When Maybelline New York introduced Manny Gutierrez, better known online as Manny MUA, as one of the faces of its Big Shot Mascara campaign, the beauty world did what the beauty world does best: it blinked, gasped, zoomed in, and immediately started talking. Mascara, after all, is not just a tiny wand in a shiny tube. In Maybelline’s universe, mascara is practically a founding document. So when a major drugstore makeup brand placed a male beauty influencer front and center in a mascara campaign, it was not a small cosmetic tweak. It was a cultural wink with very long lashes.
The campaign paired Manny Gutierrez with fellow beauty powerhouse Shayla Mitchell, known as MakeupShayla, for the launch of Maybelline’s Volum’ Express The Colossal Big Shot Mascara. The message was bold, catchy, and perfectly suited for the influencer age: “Lash like a boss.” But beneath the gold packaging and glossy campaign videos was a bigger story about gender, self-expression, social media, and the changing face of beauty advertising.
For decades, mainstream cosmetics advertising mostly spoke to women. Men could buy hair gel, shaving cream, cologne, and maybe a suspiciously aggressive “face energizer,” but mascara? That aisle was treated like a velvet-rope club with a “ladies only” sign. Maybelline’s decision helped crack that sign in half, and the beauty industry has not looked quite the same since.
Who Is Manny Gutierrez, Maybelline’s First Male Campaign Star?
Manny Gutierrez, widely known as Manny MUA, built his name through YouTube tutorials, Instagram glam, product reviews, and a signature confidence that made makeup feel less like a rulebook and more like a playground. He was not simply applying foundation, highlighter, and lashes; he was creating a space where viewers could see makeup as fun, expressive, dramatic, and absolutely not limited by gender.
Before his Maybelline breakthrough, Manny had already earned a loyal online following. His audience connected with his technical skill, humor, and openness about the idea that beauty belongs to anyone who wants to participate. His well-known message, often summarized as boys deserving cosmetic recognition too, fit naturally with a moment when social media was forcing traditional beauty brands to pay attention to creators who were not waiting for permission from old-school gatekeepers.
That is what made the Maybelline partnership so important. Manny was not chosen because he fit the old beauty mold. He was chosen because he helped prove the mold was outdated, dusty, and probably needed a setting spray.
The Big Shot Mascara Campaign: What Actually Happened?
Maybelline’s Big Shot Mascara campaign launched in early 2017 and featured Manny Gutierrez alongside Shayla Mitchell. The two appeared in digital videos built around a glam, high-energy New York City story. The campaign showed them getting ready, applying the Colossal Big Shot Mascara, and stepping into the city with a “boss” attitude.
The product itself was designed around volume, impact, and instant lash drama. The gold tube looked like it came prepared to win an award, and the campaign language leaned into confidence: big lashes, big presence, big personality. That branding worked especially well because both Manny and Shayla had already built their careers on being unapologetically visible online.
Instead of relying only on traditional celebrities or runway models, Maybelline tapped digital beauty influencers whose audiences already trusted them. That was a smart business move. Beauty lovers were no longer learning every trick from magazine ads. They were watching tutorials, comparing swatches, replaying product reviews, and buying what their favorite creators actually used. A mascara campaign starring YouTubers was not a side experiment. It was a sign that the center of beauty influence had moved.
Why Maybelline Choosing a Male Face Mattered
Maybelline was not the first beauty brand to include a man in makeup advertising, but its decision carried extra weight because of the brand’s mass-market reach. This was not a tiny indie launch speaking only to a niche audience. This was Maybelline, one of the most recognizable names in drugstore beauty, putting a male creator into a mainstream mascara campaign.
That visibility mattered for several reasons. First, it challenged the outdated idea that makeup is naturally or exclusively feminine. Makeup has always been about presentation, creativity, performance, and identity. History is full of men wearing cosmetics, from stage performers to musicians to cultural icons. What changed in modern retail was not human creativity; it was marketing. For a long time, advertising narrowed makeup into a pink-labeled category aimed primarily at women. Manny’s campaign helped widen the frame.
Second, the move gave young beauty fans something many had rarely seen from a major brand: a man wearing mascara not as a joke, not as a costume, and not as a “shock” gimmick, but as a polished campaign star. That difference is huge. Representation works best when it is not presented as a novelty act. Manny was there because he could sell the product, create the look, command the camera, and connect with millions of viewers.
Third, the campaign helped validate the growing community of male beauty creators who were already shaping trends online. Male makeup artists and beauty vloggers had been teaching, reviewing, contouring, blending, and slaying for years. Maybelline’s campaign simply brought that reality into a bigger commercial spotlight.
The Timing: Beauty Advertising Was Already Changing
The Maybelline announcement came shortly after CoverGirl named James Charles its first CoverBoy in 2016. Together, these moments suggested that mainstream beauty brands were finally recognizing what social media users already knew: makeup audiences were more diverse than traditional advertising had admitted.
Instagram and YouTube changed the beauty business because they made talent visible without requiring approval from a magazine editor, modeling agency, or corporate casting department. A creator could film a tutorial in a bedroom, post a transformation, and reach millions. Viewers did not care whether that creator matched an old-fashioned beauty stereotype. They cared whether the makeup looked good, whether the advice worked, and whether the personality felt real.
This shift also changed who had authority. In the past, brands told consumers what beauty should look like. By the mid-2010s, consumers were telling brands what beauty already looked like on their feeds. Men in makeup were not suddenly invented by campaigns like Maybelline’s. They were already there, already influential, and already building communities. The campaign was less a beginning than a public acknowledgment.
Manny MUA and Shayla Mitchell: A Smart Influencer Pairing
Pairing Manny Gutierrez with Shayla Mitchell was more than a nice casting choice. It made the campaign feel like a conversation between two creator communities. Shayla, a respected beauty influencer known for glamorous looks and serious makeup skill, brought her own strong audience and professional credibility. Manny brought a groundbreaking role as Maybelline’s first male face in the campaign. Together, they represented the new beauty media ecosystem: diverse, digital, personality-driven, and highly visual.
The campaign’s “boss” theme also fit both creators. Manny and Shayla were not passive models holding a mascara tube next to a wind machine. They were self-made digital personalities who had turned makeup expertise into careers. That was the real message behind the slogan. To “lash like a boss” was not only to wear mascara. It was to own your look, your ambition, your camera angle, and possibly your ring light.
The Internet Reaction: Praise, Debate, and Predictable Eyelash Drama
As expected, the announcement sparked plenty of online reaction. Many fans celebrated Maybelline for embracing a more inclusive image of beauty. For viewers who had long followed Manny MUA, the campaign felt like a win not only for one creator but for everyone who had been told makeup was “not for them.”
Of course, no major cultural beauty moment arrives without a few people clutching their pearls so tightly they could press them into powder. Some critics questioned why a man should appear in a mascara campaign at all. But that criticism mostly proved the point. If a man wearing mascara in an ad makes people uncomfortable, then the ad is revealing how narrow beauty expectations have been.
Most importantly, the campaign made a simple statement without needing a lecture: makeup is a product, not a gender contract. Mascara does not check your ID. Foundation does not care what box you tick on a form. A brow pencil has never once asked for pronouns before filling in a sparse arch. Beauty products are tools, and people get to decide how they use them.
Why This Was Good Business, Not Just Good PR
Some people look at inclusive campaigns and label them risky. In reality, Maybelline’s move was also practical. Beauty consumers were already following male influencers. They were already watching tutorials by creators like Manny MUA, Patrick Starrr, James Charles, and others. They were already buying products recommended by people who did not fit traditional beauty-ad casting.
By partnering with Manny, Maybelline aligned itself with where the market was going. Younger consumers especially tend to value authenticity, representation, and social media fluency. They want brands to understand the culture they live in, not the culture of a dusty department-store counter from 1987.
Influencer marketing also offers something traditional advertising often lacks: built-in trust. Manny’s audience did not see him as a random face selected by a boardroom. They saw him as someone who knew makeup, loved makeup, and could actually explain whether a product performed. That credibility is powerful. A glossy ad may catch attention, but a trusted creator can move shoppers from curiosity to checkout.
What The Campaign Said About Masculinity
One of the most interesting parts of the Maybelline moment was the way it challenged narrow ideas of masculinity. For years, men’s grooming advertising often relied on toughness, control, sports language, and packaging that looked like it might contain motor oil. Makeup, by contrast, was framed as delicate, feminine, and decorative.
Manny’s campaign refused that split. He appeared confident, stylish, skilled, and masculine on his own terms. He did not need to downplay the glam to make it acceptable. He did not need to pretend the mascara was secretly “for performance optimization” or “high-impact lash engineering for men.” He just wore the product well.
That matters because self-expression should not require people to shrink themselves into someone else’s comfort zone. The campaign helped normalize the idea that masculinity can include artistry, color, softness, drama, and a very good lash line.
Maybelline’s Mascara Legacy Made the Moment Even Bigger
The symbolism was especially rich because Maybelline’s identity is deeply tied to mascara. The brand’s origin story goes back to eye makeup, lashes, and the desire to make eyes stand out. Over the decades, Maybelline became known for accessible, everyday beauty products, especially mascara formulas that could be found in drugstores across America.
That history made Big Shot Mascara the perfect product for a milestone campaign. This was not a random item hidden in the back of the catalog. Mascara is central to Maybelline’s brand DNA. Putting Manny MUA in a mascara campaign sent a louder message than a quiet social post ever could. It said that one of beauty’s most iconic product categories was open to everyone.
The Broader Impact on Gender-Inclusive Beauty
After campaigns like Maybelline’s, more beauty brands began exploring gender-inclusive messaging. Some launched products with neutral packaging. Others featured men, nonbinary creators, and LGBTQ+ voices in campaigns. The industry did not transform overnight, and representation has never moved in a perfectly straight line, but the visibility of creators like Manny helped push the conversation forward.
The most meaningful change was not simply that men appeared in ads. It was that beauty brands began to understand consumers as communities rather than categories. A person buying mascara might be a woman, a man, nonbinary, a drag performer, a makeup beginner, a professional artist, a teenager experimenting before school, or a dad secretly trying concealer before a video meeting. The product can serve all of them.
That broader understanding makes beauty marketing more honest. People have always used makeup for many reasons: confidence, artistry, performance, identity, correction, celebration, or just because a glitter shadow looked lonely on the shelf. Gender-inclusive campaigns acknowledge that reality instead of pretending beauty fits into one narrow script.
What Brands Can Learn From Maybelline’s Big Shot Moment
1. Representation Works Best When It Feels Natural
Manny MUA was not randomly dropped into the campaign. He was already a respected beauty creator. His presence made sense because his expertise matched the product and the audience.
2. Digital Creators Are Cultural Leaders
The campaign recognized that influencers were not just promotional add-ons. They were shaping beauty trends, language, techniques, and consumer trust.
3. Inclusivity Should Be Visible, Not Whispered
Maybelline did not hide Manny in the background. He was a face of the campaign. That visibility is what made the moment matter.
4. Consumers Notice Authenticity
Modern beauty fans can sense when a brand is using diversity as decoration. The Big Shot campaign worked because Manny’s role connected to his real career, real audience, and real makeup authority.
Experiences Related to Maybelline’s First Male Mascara Face
For many makeup lovers, the Maybelline campaign felt like one of those small public moments that quietly changes private lives. Imagine a teenage boy standing in the cosmetics aisle, pretending to look at lip balm while actually staring at mascara. Before campaigns like this, he might have felt that every package was speaking around him, not to him. Then he sees a male beauty creator in a Maybelline campaign, wearing mascara confidently and professionally, and something shifts. The product no longer feels like forbidden territory. It feels like an option.
That experience is powerful because beauty is often tied to permission. People rarely need permission to like a color or admire a look, but social pressure can make them feel as if they do. A campaign featuring Manny MUA did not personally hand every nervous shopper a mascara wand, but it did make the aisle feel a little less guarded. It suggested that curiosity was allowed. Experimentation was allowed. Looking fabulous on a Tuesday for absolutely no dramatic reason was also allowed.
There is also the experience of longtime makeup fans seeing their online world finally reflected by a major brand. Beauty YouTube and Instagram had already been full of male creators, queer creators, drag-inspired artistry, and gender-fluid style. Fans knew the talent was there. They watched tutorials, learned blending techniques, bought recommended products, and quoted their favorite creators like beauty scripture. When Maybelline selected Manny, it felt as though the mainstream finally caught up to the comment section.
For parents, teachers, and older beauty consumers, the campaign may have created a different kind of experience: a conversation starter. A mother shopping with her son might see the ad and realize makeup interest is not something to panic over. A father might not understand contouring, but he could understand confidence. A friend group might debate whether men in mascara should still be considered unusual, and by the end of the conversation, the unusual part might seem less like the mascara and more like the old rule against it.
On a practical level, the campaign also encouraged people to think differently about product recommendations. Mascara performance does not depend on gender. A good mascara needs to lift, darken, define, volumize, resist flaking, and survive the emotional journey of a long day. Manny’s presence reminded shoppers that expertise can come from anyone who studies the craft. If a creator knows how to make lashes look dramatic without creating eight-legged spider fringe, that creator has earned a seat at the beauty table.
The most lasting experience connected to the campaign is the feeling of being seen. That may sound simple, but in advertising, visibility has value. When people see someone like them represented in a polished, mainstream campaign, it can soften shame and replace it with possibility. Maybelline’s first male mascara face was not just about selling a tube of product. It was about making room for more faces, more styles, more stories, and more people who want their lashes to enter the room five seconds before they do.
Conclusion
Maybelline’s decision to debut Manny Gutierrez as its first-ever male face for the Big Shot Mascara campaign was more than a memorable beauty headline. It was a sign of a larger shift in how makeup brands understand identity, influence, and self-expression. By featuring Manny MUA alongside Shayla Mitchell, Maybelline embraced the reality that beauty culture had already become more inclusive, more digital, and more creatively fearless than traditional advertising suggested.
The campaign worked because it connected product, personality, and progress. It promoted mascara, yes, but it also promoted confidence. It showed that men can wear makeup without apology, that influencers can lead mainstream campaigns, and that beauty belongs to anyone willing to pick up the wand. In the end, “lash like a boss” was not just a slogan. It was a tiny gold-tubed declaration that the future of beauty has more room, more sparkle, and thankfully, more mascara.
Note: This article is based on publicly reported information about Maybelline New York’s 2017 Big Shot Mascara campaign featuring Manny Gutierrez and Shayla Mitchell, along with broader beauty-industry coverage of male beauty influencers and gender-inclusive makeup advertising.
