
Guy 2: It’s a sponge for applying eye shadow?
Guy 3: Brush for foundation.
Well, all in all, they did pretty well. THEY would have done better had they gone through the stuff I write, but you can’t expect that can you? Until next time…
