Makeup increases attractiveness in male faces

Abstract

Makeup is commonly attributed with increasing attractiveness in female faces, but this effect has not been investigated in male faces. We therefore sought to examine whether the positive effect of makeup on attractiveness can be extended to male faces. Twenty men were photographed facing forward, under constant camera and lighting conditions, with neutral expressions, and closed mouths. Each man was photographed twice: once without any cosmetics applied and another time with subtle cosmetics applied by a professional makeup artist. Two hundred participants then rated those 40 images on attractiveness. The male faces were rated as higher in attractiveness when presented wearing 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. These results provide the first empirical evidence that makeup increases attractiveness in male faces. Following work on female faces, future research should examine the effect of makeup on several other traits in male faces. The market for male cosmetics products is growing and evolving and this study serves as an initial step in understanding the effect of makeup on the perceptions of male faces.

Fig 1. Example stimuli.

Two of the participants without cosmetics (left) and with cosmetics applied by a professional makeup artist (right).

Fig 2. Ratings of attractiveness depending on makeup condition.

Comparison of attractiveness ratings for male faces with no cosmetics and with subtle cosmetics applied by a professional makeup artist. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean.