Like many professional women in Tokyo, Misao Masuko, in her late 30s, lavishes money on her appearance, spending hundreds of dollars a month selecting her favorite cosmetics.
But she has one strict condition -- her makeup artist must be a man.
"Isn't it better to have makeup done from a man's point of view?" says Masuko, who spends an average of ¥20,000 to ¥30,000 (US$170 to US$250 dollars) on cosmetic products each month.
"I recommend to my friends to have makeup done by men," she says.
While still small in number, male makeup artists are becoming a growing commercial force in the world's second-largest cosmetics market as wealthier and more assertive women are ready to pay for a man's expert eye.
Tomonori Sakamaki, 28, has been working as a makeup artist for US cosmetic brand Bobbi Brown for seven years. He takes care of 10 to 20 customers a day at Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district.
"When I used to try to talk to female customers, they would tend to respond to the female staff members," he says.
"But I gradually learned how to grab their attention. And once they started talking to me, I can get them to sit down for a makeup trial," he says.
His secrets in wooing women to his chair include chatting to them about their jobs or their outside interests, while at first he would only gab away about his products.
He is one of 32 men out of the company's 197 makeup artists in Japan.
Unlike female workers, men don't wear makeup to represent their brands and so have to be more creative in how to physically impress potential customers.
"I try to keep a good posture while working to make a good impression to customers," he says.
Minori Otomo, a spokeswoman at Bobbi Brown in Japan, says the profession attracts a certain type of man.
"To be a makeup artist for a model or entertainer is to be considered someone special. Men can feel the same way, even though they're working for a cosmetic company," she says.
Misako Nakajima, a marketing consultant, said that the male makeup artist trend started with overseas cosmetic brands and faced some opposition in Japan.
"Women are not necessarily unaccustomed to men in the beauty industry as there are male hairdressers," she says.
"But when it comes to consulting over skincare, women might still have resistance because it can involve sensitive factors such as women's physical conditions," she says.
Japanese cosmetic bellwether Shiseido says it is also turning to men, although for now only 30 of the company's approximately 10,000 workers offering skincare advice are male.
"There is an increasing interest among men for the job considering the number of applicants," says Shigesato Kobayashi, spokesman at Shiseido.
"We started hiring male staff members for the position in around 2000 and customers have come to accept male beauty counselors," he says.
Some customers are happy to have makeup done by men, seeing them either as youngsters their sons' age or experts on the male mindset, Kobayashi says.
Another Japanese cosmetic company, Kanebo, also has about 30 male makeup artists at a subsidiary and says female customers like the idea.
"Men who aim to be beauty counselors or makeup artists are often sensitive and attentive. They have a high aptitude for the job and are good at customer service work," Kanebo's spokeswoman Eriko Kase says.
They meet the growing demands of Japanese women, who increasingly stay single later in life and have higher salaries which they are ready to spend.
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