Zac Efron is ready for his close-up

Make-up, They rushed the contestants from the show to the premier, they didn't even change clothes, which suggests that they didn't have time to; and they may not even had time to wash their faces. They are wearing TV make up in day light for these photos, and Adam seems to show it more than the others (creases in his neck). His hair looks like an Andy Warhol wig and his eyebrows are too waxed, too plucked and way too dark.

While I like the overall look, for the street he needs to shower it off, finger tease and go super light on the foundation.

...generating that look (with Zac's input, of course).  Hair is like movies or art - there is no absolute standard of good vs. bad.  Further, different looks are considered bad or good by different subsets of people, and those perceptions can change wildly over time.  Personally, I prefer Zac with shorter hair, but his current look is very popular with a certain segment of the "cutting edge".

I find that dynamic even more true about clothing.  There are things that, when I was a kid, only grandpas would wear.  And then eventually they became hot with young people! 

The key point about style of any kind:  it's ALL perception and popularity; there are simply no absolutes.

I forget where I read this but one of the criteria for a teen idol is hair. What ever you want to call it, questionable, weird, hip, unique, but all of the teen idols had "the hair" thing going on.

And as I think about this, I want to mention another thing teen idols have going on, it's their uncertain, therefor questionable, sexuality.

While that might seem safe to pre teen girls, it's also imperative that it suggests a kind of rebellion to their parents who don't want to see their little girls fall for a fag. It works as a way for these girls to safely rebel from their parents. That's why we "pretend" that these boys are straight, even if they are straight we still sort of act like we're pretending, not because these boys want to boink their fans but because a boy of questionable sexuality is the last person that these parents would want their little girls to boink.

There is also the implied assurance, assumed by the girls, that these soft boys won't hurt them. Therefore the girls can fantasize; they can pretend at lust, love, imagined companionship and pretend to share their new found euphoria (masterbation), without compromising their social status.

That's what Disney and teen mags have been selling for decades.