05/02/2015

How I get ready: Gene Simmons

�Getting ready to be on stage with KISS takes two hours. There�s a knack to doing my face�

I have always been delusional about my looks. I look in the mirror and think: OK, you�re 6ft 2in and 235lb, and you�re not the worst or the best-looking guy in the world, but you can walk into any room and steal anybody�s wife or girlfriend. Confidence is enormously appealing and very disarming. �Hello,� I say, looking into a woman�s eyes, �I find you devastatingly attractive.�

My closet has lots of leather pants, snakeskin boots, the usual sort of thing. I have more conservative outfits for when I am doing business on Wall Street, when I have to push down my bouffy hair a little. I use lots of hairspray, making my hair rock hard. I started to go grey in my 20s and have coloured it ever since. I have destroyed the follicles, I�m sure, but at least it�s still all there.

Getting ready to be on stage with Kiss takes two hours. There�s a knack to doing the face � first I paint it white using Stein�s Clown White, then I take a pencil and draw the bat outline, freehand. After erasing the white within the bat design, I fill it with Stein�s Clown Black.

It takes me about 30 minutes to get it all off afterwards: you have to steam the face with really hot water, so the pores open up. I use Pond's cream cleanser.

When it comes to confidence on a night out, if it doesn�t come naturally, bluff. Say there are two women at a party. One is much more attractive, but the so-so looking one has a twinkle in her eye. That�s the one he�s going to go for. But ladies, make it a little easier for the guy if you�re interested. That first hello is enormously welcoming.

� KISS headline the Download Festival on 14 June.

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