Associate Professor of Psychology Jessie Peissig, from Cal State Fullerton, has an interesting area of research: she wants to know why women today place so much importance and emphasis on makeup. Worldwide, the makeup industry is worth billions of dollars and the women who report themselves as non-makeup wearers or occasional makeup wears are in the minority. Most women will spend time and money to ensure that their makeup enhances their chosen outfit from the Prom Dresses that they have been looking at, such as those offered by www.axparis.com/collections/prom-dresses

The History of Makeup

Women and men have been wearing makeup for thousands of years. In western society, men stopped wearing it in the 1800s, but women continued wearing makeup or started to wear it even more as the fashions changed.

The Beauty Myth

Of course, we assume makeup is about attracting a mate. However Professor Peissig is interested in something known as the Halo Effect, a phenomenon whereby people treat attractive individuals differently, assuming them to be smarter and more trustworthy. Previous studies have shown that women who attend an interview in makeup, even when interviewed by other women, are more likely to be offered a job. This, it has been argued, is because a woman in makeup is also seen as more professional and competent.

Too Much of a Good Thing

However, makeup has a critical point of effectiveness. Studies have also shown that when men are asked to rate 3 different images of the same woman, one in no makeup, one lightly made up and one heavily made up, they choose the middle option. This is because, on the attractiveness scale, makeup needs to be complementary and subtle. It needs to be well applied with the right tools, like the brushes in the Ciara Daly Phoenix collection. When shadow and concealer become obvious, the attractiveness they offer decreases.

In Our Genes

What interests Peissig the most about our obsession with makeup is how we understand its importance without knowing why. We can spend many happy hours of our spare time, scrolling through makeup sites without questioning our actions. Peissig theories that this is because our devotion to makeup is in our genes.

Over the years, those who have used makeup, have developed a competitive edge over other women and managed to pass on this need for makeup in our biological DNA. It might sound like science fiction, but at least we now have a good excuse!