I've noticed recently that there is a new trend in make-up. Magazines and websites have featured numerous articles and beauty companies are picking up on it. It's make-up for men.

Now, men wearing make-up is nothing new. Punks, rockers and goths (think Robert Smith or Alice Cooper) have been rocking the smudged-kohl look for years, but this new trend is towards tinted moisturisers, mascaras, concealers and, in a Sunday supplement recently, a full glossy, worthy-of-Angelina pout. . . The world is divided on the topic.

Jean Paul Gaultier has a make-up range for men, Clinique has a concealer for boys and Yves Saint Laurent has just launched a male version of its iconic brightener/concealer, Touch Eclat. So many brands are producing cosmetics for men but, you will notice, with clever marketing twists such as steel-grey packaging. The JPG ranges offers "complexion enhancers" which include a "tinted brow and lash groomer," -- otherwise known as mascara.

It's interesting that the very act of wearing make-up may be considered feminine, but for men to be comfortable with it they need masculine/unisex packaging and non-nonsense product names.

In certain circumstances, I think make-up on a man can be quite fantastic. Take eyeliner; on the right kind of man it can make even the most conservative females go weak at the knees. Ewan McGregor in his glam rock Velvet Goldmine get-up carried it off beautifully. Then there are the gorgeous androgynous types who could wear it to Tesco and you'd fall in love with them, people like Jonathan Rhys Meyers or the Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding. Johnny Depp, who had loads of it on in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies looked brilliant, but then again when does he not? Whatshisface from the Killers was very cute with a bit of the black stuff but remerged with a dodgy 70s 'tash for their second album and it all went a bit wrong.

But on yer average bloke, eyeliner can be a bit wrong. Robbie Williams can't quite get away with it; I'm undecided about actor/rocker Jared Leto (it just seems like he's trying too hard) and the identikit eejits Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie go out with are proof that a smudge of eyeliner is no guarantee of hotness.

So, on the right guy, eyeliner is great and I could tolerate a bit of concealer, but if it's veering towards foundation, fake tan and lipgloss, I would draw the line. . . And hide my makeup bag.

- Brenda McCormick