According to trend forecaster Antoinette van den Berg, and her Future-Touch cosmetics trend and product forecasting agency, men’s make-up could indeed be the next major colour cosmetics trend. “People were skeptical about men’s skin 20 years ago and it has now become the norm. I predict the same thing happening for men’s make-up,” says ven den Berg.
The forecaster and designer says she takes her cue for trends from the international world of fashion, art, music and blogs, often spotting ideas when travelling through airports or visiting different cities. “I may have a gut feel about something quite little which I then start researching,” she says. “For example, I got a feeling for men starting to use colour cosmetics when I saw a guy wearing nail varnish in Amsterdam and then discovered how big the trend for men’s make-up is in the music world. I know where to look for these emerging trends, having spent seven years living in different countries and cultures.”
Future-Touch’s latest trend guide, Men’s Make-Up, explains why men are now considered ready for colour cosmetics and how they will start using make-up for eyes, lips, nails and on the face. It is predicted that liners will be a key trend for men, but these will be quite different to the kind of eye and lip liners used by women.
Van den Berg comments: “The unique selling point about Future-Touch is that we analyse the visual human behaviour of the present, translate this into the future and interpret it into innovative cosmetic trends and product advice.”
The Men’s Make-Up guide includes a specially designed USB stick combining flash images and a spoken presentation by van den Berg. It also comes with a sample set of the kind of chunky liner pens, textures and colours men might use, designed to inspire clients developing products for the male market.