Men Prefer Women With Less Makeup On, says Study

A lot of women wear makeup to enhance their beauty – but men may disagree.

In a study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, it was found that men and women have different perspectives when it comes to makeup and how it supposedly enhances one’s features.

Researchers from the University of Bangor in Wales gave 44 women (the subjects) a wide selection of makeup and asked them to use these as if they were going out for the night. Each of them was photographed before and after putting on makeup, and these photos were then manipulated by the researchers to provide a spectrum of the amount of makeup they had on. There were a total of 21 images per subject.

To test the theories, these photos were afterwards shown to a group of male and female participants, who were asked to pick out three photos for each subject: their personal favorite, the photo they felt most of the women would like, and the photo they felt most of the men would prefer.

The female participants chose photos wherein the subjects were wearing slightly more makeup than in the photos the male participants selected. This, they say, was because they felt the men would be more drawn to a woman who had more makeup on. 

Said researchers Alex Jones and Robin Kramer, “Taken together, these results suggest that women are likely wearing cosmetics to appeal to the mistaken preference of others. These mistaken preferences seem more tied to the perceived expectancies of men, and, to a lesser degree, of women.”

Next stories:

• Make-up Dos and Don’ts for Preggy Moms 

• 5 Common Skin Problems & Their Makeup Remedies 

Sources:

• April 28, 2014. Justin Sedor. “Do Women Wear Makeup For All The Wrong Reasons?” refinery29.com

• April 28, 2014. Olga Khazan. “Why Do So Many Women Wear So Much Makeup?” theatlantic.com 

• April 29, 2014. Alexandra Sifferlin. “Science Shows Men Like Women With Less Makeup” time.com 

Photo from youne.com