Top Makeup Manga Recommendations

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru

Also known as My Dress-Up Darling.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Ecchi , Romance , Slice of Life

Traumatized by a childhood incident with a friend who took exception to his love of traditional dolls, doll-artisan hopeful Gojou Wakana passes his days as a loner, finding solace in the home ec room at his high school. To Wakana, people like beautiful Kitagawa Marin, a trendy girl who's always surrounded by a throng of friends, is practically an alien from another world. But when cheerful Marin--never one to be shy--spots Wakana sewing away one day after school, she barges in with the aim of roping her quiet classmate into her secret hobby: cosplay! Will Wakana's wounded heart be able to handle the invasion from this sexy alien?!



Note: Includes four extra chapters.

Tags: Cosplay , Otaku Culture , Fashion , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Gyaru , Heterosexual , Makeup , Seinen , Photography , Educational , Crossdressing , School , Primarily Female Cast , Drawing , Unrequited Love , Nudity

Kuragehime

Also known as Princess Jellyfish.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Tsukimi Kurashita has a strange fascination with jellyfish. She’s loved them from a young age and has carried that love with her to her new life in the big city of Tokyo. There, she resides in Amamizukan, a safe-haven for girl geeks who regularly gush over a range of things from trains to Japanese dolls. However, a chance meeting at a pet shop has Tsukimi crossing paths with one of the things that the residents of Amamizukan have been desperately trying to avoid—a beautiful and fashionable woman! But there’s much more to this woman than her trendy clothes! This odd encounter is only the beginning of a new and unexpected path for Tsukimi and her friends.



Note: Chapter count includes 10 extra chapters

Tags: Josei , Female Protagonist , Fashion , Crossdressing , Foreign , Love Triangle , Heterosexual , Otaku Culture , Language Barrier , Primarily Adult Cast , LGBTQ+ Themes , Found Family , Urban , Makeup , Age Gap , Drawing , Male Harem , Gender Bending , Animals , Coming of Age

Yeosingangnim

Also known as True Beauty.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance

After binge-watching beauty videos online, a shy comic book fan masters the art of makeup and sees her social standing skyrocket as she becomes her school’s prettiest pretty girl overnight. But will her elite status be short-lived? How long can she keep her real self a secret? And what about that cute boy who knows her secret?



Note: Chapter count includes a prologue and 33 side stories.

Tags: Makeup , Love Triangle , Female Protagonist , Full Color , Fashion , Heterosexual , Time Skip , Idol , College , Kuudere , Long Strip , Bullying , Ensemble Cast , School , Tragedy

Jirai Nan Desu ka? Chihara-san

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Romance , Slice of Life

The girl sitting next to me at the start of the new semester is the rumored "landmine" girl… but… is Chihara-san really the "landmine" that everyone says she is?



Tags: Heterosexual , School , Iyashikei , Male Protagonist , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Female Protagonist , Makeup , Episodic , Primarily Teen Cast , Surreal Comedy

Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata

Also known as I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Romance

It’s a familiar story: a popular high school student gives their plain friend a makeover and transforms their life. But this time, the path to a new life isn’t quite so straight and narrow. Kenshirou Midou has loved cosmetics all his life, keeping his obsession secret from almost everyone except for his childhood friend Hiura Mihate. One day, Kenshirou gets permission to practice applying makeup on Hiura, and the results are earth-shattering: Hiura’s appearance transforms from a plain, undersized boy to a pretty, petite girl, and Kenshirou discovers just how freeing it is to apply his passion! Yet he’s not the only one who finds the process liberating. Hiura likes the makeup, and the subsequent “dress-up” in feminine clothes, and decides to start wearing the girls’ uniform to school. Kenshirou doesn’t understand if he’s unlocked something in Hiura, or if he’s simply seeing a new side to his childhood buddy that he never noticed before. What are these feelings bubbling between them now–is this attraction truly new?



This series was originally self-published to Pixiv and was later serialized in Pixiv comicPOOL.

Nominated for the Tsugimanga 2020 Award in the Web Manga Category.

Tags: Femboy , Crossdressing , Makeup , Boys' Love , LGBTQ+ Themes , Shoujo , School , Male Protagonist

Himaten!

Also known as Hima-Ten!.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Romance , Slice of Life

High school home ec expert Tenichi earns extra money with a part-time job cleaning houses. But one day, Himari, the owner and model of the popular cosmetics brand Hima Riz, transfers into his class. Say hello to some company president girl x house-cleaner boy romantic comedy hijinks!



Tags: Love Triangle , Shounen , Heterosexual , Female Harem , School , Male Protagonist , Work , Primarily Teen Cast , Modeling , Makeup , Food

Hwajang Jiwojuneun Namja

Also known as The Makeup Remover.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

After years of being told to focus on studying, Yeseul feels lost when she starts college and is suddenly expected to pay attention to makeup. When a chance encounter with brilliant makeup artist Yuseong leads to her taking part in a televised makeup competition, Yeseul begins to question the role that makeup and appearance play in society.



Tags: Makeup , Female Protagonist , Full Color , Fashion , College , Photography , Primarily Adult Cast , Heterosexual , Love Triangle , Long Strip , Age Gap , Gyaru , Idol , Twins , Revenge , Tomboy , Urban , Crossdressing , Tragedy

Genderless Danshi ni Aisareteimasu.

Also known as My Androgynous Boyfriend.

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance , Slice of Life

His makeup is flawless! The daily ins-and-outs of an office lady and her beautiful boyfriend.

Wako and her androgynous boyfriend don’t exactly have the most traditional of relationships. She spends her days working hard in the world of publishing, while he spends his time obsessing over fashion and makeup—all with the goal of making himself beautiful just for her. This romantic slice-of-life story is about love, relationships, and breaking with tradition!



Tags: Fashion , Josei , Primarily Adult Cast , Crossdressing , Office Lady , Heterosexual , Idol , Makeup , Work , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Bisexual , Gender Bending , LGBTQ+ Themes , Marriage

Hoshino, Me wo Tsubutte.

Also known as The Two Faces of Misaki Hoshino..

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Romance

How did I end up her personal makeup artist...? Kobayakawa was the class outcast; no one remembered his name, and he spent his breaks pretending to nap. But one evening, he saw something none of his classmates had...the popular Misaki Hoshino's real face! That evening—that very moment—his hectic days protecting Hoshino's secret began! Watch lives change in this apathetic boy meets incognito girl story!!



Tags: School , Love Triangle , Bullying , Shounen , Male Protagonist , Gyaru , Makeup

Bless

Also known as Bless.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Slice of Life

They said Aia was destined to be a model, and Jun was bullied for her freckles. Together, they will take back the power to define themselves in an inspirational fashion manga that asks cutting questions about what it really means to be beautiful—and what it takes to overcome an arbitrary system that seems to respect talent over hard work.



Tags: Makeup , Fashion , Male Protagonist , Coming of Age , Shounen , School , LGBTQ+ Themes , Female Protagonist , Modeling

Otomen

Also known as Otomen.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Romance

Asuka Masamune is a guy who loves girly things--sewing, knitting, making cute stuffed animals and reading shojo comics. But in a world where boys are expected to act manly, Asuka must hide his beloved hobbies and play the part of a masculine jock instead. Ryo Miyakozuka, on the other hand, is a girl who can't sew or bake a cake to save her life. Asuka finds himself drawn to Ryo, but she likes only the manliest of men! Can Asuka ever show his true self to anyone, much less to the girl that he's falling for?



Notes:
- Includes the one-shot "Glass no Otomen: Sen no Kamen wo Motsu Kinoto Otoko (ガラスの乙男)".
- Includes the one-shot "Love Chick (らぶちっく)".

Tags: School , Shoujo , Heterosexual , Tomboy , Primarily Teen Cast , Food , Estranged Family , Femboy , Male Protagonist , Crossdressing , LGBTQ+ Themes , Martial Arts , Time Skip , Drawing , Amnesia , Makeup

Beauty Pop

Also known as Beauty Pop.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Romance

Kiri's friend Kanako gives a present to one of the members of the Scissors Project. Her act of kindness is interpreted as a bribe to get a makeover, and they reject her out of hand for being too ugly. Kiri decides to help Kanako and give the boys a lesson in what true beauty is.



Included one-shots:
Volume 2: Dream Come True
Volume 3: Teen Drop
Volume 7: Twisted Typhoon; I Want to Be a Prince
Volume 10: Shampoo's Concern; Hysteric Heart; Daily Life in the Narumi Family

Tags: Female Protagonist , Work , Shoujo , Heterosexual , Love Triangle , School , School Club , Primarily Teen Cast , Fashion , Makeup , Male Harem , Tsundere

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge♥

Also known as The Wallflower: Yamatonadeshiko Shichihenge.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance

It's a gorgeous, spacious mansion, and four handsome, fifteen-year-old friends are allowed to live in it for free! There's only one condition—that within three years the guys must transform the owner's wallflower niece into a lady befitting the palace in which they all live! How hard can it be?

Enter Sunako Nakahara, the agoraphobic, horror-movie-loving, pockmark-faced, frizzy-haired, fashion-illiterate recluse who tends to break into explosive nosebleeds whenever she sees anyone attractive. This project is going to take more than our four heroes ever expected: it needs a miracle!



Note: Includes the special chapter "Sunako no Otsukai" (スナコのお使い) contained within Volume 5 of the manga.

Tags: Shoujo , Episodic , Hikikomori , Surreal Comedy , Makeup , Parody , Primarily Teen Cast , Female Protagonist , Chibi , School , Heterosexual , Ojou-sama , Tsundere , Male Harem

Gal ni Yasashii Otaku-kun

Also known as Otaku x Gal.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Romance

Otakura is a nerdy otaku and Narumi is a popular gal—two students from complete opposite ends of the high school social hierarchy. Their paths unexpectedly cross when Narumi asks Otakura to use his crafty skills to help with her many hobbies! An otaku comes to understand a gal’s interests in this high school rom-com!

Tags: Fashion , Gyaru , School , Makeup , Male Protagonist , Female Harem , Love Triangle

Ashita, Watashi wa Dareka no Kanojo

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

"One time a week, I will be the girlfriend of [someone]." A bitter love story depicting the realities of love between female college students who earn money on behalf of her and men attracted by her. The first volume is a young office worker who rents the protagonist snow as a fake girlfriend, and draws a distorted love pattern of sota and snow. A substitute girl who plays the customer and the woman of their ideals to the end... Is the distance between two people's mind really close?

Nominated for the Tsugimanga 2020 Award in the Web Manga Category.

Tags: Female Protagonist , Work , Prostitution , Ensemble Cast , Heterosexual , Philosophy , Fashion , Seinen , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , College , Age Gap , LGBTQ+ Themes , Makeup , Boys' Love

Smells Like Green Spirit

Also known as Smells Like Green Spirit.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Slice of Life

Viciously bullied for being gay, junior high schooler Mishima struggles to belong in his hopelessly rural hometown. In fact, the only time he really feels alive is when he dolls himself up with a stolen tube of his single-mother’s lipstick. But that pocket of joy is forever changed when he loses the lipstick, only to find soccer team ace Kirino, one of Mishima’s worst tormenters, trying it on in secret on their school roof. So begins a bittersweet summer of searching for a place where the two can be their true selves, but Pandora’s box is not always so easily opened…



Tags: LGBTQ+ Themes , Boys' Love , Bullying , Transgender , Coming of Age , School , Crossdressing , Rural , Male Protagonist , Makeup , Primarily Child Cast

Hana Monogatari

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

The manga centers on Hanayo, an elderly woman whose husband of many years has only recently died. After finishing a Buddhist service for her husband, she finds herself walking out in town alone for the first time in a long time. She stumbles onto a cosmetics store, and meets a beautiful woman named Yoshiko Doujima, and falls in love at first sight. Hanayo had long given up on makeup after her husband nagged her about it, but putting some on with Yoshiko's help brightens her heart.



Tags: Female Protagonist , Yuri , LGBTQ+ Themes , Primarily Adult Cast , Elderly Protagonist , Primarily Female Cast , Bisexual , Makeup , Classic Literature , Seinen , Fashion , Iyashikei , Work , College

Hodoite, Musunde

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance , Slice of Life

Nohara-san was seated next to me when we changed seats in class. Her hair is very beautiful, but she is clumsy and can't seem to tie it herself...? Haruki, who helps to do his sister's hair every morning, suddenly found himself helping Nohara with her hair. As he tied her precious hair, they gradually became more and more aware of each other and grew closer. Untying and tying, their hearts are woven together like strands of hair.

Tags: Heterosexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Male Protagonist , School , Shounen , Makeup

Chwihyangjeogyeog Geunyeo

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

After tomboy Haedam is thoroughly friend zoned by her first love, she's determined to glow up before college. But when she makes the wrong impression on her first day of school, she realizes she needs the help of her reluctant neighbor. In exchange, she promises to put up with their living circumstances and keep his secret. What could possibly go wrong?

Tags: College , Makeup , Female Protagonist , Heterosexual , Full Color , Primarily Adult Cast , Love Triangle

Cinderella Closet

Also known as Cinderella Closet.

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance , Slice of Life

Haruka is a “plain jane” who left the countryside to start her college life in Tokyo. She’s secretly in love with Kurotaki, a coworker at her part-time job, but she lacks the self-confidence to confess her feelings to him. Then she meets Hikaru, a glamorous but sharp-tongued fashionista who begrudgingly agrees to play “fairy godmother” for Haruka and help her learn to love and value herself in the process. However, there’s more to Hikaru than meets the eye!



Tags: Female Protagonist , Shoujo , Heterosexual , Love Triangle , Fashion , Crossdressing , Coming of Age , Primarily Adult Cast , Makeup , Bisexual