by Bridget Webber

Created on: April 01, 2008   Last Updated: November 21, 2011

Most of the time women are thought to be more attractive with makeup on. The words 'thought to be' are used here as it is clear that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not a definitive quantity scientifically.

Having said that people are generally attracted to certain features. This has been measured and studied by scientists and behaviorists.

Makeup is designed to accentuate characteristics society finds beautiful. With eye makeup people can make their eyes look larger. With foundation and rouge they can make their skin appear youthful and healthy. With lipstick they can make their lips appear ripe red.

Theories put forward as to why these characteristics are attractive point towards primitive instincts which drive people to procreate with members of the opposite sex who are youthful and healthy. Mother Nature planted this seed in people’s brains so that they will carry on the human race by making babies.

Now that most people are a little more sophisticated they don't necessarily think of a person who has these characteristics in terms of sex, at least on a conscious level. Instead, as men or women individuals are able to subconsciously register an attractive person who may have their looks enhanced by makeup as being healthy and fit. This to them is attractive.

Perhaps some people who believe otherwise struggle with the idea that the wearing of makeup could be implying that what they look like is not good enough. Other people believe that people are all absolutely fine as they are, but have learned that if they enhance what they already have this is received favourably by society.

Just as some men may choose to accentuate their own manly attributes relating to their body by body building and other activities, some women have found that they can enhance their facial features which make them more attractive to observers.

The idea of painting the face goes way back to Egyptian times when precious stones were crushed to make eye makeup colors and women and men wore thick black eyeliner to make their eyes look larger and their general appearance more powerful.

Although people no-longer need to apply such startling makeup so that they look powerful, it can still help women to wear a little makeup in-order to appear, and to feel, more streamlined and professional when at work.

In the evening the application of makeup may be a ritual performed before playtime when a woman may want to just have fun or to attract the opposite sex.

Makeup is a useful tool which can help women enhance what they were born with and to gain confidence as a result.

Whether you believe it or not you are programmed to find makeup, which has been applied correctly to enhance certain features, attractive on fellow human beings.

When some men state that they dislike women wearing makeup you shouldn’t be surprised when you see them turn goggle-eyed watching a well made-up woman. This may well be because the makeup isn't immediately obvious to a non-makeup wearing person and they think she appears natural.

At other times an observer couldn't fail to recognize that a woman is a makeup wearer. In which case, it may just be that what they like intellectually and what they are made to like physically and emotionally, by Mother Nature, are two different things.

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