While men’s makeup has a long, storied history and has come to be more embraced and celebrated in recent years, there are parts of the world where rigidity around masculinity and sexuality still prevails.
With its history of social and legally sanctioned homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny, Nigeria is one of them. In 2013, the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act was enacted, criminalizing sexual relationships between two people of the same gender with penalties of up to 14 years in prison; the law also criminalizes allyship and association. With these existing laws, individuals who don’t adhere to a traditional standard of gender face many challenges in their daily lives, from name-calling to threats of violence.
However, this hasn’t stopped a crop of Nigerian beauty influencers from boldly expressing themselves with makeup. Though they face many hurdles, including a bill proposed last year that prohibits and criminalizes cross-dressing in Nigeria, these creators are breaking barriers and inspiring younger generations to express themselves unapologetically.
Onyx Godwin
You might call Onyx Godwin the Marquise de Montespan of Nigerian drag. The 23-year-old model, actor, beauty blogger, and media personality is a major player in the rising youthquake of drag. When I get on Zoom with Godwin, they’re wearing relatively subtle makeup: eyes draped in mascara, lips saturated in shiny gloss, and a razzle-dazzle set of nails. As a child, Godwin was obsessed with their mother’s makeup kit. They remember baking their face in brown powder and applying washes of colorful eyeshadow on their eyelids. “I would wear them and make a majestic runway around my compound, and though there were side comments, I didn’t care; I just thought I looked glamorous,” Godwin tells Vogue. After spending the better part of their years secretly putting on makeup, Godwin officially stepped into their glam in 2016 after a prominent Nigerian blogger, Linda Ikeji, offered them a job as a red-carpet host for a TV event. Godwin would go on to host several red-carpet moments around Lagos, harmonizing striking dresses with vivid makeup combinations.
Godwin is a part of the Nigerian drag scene that’s thriving, even in the face of the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act of 2013. In secret ballrooms, queens walk the runway and lip-synch to everything from Afrobeat to pop in hopes of being crowned the winner. Despite the small scale of these shows, they unite the LGBTQ+ community around several cities, cheering them on both IRL and from afar. These celebratory shows stand in contrast to the everyday reality that Godwin faces.
“Generally, I don’t feel safe in Nigeria,” they say. “The fervent homophobia I face in Nigeria is so alienating and emotionally wrecking. I have lost a lot of job opportunities, and trying to get more seems impossible. I have gotten harassed by people who I couldn’t report to authorities because of the situation in Nigeria, and the online threats are massive.” Still, they’re keeping their faith and view makeup as a tool of activism. “I feel that every gender-nonconforming person who wears makeup is an activist, knowingly or unknowingly, because they are always fighting the government, societal norms, homophobia, and transphobia.”
Michael Kohh
“I hope I look pretty,” is the first thing makeup artist and content creator Michael Kohh says when we hop on Zoom. Kohh isn’t wearing makeup, appearing on my screen in a natural glow with moisturized skin and glossy lips. Growing up with two sisters, Kohh found himself curious about their makeup routines. In 2015 he attended a makeup workshop, deciding to teach himself from there by watching tutorials on YouTube. Within a year he made himself his muse, crafting the boldest of looks and sharing them with his then blooming audience.
Kohh’s almost 24,000 Instagram followers are met with transformational videos that show him blending, contouring, and highlighting until he is fully drag ready, wig et al. Kohh is always hyped to share his posts and excited for the wave of positive comments—not that the negative comments don’t come in. “When I started at first, I won’t lie, I expected more negativity. On Instagram the positivity is enormous, but on Twitter the hate comments are massive,” says Kohh. Though he has never been threatened for his content, he finds it still sparks online negativity, which he never hesitates to delete.
Support from his family is what keeps him moving. “My sisters are my biggest support system; they always let me use their faces to practice different looks,” notes Kohh. “My mother, she was very indifferent when I started makeup. I won’t say she wasn’t supportive; it just took her time to grasp. But right now it’s better. I can literally tell my mother I won’t be available for a few hours because I have a couple of videos to shoot, and then she will understand.”
Temitope The Ingenious
Temitope The Ingenious’s eclectic makeup combines old Nollywood glam with quintessential Gen Z elements, from metallic eyebrows to graphic eyeliners. The Ingenious discovered makeup when he was 15 years old; he was curious as to why his mother and sister didn’t apply makeup. Because his family has genetically long eyelashes, he started with mascara, and he loved the person he saw in the mirror: It made him feel warm and happy. Though he felt pressure not to wear makeup during his college years, after university his love of beauty was reignited. “I started modeling, and during shoot sessions I would be required to have makeup on, and it became a thing of, ‘Tope, what do you want to do?,’ and it allowed me to try several looks I loved,” he says. And just like that, makeup slowly became part of his life.
The model, content creator, and beauty influencer is helping to redefine masculinity and make fashion and beauty more fluid in Nigeria. The Ingenious’s makeup look might be considered more minimalist by drag standards, but his beauty influence is still high-impact. He says that he takes inspiration from the Euphoria cast—in particular, characters Kat Hernandez and Maddy Perez (played by Barbie Ferreira and Alexa Demie).
“I’m really grateful for the community I have on social media,” says The Ingenious. “They are very supportive, and each time I post beauty content, I’m shocked by the appreciation and love showered on me.” In a conservative country like Nigeria, he knows what he might face when he leaves home with makeup on, but it doesn’t shake him. “I have always known that guys who put on makeup used to get dragged, so I’m always ready to clap back. Even in public, I always have this fierce, unapproachable disposition that chases potential troubles away because I’m here to take up space. My [wearing] makeup on does not make me lesser; I will look good, and they will stare at me whether they like it or not.”