Is He Stealing Your Makeup? Survey Says: 'Yes'

by Laura Kenney (Subscribe to Laura Kenney's posts)
Posted Jan 22nd 2010 at 9:00AM

If his hair looks like Jared Leto's, he's probably dipped into your styling gel. Photo: Getty Images

Ladies, your man may be going behind your back. Lying, cheating and stealing -- your beauty products.

A British survey found that one in 10 men use their partner's makeup, but over 33 percent fail to reveal their habit to the ladies in their lives, reports The Daily Mail.

It gets worse. One-tenth of the men polled admitted nabbing concealer and foundation, and lip gloss was used by 20 percent of the 2,000 men surveyed for Sheilas' Wheels, a British insurance agency. They're also partial to face masks, scrubs, razors, hair removal creams, hair straighteners, nail polishes and mascaras.

We're wondering if American men -- the beer-slurping, Hail Mary-throwing, grill-mongering guys that they are -- have the same pretty little secrets? To find out, we conducted our own poll, turning to our e-mail contact list to unearth the truth. We surveyed guys on their furtive beauty habits, and women on catching their man in the act.

As one would suspect, most American men deny it all together. "Despite my meticulously groomed appearance I do not borrow anything from [name redacted]," a Boston-based insurance executive told us.

But odds are, they're fibbing. "He lies...he actually likes my conditioner," the insurance executive's fiancée tells StyleList. "He likes the way it makes his hair soft and I've found it in his travel bag when I purposely left it at home."

Men who do man up to their makeup habit, may blame their mothers. "My mom put makeup on me when I was 12 and had chicken pox so that I could board a plane to Europe without getting kicked off the flight," says a New York financial adviser.

Some guys turn to women's products to improvise in times of need. "Sometimes I borrow lip gloss if I don't have access to chapstick," said a Chicago doctor. OK, we'll give them that one.

But others, we caught red (or rather, pink) handed.

If Russell Brand is not stealing girl friend Katy Perry's concealer, he's definitely salvaging her shine serum. Photo: Wireimage.com

"I have borrowed [name redacted]'s deodorant when mine has run out," a New York lawyer confessed after swearing us to secrecy. But then he added "When traveling, I sometimes use her skin cleaner (Clinique pink stuff) as an aftershave (as it functions as an astringent)."

Casually dropping the word "astringent" belies skincare knowledge, setting off warning bells that perhaps this counselor is guiltier than he's led on.

Oh, men. They're as transparent as our clear lip gloss, if not probably even wearing it right now.

That brings us to the category of American men who cop cosmetics from the women in their lives -- and admit it. How manly?

Marilyn Manson is not afraid to show his true colors. We bet fiancée Evan Rachel Wood digs into his makeup bag. Photo: Getty Images

"A couple of months ago my ex came to visit and panicked because he forgot his hair gel," says an American fashion journalist who's based in London. "My two female roommates and I had to go through every hair product in the apartment to find something up to his standards."

Not all beauty-borrowing men are metrosexual. Some are, not surprisingly, a little caveman about it. A celebrity reporter in New York confesses: "When I moved in with my boyfriend, I was very surprised to find an old stick concealer hidden in the back of his bathroom cabinet. The label had rubbed off, so I couldn't even tell what brand it was. When I asked him about it, he said he had borrowed it from his sister in middle school for breakouts. Like a true man, he thought nothing of expiration dates and kept it all these years."

Our favorite men actually ask their women for advice. A Dallas-based information technology specialist tells us: "The only things I have used of my fiancée's are a facial cleanser and a facial moisturizer when she told me I should switch from the products I was using at the time to her brands."

And, in a complete role reversal, American women have been known to steal from their men. "I've never used her make-up or nail or hair styling gadgets," says the dude from Dallas.

"She, however, uses my hair gel from time to time."

Now that's what we call The American Dream.

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