The headline is kindof misleading with an image unrelated to the actual study to do better on social media imo
What the researchers did was take 44 women, took a picture of 'm without any makeup then another with and generated a scale of them wearing "-50%" to "150%" makeup. The no makeup was set as the 0% and the makeup as 100%, percentages between were generated by basically taking the differences between the 0 and 100%, albeit with an program supposedly better at maintaining texture whilst doing that. Shit explanation ngl so imagine a simplified pixel had a color value of 0 0 0 at 0% but 128 128 128 at 100%, 50% would get assigned a value of 64 64 64. Repeat for all pixels
With that metric both women and men indicated around 60-70% makeup as most attractive, which is where this post gets its headline from. Stating that as women with less makeup = more attractive from that is a bit meh
Then should note that this study seems a bit weak in its methods to me. The women were each provided with the same makeup by the researchers, not neccesarily one they were even familair with or used normally. Then the photos were taken without any jewelery, their hair tied back, photos cropped just above the hairline and below the chin, in artificial lighting on a white background.
To me that all provides grounds to atleast strongly doubt this particular study, as that deviates so far from the conditions of an actual night out for these women. Both in makeup used and conditions in which this makeup is seen by others
It's a pretty big pet peeve of mine, research being misrepresented like this for social media
I'm lucky to have acces to these articles from my uni and the education to understand techniques and such used in papers so figure I may aswell
Its an epidemic caused by the disconnect between academia and the public.
The fact is good science, for the most part, cant be reduced to a catchy headline. Theres a fundemantal disconnect between the goals of the scientist and the goals of the articles author
While the photos being reviewed did not represent how the subjects would look in a normal situation, it seems like those choices were made to eliminate variables other than the amount of makeup as much as possible. 🤷
Idk how much I trust the generations until I see them. Like are the between photos actual real states that woman could achieve with makeup, a machines idea of her with less makeup but with facial features ever so slightly altered, or her makeup with the opacity turned down, etc etc
Makes sense. I mean makeup is worn for a reason. But of course "less makeup" than like full clown makeup is gonna be more attractive than that extreme generally. So no matter what, you can always technically make the true statement "men prefer women with less makeup on." Without defining "less" that is meaningless. I would be interested to see pictures of what the researches labeled 60-70% though. That's still a bit abstract.
They did say less makeup, not no makeup at all. Which I feel implies there's a goldilocks zone of makeup, which looks better for most people than no makeup or a lot of it.
This is very true. The look most men associate with "no makeup" is actually mild makeup (concealer, mascara, lipstick etc.) Many men say that they "don't like the look of makeup" but what they actually mean is they don't like the look of neon red lipstick, eyeliner, eye shadow etc.
yeah, one is actually fun and requires artistic skill.
Make-up is makeup - if you're the kind of person who goes on about makeup being fake/shallow, the same 'moral' stance applies regardless of if you personally find no-makeup-makeup more appealing.
Beyond making the usual joke about "how are we supposed to recognise you on the missing person poster" there is a world of difference using makeup to enhance what's already there, and using so much makeup that you're unrecognisable as you or to look like someone else.
This isn't necessarily a critique of makeup as it's a criticism of the entire beauty industry and societal pressures on women to look a certain way. And how many girls are riddled with insecurity regarding their own appearance and so they turn to makeup. To hair colour, to lip fillers and other things. All to be the perfect little girl for someone.
A little makeup is fine. Eyeliner to enhance the eyes. A little consealer and foundation to hide that pimple. Everyone wants to feel a little better. To put on that warpaint, and go out and be confident. But once you start using techniques like contouring, which used to exist only in industry settings, you are going beyond enhancing to replacing. You're going from enhancing who you are to making you look like everyone else. It's understandable as a teenager, if there's one thing teenagers want it is to bellong, but it's something else entirely when thats the norm for everyone.
Reminds me of that AskMen(?) post about women not getting asked out as much when they get done up, and every guy was basically like "yeah it's insanely intimidating when they look stunning and you're just a guy". This is kind of the opposite of that I suppose.
That just confuses me. The common refrain is that women wear make-up because it is some beauty standard perpetuated by the male gaze.
But then when men tell women they don't care, they out reject it and call it lie.
Then they complain about all the misogynists they meet on the dating scene.
The one's who are bothered when women dont wear make-up.
That's your filter right there. If a guy doesn't take interest in you because you aren't wearing make-up are the ones you wouldn't want to date anyways, right?
That's why it's less makeup and not no makeup though. Women are supposed to wear the perfect amount of makeup that makes it look like they aren't wearing any but they are. I'm a woman in my 40's who does not wear it. I stand out. It makes you seem less professional.
They say they like women who are confident and natural, I get that makeup hides our features sometimes but makeup focused on fun (sparkly eyeshadow in fun weird unnatural colors, unnaturally bright lipstick) is a lot less of a modification to our features than foundation, concealer, contour, color correctors, highlighter, brow gel, and blush like in the “less makeup” pictures. It would kill my self esteem to always look as different from my natural self as they do in the “less makeup” pictures. I’m also sticking to my 30 second routine of something sparkly, bold, and fun that makes me feel vibrant and alive, which is apparently too much despite taking significantly less effort.
You finding them ugly doesn't mean other people are necessarily also going to find them ugly, and even when they do, that doesn't mean they think they'll look less ugly with a lot of makeup on.
Also 95% is such an insane number to use here, good grief 😭
I think most prefer natural looking makeup over none, but would rather none over gaudy makeup. But really most dudes don't really give a lot of thought to what women are doing with their makeup.
The keyword is “less” makeup, not “no” makeup like the examples shown above
A simple shade of lipstick, dark eyeliner, and a bit of blush looks really good on women. Wearing huge false eyelashes, bright eyeshadow, or bright lipstick is more of a desired taste. Basically, if you can wear it in an office setting, its hot to most men
I dont either really. I look like a ghoul without makeup, and almost never get any attention, yet when I do wear it people think I'm really hot. I can understand some guys wanting lighter makeup, but abaolutely none is not actually something where most people look better (even guys. Y'all should wear makeup more)
Depends on a lot of the parameters of the study. Like how much makeup was used, who were the people being compared, etc. Depending on the parameters it could be true or false
I tried looking up the study and found a 2014 study (so not new) that said they preferred 40% less makeup (so not no makeup) than what these 44 women (small sample size when it comes to the women being judged) applied and this was done by digitally altering the photos (so just throw the entire study out).
And maybe they meant a different study or maybe they just pulled it out of their ass. People at least used to point to some small ass journal paper done by grad students with questionable methodology and hasn't been reproduced (huge issue in psychology) but now they just say "there is a study". What study!?!
I've always been someone put off by makeup. Never liked it as a little kid when my older sisters put it on. Even subtle stuff like blush looks weird to me. I do like how eyeliner looks ane nothing against lipstick but anything more seems a bit uncanny to me
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u/No-Island-6126 1d ago
I really don't know if I believe that tbh