Different Ways Men And Women Perceive People Wearing Makeup, According To Science

Makeup has the power to change your face completely, and a search for “makeup tutorials” on YouTube will have give you a firsthand account of just how a 16-year-old girl  can manage to make herself look 25 years old with some false eyelashes and a little bit of contorting. But aside from drastically changing your facial features, new studies show that makeup also has the power to influence a person’s opinion of you, and it there are also variables based on sex. Keep reading to find out some of the different ways men and women perceive people wearing makeup, according to a new scientific study.

Study. A study was done at the University of Stirling that found that women who wore makeup were perceived differently than those who didn’t reports Medical Daily.

Prestige. Men and women alike both saw women who wore makeup as having a higher status, with some men even going as far as to consider them more prestigious than other women.

Dominance. Women also saw women who wore makeup as a threat to them, seeing them as more dominant, reports Medical Daily. It is unclear as to whether the women who were doing the judging also wore makeup or not.

Computers. The study required participants to examine faces on a computer, where researchers would use software to apply a certain amount of makeup to the face on the screen.

Makeup. The participants were then told to rate the faces they were shown based on attractiveness and other factors. Both men and women agreed that the faces wearing makeup were the most attractive.

Jealousy. A second study was done after the initial one involving the faces on the computer, and researchers determined that jealousy was what caused women to see the other women as more dominant, and changed their perception of them, reports Medical Daily.

Promiscuous. “Women rating women with make-up said they would be more jealous of them, thought they were more promiscuous, and would be more attractive to men than their non-makeup wearing counterparts,” said lead researcher Dr. Viktoria Mileva, as reported by Medical Daily.

Job. Mileva says that wearing makeup might also affect a woman’s chances of getting a job during an interview because it leads the interviewer to see them as more employable.

Outcome. “At a job interview, knowing whether the hiring committee will consist of men or women might influence a female candidate's decision about wearing makeup. Whether the interviewers will view her as attractive, dominant, and/or prestigious can affect her and the interviewer's' actions and perhaps the outcome of the interview itself,” says Mileva, as reported by Medical Daily.

Confidence. Aside from influencing the way people look at you and changing your appearance, most women know that makeup also has a substantial influence on your self confidence. It helps cover up blemishes, or other small imperfections that might otherwise make a woman feel self-conscious.

Money. Medical Daily reports that women spend about $15,000 on makeup throughout their entire lives, and a lot of women find that they simply can’t live without it.

Research. Another researcher, Nancy Etcoff, and her team did a similar study on how people perceived people wearing makeup. Participants rated photos of women that were wearing makeup, and those who weren’t.

Attractive. "Seen very quickly (250 milliseconds), women wearing makeup looked more attractive, likeable, competent and trustworthy to our viewers than those who went without it,” writes Etcoff, via the New York Times.

Trust. On the other hand, Etcoff noticed that the faces wearing more natural makeup were seen as the most trustworthy, while the ones wearing “dramatic” makeup weren’t seen as favorably.

Makeup. Despite what all the studies say, women shouldn’t wear makeup for anyone but themselves, and it doesn’t matter how others perceive the way you look, as long as you’re happy with the way you are.