Think a ‘no make up’ make up look.
The make up artist used a whole range of different cosmetics on the participants such as concealer and powder.
Two hundred participants were then asked rate all 40 of the images on attractiveness.
Dr. Carlota Batres, who led the study, commented: “We found that the male faces were rated as higher in attractiveness when presented wearing subtle makeup, compared to when presented not wearing makeup.
“This was true for both male and female raters, and whether analyzing the data using a by-participant or a by-face analysis.”
“Previous studies have found that lower facial contrast makes faces appear more masculine,” the study noted, “additionally, bone structure in men affects perceptions of attractiveness.”
The paper concluded: “Therefore, we predicted that male faces with makeup would be rated as more attractive than male faces without makeup, since makeup could potentially be applied to influence skin homogeneity, facial contrast, and bone structure perceptions.”
Effectively, the use of make up can make skin appear more even allowing for a more healthy youthful glow, increase perceived masculinity by decreasing facial contrast and, lastly, influence bone structure to give men a proper chiseled jawline.
So there you have it, according this particular study, male faces are rated as being more attractive when wearing makeup compared to when not wearing makeup.
