Don’t Cake Your Makeup – Study Finds That Less Makeup Is Best
Christopher Philip
A team of researchers have found that while makeup tends to produce a boost in attractiveness, more is not necessarily better.
“Often,” say the researchers in their study, “what one sex thinks the opposite sex finds attractive is incorrect.”
In the study subjects were permitted to use a computer graphic to modify the amount of cosmetics applied to a series of female faces.
How did participants decide how much makeup was enough? Participants were only asked to optimize the attractiveness of the images for their own preferences. The subjects were also asked to replicate the process for what they believed women would prefer and then what they figured men would prefer.
Results showed that men and women agreed – but only on the amount they themselves found attractive.
When it came to predicting the opposite sex, subjects overestimated preferences for women and far overestimated men’s preferences.
In further testing, the researchers also found that model’s self-applied cosmetics tended to exceed individual preferences.
In other words, women believe that men prefer more makeup than they themselves find attractive, when in fact, they don’t, and then they actually proceed to apply more makeup that is attractive to both men, women, and themselves.
Confused?
Don’t be, the results are simple. To attract men, use makeup sparingly, and tailor the amount used to your own general preferences. Taste in cosmetics for men is in line with women’s own preferences.
Image Credit: Anthony
Resources
Jones, Alex L.; Robin S. S. Kramerb and Robert Warda. Miscalibrations in Judgements of Attractiveness With Cosmetics. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 2019. 64(1): 12060-2068. DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2019.908932.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17470218.2019.908932#.VMFUMywso0g