For every one of us who’s been interested in makeup or skincare, walking into a cosmetics store or a beauty store is like walking into Disneyland – it’s exciting and there’s that butterfly feeling in the stomach.
It is because of this feeling that most of us, especially the ones who have made makeup and skincare their hobby, can spend countless hours just perusing shelf after shelf and counter after counter before they actually make the purchase.
What is it with these colorful make up products and delightful skin goodies that give most people a certain kind of high?
Why are we so addicted to beauty products ?
The exact answer to this question is ambiguous – no one can really give a definitive reason as to why we love makeup and beauty products but a couple of scientific ideas have been thrown around:
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Reason 1 : The Key to Youth
Scientific:A research claims that by increasing the contrast between skin tone and facial features, a woman wearing some or a lot of makeup appears younger. The same case is true when one uses creams to lighten the skin on the face.
This has something to do with our brain being unconsciously cued to decipher the age of a woman who has brighter eyes, a fresher face and plumper lips.
For example, a lip color that makes the lips appear redder signals the brain to associate this with healthiness and beauty.
The same goes when you regularly use a skincare product like a lip scrub – the color of the lips becomes brighter and the lips appear suppler.(source: DailyMail UK)
Common: Make up and certain skin care items are able to enhance facial features. Makeup can make eyes appear bigger, smaller, rounder and lengthier. It can also make lips look smaller, plumper and more even in color.
The use of skincare products, on the other hand, can yield similar results – creams, peels and scrubs. On top of that, makeup and skincare products can make skin look flawless. It is true that mature women can look younger and, at the same time, younger ones can look more mature with different application techniques and different products.
Reason 2 : It Feels Nice
Scientific: One research has shown that women experience positive emotions after applying makeup and beauty products.
Scientists used a brain scanner and they’ve confirmed that women anticipate how she will appear to others post-makeover. The process releases dopamine which triggers a sense of pleasure. (source: Telegraph UK)
Common: To any woman, looking good, even if it has nothing to do with makeup and skincare, gives an instant boost on the mood.
Cosmetics are simply one way to enhance a person’s natural beauty thus triggering a sense of pleasure and a boost in self-image.
Reason 3 : The Attraction Factor
Scientific: Attracting a male may not be a woman’s main goal on why she buys loads and loads of cosmetics every month but one thing is for sure.
She wants to look attractive. Studies have shown that a woman’s natural face becomes more attractive when the ovulation stage approaches.
The change in hormones increases blood flow under the skin’s surface which has visible physical effects – pinker cheeks and redder lips. (source: Huffingtonpost )
Common: It’s no secret that a woman is trying to enhance her facial features when she puts on makeup or when she applies cream on her face right before she goes to bed.
As said earlier, this is not to attract a man but it is to look more attractive. Decreasing the puffiness of the undereye area using a mask, removing under eye wrinkles, putting a bit of shadow, moisturizing the entire face, and putting a vibrant color on the lips and the cheeks can make any woman feel like a super model.
Reason 4 : Confidence, confidence, confidence
Scientific: A research-collaboration between Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Procter & Gamble, and Boston University showed that people find women wearing makeup to be more competent, trustworthy, attractive and likeable.
They gathered their data using test groups that were shown pictures of models with makeup and without makeup, asking the groups to rank each picture according to competence, trustworthiness and likeability. (source: Mind the Science Gap)
Common: An instant boost in a person’s mood brings about confidence. If you look good, you feel better about yourself. If you feel better about yourself, you’re going to feel like you can do anything, pass any challenge and overcome any obstacle. This is why Bobbi Brown, a famous make up artist with her own line of makeup, said, “Makeup is a way for a woman to look and feel like herself, only prettier and more confident.”
Reason 5 : Success Stories get us hooked
Scientific: A success story is no more than a story that has real evidence. It’s also a story that produces positive feelings because of the way the story is told – it doesn’t matter if it is written or through video. the before after pictures are also things that are pretty effective too.
Story telling can do this to our brains. It can activate certain parts of the brain, making it more active. Also, if a person tells a persuasive story, our brain can do nothing but get hooked. (source: Lifehacker)
It is because of this fact that most skincare companies invest in how they present their success stories.
Why do you think these companies use movie stars to vouch for their product and deliver a convincing success story? It’s to communicate positive imagery to you and activate your brain with the story telling. cosmetic companies are smart and know what buttons to push haha
Common: When we hear something positive about a skincare item, we almost automatically want to try it. It’s how our brain works ( ok a bit simplistic here but you get what I mean) and, of course, we want to have the same kind of results as the reviewer or the person who told the success story.
Reason 6 : The Community Feeling
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of skilled beauty gurus in social media (especially on YouTube), of beauty blogs, as almost anyone can open a youtube channel, a facebook page, a twitter account, an instagram one… ok you got the picture.
Via these social platforms, we can share the cosmetics we bought, what we liked, what we hated, what worked, what let us down etc, so that adds some community feeling and make us feel we belong to a big family.
We all like to be part of a group, feeling that we too belong to that club of people. ( There will always be some exeptions lol )
Remember your high school time? who wants to eat alone like an outcast?
This reason may be a bit far fetched to some extent, or maybe it is more a question of being pressured by society but that is another issue…
So, this is why we are addicted to beauty products and what’s so bad about that?
Nothing, absolutely nothing. At myawesomebeauty.com, we are sure proud to be addicted !
What about you? are you “addicted” to cosmetics? what is it? lipsticks ? skincare ? or maybe it has more to do with shoes, clothes ?
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