One in 10 British men secretly wear make-up: study

More than 1,800 men aged 18 and over in the UK were surveyed by designer secret sales website to find out their attitudes towards make-up and beauty products - and whether they would own up to using cosmetics themselves.

When asked "do you ever secretly wear make-up?", 11 per cent of respondents admitted they did.

When asked how often they did so, 52 per cent said they did so 'regularly', while 21 per cent admitted that they wore it 'every day', the 'Daily Mail' reported.

These respondents were then asked to highlight which make-up products they used with concealer (71 per cent), lip gloss (64 per cent) and eyeliner (49 per cent) the most popular.

Mascara and bronzer were also in the beauty regime of 31 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

More than a third of the men taking part also said they used fake tanning products - with the majority of these preferring to use at-home products.

Meanwhile, 32 per cent said they preferred to go to spray-tanning salons while 14 per cent said they regularly used tanning beds.

The survey then asked respondents who secretly wore make-up which town or city in the UK they lived in, revealing that Northerners were more likely to wear make-up than their Southern counterparts - with just three of the top ten towns and cities being located in the south.

The poll found that those from Newcastle were the most likely to wear cosmetics, closely followed by men from Essex.

Mark Pearson, founder of the website HushHush.Com, said thanks to male stars wearing make-up, it is becoming more acceptable.

"Despite this, the majority of men who wear make-up feel that they have to do so in secret, although in reality, people around them are bound to have noticed but, in true British style are probably too polite to bring it up!" he added.