A lot of Jrockers deliberately try to look effeminate or "pretty", no matter what you might say to dispute that (because Japanese pop culture eats up cream puffs; that's just the way it is), Gackt and hyde not excluded, even to this day; some just pull it off better than others. To me, when Gackt poses, period, he just comes across as affectatious; a perpetual caricature of himself. Honestly, sometimes he looks constipated to me. The beef I have with Gackt is that he's plastic (I'm not just talking about any surgery he might have had). That being the case, I do not find Gackt "beautiful". For me to find someone beautiful, aside from physical attractiveness, that person has to exude a sort of innate, natural allure; an openness, so to speak. To me, Gackt lacks that -- perhaps his perfectionist tendencies inhibit him, in this sense. That's just what it boils down to, so grilling me isn't going to make me change my opinion.
Let me just set the record straight before this gets any messier: Gackt is a good-looking man, he's just not the kind of good-looking that I'm attracted to.
And we're not talking about Mana. Just Gackt, himself.
I also never said hyde doesn't try to look like a woman. Back in the indies, hyde very much looked like and sometimes acted like one (take "try" out of the equation). The only difference is, that androgyny -- in looks and attitude -- didn't come across to me as synthetic; it was natural. These days, though, he's more in touch with his masculine side, like Gackt.
Sum: hyde = natural; Gackt = plastic
So, what about hyde's face?
From an artist's point of view, his face is a very good subject. The angles are soft, refined, delicate. It's also got a nice long, oval shape and it's expressive, so allows for a bit of creativity on the artist's part. Mostly, though, it's his
eyes. They're very intense; captivating; occasionally unnerving. When his face is stoic, his eyes are always eloquent. They hint at a deep passion. When they're not undressing you or burning a hole through your brain or sucking out your soul, they're quietly pleading or sparkling (literally) with a sort of childlike innocence that's very disarming.
Ethereal; enigmatic; eloquent; beautiful...
...an effort to capture those qualities.