Move follows similar strategy by competitor CoverGirl, which appointed James Charles as its ambassador in October

Maybelline New York is the latest big makeup brand to tap into the rise of the “beauty boy”, appointing American YouTuber Manny Gutierrez as its first male ambassador following a similar move by its competitor CoverGirl in October.

Gutierrez, who has accrued more than two million followers to his YouTube channel since he started posting makeup tutorials in 2014, stars in the brand’s new That Boss Life campaign.

He announced the news in an Instagram post, saying he was “honored” and “thrilled”.

Gutierrez, who has a Makeup Geek eye shadow palette and an Ofra lip set named after him, is part of a new wave of “beauty boys”: male-identifying makeup artists who post bold, colourful and elaborate looks to social media and rack up millions of followers from the YouTube tutorials.

CoverGirl names makeup artist James Charles its first cover boy Read more

In a feature for Marie Claire last year, he said he had become interested in makeup as a young boy, playing with his Mormon mother’s lipstick.

“I wanted to play with eyeliner and makeup while other boys were playing with G.I. Joes,” he said. “So it was kind of tough for me because I didn’t really understand why I wanted to play with the ‘girl’ things rather than the ‘boy’ things.”

Gutierrez is friends with Patrick Simondac – or Patrick Starrr – who has 2.8 million Instagram followers, and close to two million on YouTube. Both worked at makeup counters at Macy’s, Sephora and MAC before their social media careers took off; this year, Simondac was chosen as a brand ambassador for nail polish line Formula X, and travelled to Spain for NYX Cosmetics.

While many “beauty boys” own the influence that drag makeup has had on their aesthetic, they aren’t performing as women, but are rather wearing makeup as men. As Gutierrez explained to Marie Claire: “It’s an art form for me. I’m still confident as a boy and I will always be a boy. I can be confident with bare skin and with a full face.”

In October 2016, CoverGirl paved the way for Maybelline, announcing its latest ambassador as James Charles: a teenager who gained social media notoriety the month before after bringing his own professional lighting gear to retake his senior photos “so my highlight would be poppin’”.

The singer Zendaya reposted the tweet with the comment “you win”.

James Charles (@jamescharles) So I retook my senior photos & brought my ring light with me so my highlight would be poppin. I love being extra 💀 pic.twitter.com/7Qu1yu8U2P

The appointment was a savvy move for CoverGirl, which was set to profit from Charles’ expansive social media reach – now 1.2 million on Instagram, and 500,000 on YouTube.



At the time, the brand praised his “transformative, dynamic makeup looks” which were “an inspiration to women, men, guys and girls who might have been afraid to do the same”.

In an interview with the New York Times, Charles said he was part of a growing movement facilitated by the internet: “Men in makeup is becoming more widely accepted. But it’s going to take so much more open-mindedness to have it be a common thing.”

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