17 Times Celeb Men Wore Makeup On The Red Carpet, From A Bit Of Secret Foundation To Dramatic Eye Looks

Famous women have been delivering brilliant beauty looks on the red carpet for generations. In recent years, the men have (slowly) begun making strides toward striking makeup looks of their own. While a lot of their makeup looks feel like "doing the least," it's still cool to see them stepping outside of traditional expectations!

Here are 17 times men experimented with makeup on the red carpet:

1.At the NYC premiere of Dune: Part Two, Austin Butler lined his lower lids with white eyeliner, which is an old hack for making your eyes look bigger, brighter, and more awake.

2.For the 2021 Met Gala, Lil Nas X's makeup artist, Grace Pae, cut out a custom cat-eye appliqué.

She told Allure, "We wanted him to radiate... I did want to do a little something extra, because, I mean, it's the Met."

3.To turn Lil Nas X into the "modern version of a cat" for the 2023 Met Gala, makeup artist Pat McGrath spent nine hours applying crystals and pearls to his face and body.

Pat told Vogue that, to create the look, a team had to "fly all over the globe to find all of the pieces," including "crystals from Austria" and "couture lace from 25 years ago."

4.At the 2022 Met Gala, Conan Gray wore blush to evoke the Gilded Age.

He told V magazine, "For me personally, I know it’s not a very chic thing to say, but I was like, 'I wanna look like a chandelier.' We wanted to do something that felt very elegant, I think that the Gilded Age had a lot of elegance to it and a lot of excess as well. So those are the two things that we really wanted to channel with the look makeup-wise and hair-wise. I feel like curls are very, very Gilded era and very American, and so I wanted to lean into the curly. My hair is curly regardless of whether I want it to be or not, so we were like, 'Let’s take that.' And with the makeup, when I think of the Gilded Age, I just think of blush, so we wanna do some blush."

5.At the Velvet Goldmine premiere, Christian Bale sported silver eyeshadow and a bit of blush in tribute to his David Bowie-esque character.

6.In the '00s, Pete Wentz often rocked eyeliner — which he called "guyliner" — as part of his signature look.

He told People, "I started wearing it 'cuz I felt like it tested some boundaries, and it just, like, looked cool."

He also explained his makeup routine. He said, "For guys, putting on your eyeliner, first step is you take your sharpened pencil and apply it around your eye. Second step putting on guyliner is to smear it because you're a guy; you don't really want your makeup to look perfect, which usually isn't a problem. And the third step is to smudge the eyeshadow on. So the fourth and final step is to go to sleep. You wake up with perfect eyes 'cuz day-old eye makeup looks way better."

In 2010, he told Alternative Press, "About four months ago or something, I decided... I was like, 'Everybody knows I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna wear eyeliner and, you know, whatever, these clothes, whatever.' And I was like, 'I'm gonna just stop doing that.' Because, it's like, at some point, you wanna keep people guessing, and you don't wanna become a parody of yourself."

7.At the 2018 Academy Awards, Daniel Kaluuya wore Fenty Beauty's Pro Filt'r foundation. He wore a mix of shades 480 and 490.

Amber Amos, his makeup artist, told Billboard, "The most important part is skin prep and making sure his skin is very hydrated because, realistically, most guys aren’t prepping their skin, and they don’t really have a routine. Daniel is so low-key, every time the goal is to perfect the skin and make him look less tired than he is because he’s doing a lot."

8.Damiano David of Måneskin often wears makeup — most notably eyeliner — on the red carpet.

Daniele Venturelli / Daniele Venturelli/WireImage / Via Getty, Lester Cohen / Getty Images for The Recording Academy

In a YouTube video where NikkieTutorials did his makeup, Damiano said, "I didn't [know], like, that makeup exists til, like, 2016. But one time, I was at [my bandmate Victoria De Angelis's] place, and she said, 'Would you mind [trying] this?' And she gave me this casual [makeup]. And I was like, 'Okay, let's try that.' I only did, like, the [eyeliner], and it was like, 'Oh my god, that's fantastic.' So I felt in love immediately, and since that day, I, like, started wearing makeup, even when I was just, like, hanging around with my friends."

9.At the 2020 Grammys, Billy Porter accentuated his dazzling catsuit and crystal fringe hat with a matching metallic blue and silver makeup look.

His makeup artist, Christine Nelli, told Billboard that she gave him a full face of Smashbox, then she used Swarovski crystals on the corners of his eyes and as a beauty mark.

10.Then, at the 2022 BET Awards, Billy Porter sported an optical illusion eye look. When he closed his eyes, it looked like he had metallic eyes.

Momodu Mansaray / WireImage / Via Getty, Aaron J. Thornton / Getty Images for BET

11.Since his American Idol days, Adam Lambert has always done his own makeup for red carpet events.

Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic / Via Getty, Michael Buckner / Variety via Getty Images

He told Allure, "Coming from theater and stage club performances, I had a heavy-handed approach early on with some of my makeup skills. I look back on some of the red carpet looks I did right at the beginning, and some of it's a little much — not necessarily how severe the makeup look is, just the technique. I was loading it on in a way that wasn't always the best. Over the years, I've learned a lot about blending and when to pull back, and also products. There are so many resources out there now and so many tutorials, and the cosmetic industry is booming, and there are all these amazing brands. Getting to experiment with different products just leads to better results."

12.Pharrell Williams wore a little bit of black eyeliner at the 2013 Met Gala, which was punk-themed.

13.At the 2019 Met Gala, Darren Criss paired dramatic eye makeup with a very minimal lip.

Makeup artist Jessica Ortiz used Shiseido products for his look.

14.To create Ncuti Gatwa's flawless look for the Barbie London premiere, groomer Carlos Ferraz used Charlotte Tilbury makeup (as well as skincare products).

Specifically, Carlos used Charlotte Tilbury's Airbrush Flawless Foundation, Beautiful Skin Foundation, Beautiful Skin Sun-Kissed Glow Bronzer, and Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray.

15.At the 2018 Met Gala, Troye Sivan sported a smokey eye and a glowy base.

He told Vanity Fair, "I felt amazing this night. That’s another one of those nights where you kind of can’t believe it’s happening when it’s happening...planning a Met Gala look is one of the funnest things I’ve ever done. To be able to build the look from the ground up and work from the ground up with Valentino and Pierpaolo [Piccioli] on what I wanted the silhouette to be and what I wanted the color to look like and what I wanted to do with my hair and my makeup...I love experimenting with makeup."

16.At the 2023 Met Gala, model Alton Mason wore a full face of Valentino Beauty.

On Instagram, his makeup artist, Taylour Chanel, shared the full breakdown.

She wrote, "For this years beauty look we used

- Very Valentino Concealer (DA3 & DA5)- Very Valentino Foundation (DA4 & DA5)- Color Flip Eyeshadow Palette (Dusk & Nero)- Dream Dust Glitter Shadow in Silver Spark- Brow Trio Eyebrow Liner (Granite)."

17.And finally, at the 2023 Met Gala, Dwyane Wade wore several Lancome base products.

Sharing a full breakdown of the look on Instagram, his makeup artist, Andrea C. Samuels, said that she used Lancome's La Base Pro, Advanced Gènifique Youth Concentrate Serum, Teint Idole Always On concealer, Teint Idole Ultra Wear 24H Foundation, and Fix It Forget It 24H Setting Mist."