Images via Google image search: makeupMakeup and Judging Females

Are women perceived as being more competent, attractive, likable and even trustworthy, if we wear makeup? At least in America, the answer appears to be ‘yes’.

A collective group of researchers at Procter & Gamble, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute showed study participants photos of 25 women, aged 25-50. either wearing no makeup or wearing one of three contrasting cosmetic looks — natural, professional or glamorous.

Two groups of study participants looked at the same photos. The first group caught a glimpse for 250 milliseconds. The second group was left to linger over the faces for an unlimited amount of time before rating the women in terms of competence, likability, attractiveness and trustworthiness.

“We found that when faces were shown very quickly, all ratings went up with cosmetics in all different looks,” said Nancy Etcoff, lead author and associate researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital. Etcoff also worked extensively on the Dove global studies on women.

When the study participants had time to review the images more carefully, dramatic makeup was no longer as positive. People saw the dramatic makeup women as equally likeable and much more attractive and competent. In an interesting twist, the dramatic makeup women were perceived as less trustworthy.

Natural Makeup More Trustworthy

Mac makeupNatural makeup women were perceived to be the most trustworthy.

The research confirms results that many women don’t want to hear. Especially when perceivers are under a high cognitive load or under time pressure, they are much more likely to rely on automatic judgments for decision-making. The implications for women impact ballots, job applications, web sites and dating sites.

Experts stress that a woman must be comfortable in her own skin.