I browsed some forums such as Quora and Reddit and most of the responses to this question would be from women who believe that makeup should never be a requirement, even for special events. Whilst this is true, no one should be able to force you to do anything, there are some very great reasons for wearing makeup to special events that I believe should be considered as well.
Human beings are social creatures and we thrive on being accepted by others and research has shown that the way others perceive us can improve or change drastically based on the way we wear makeup.
So with this in mind, special events are usually a social event where many people are present. It’s where we often meet new people, make first impressions, or it’s a chance to rekindle old relationships. As women we have the wonderful choice to choose how we want to present ourselves with the power of makeup, and whilst not mandatory, using it to our advantage is strategic and is highly recommended.
Reasons why we wear makeup to special events
Since special events are really events where we meet people. It really boils down to why we wear makeup at all. I have researched and am going to highlight several scientific studies that show various aspects of how valuable the impact of makeup has on our lives as women.
Light or Heavy Makeup? Or No make up at all?
In this 2021 study, undergraduate women’s faces were photographed with no makeup, light makeup and heavy makeup.
They then collected a group of participants to ask various questions to, to thought of their facial attractiveness, competence and sociosexuality (how likely they are to have “casual” sex with others).
What were the results of this study?
- Facial attractiveness: Both light makeup and heavy makeup were considered more attractive than no makeup, with heavy makeup being the most attractive.
- Competence: Light and heavy makeup were significantly rated as more competent than no makeup looks.
- Sociosexuality: Light makeup was rated much higher in sociosexuality than no makeup, and heavy makeup was rated much higher than light makeup.
Depending how you want to be perceived, light makeup is perhaps the safest way to gain the positive physical and social aspects we can achieve from wearing makeup.
Gives you Clear Skin
As much as we try, it can be hard to nail down the perfect skincare routine to have blemish free skin. Our hormones are constantly changing throughout the month according to our menstrual cycles and there are stresses in life that we can’t control that also affect our hormones.
However, we can always use some makeup to give the impression of clear skin. Personally I’ve struggled with acne in my youth and I did all that I could to get rid of it, but it took time since it was hormonal acne. In the meantime, makeup was really helpful in building my confidence to go out and enjoy life.
This interesting research article about the ‘Effects of Facial Skin Smoothness and Blemishes on Trait Impressions’, used technology to either put blemishes on a person’s face or smoothen it and then had a group of participants rate all the faces based on several factors such as trustworthiness, competence and attractiveness.
Ultimately, the more blemished face usually rated worse than the baseline photo, and the smoothened photo was rated the highest in terms of trustworthiness, competence and attractiveness.
These are really important factors that can change how people treat you in life. I certainly felt the impact for myself when I wore makeup versus when I didn’t, when I was plagued with cystic acne in my youth.
How facial attractiveness impacts your life
We have all been told at least once, ‘never judge a book by its cover’, however, as much as we would love to be judged solely by our personality, we can’t control how other people judge us. Facial attractiveness does affect our career, social life and how people treat us.
I am a firm believer that everyone can control how beautiful they are perceived, and if we can use makeup to our advantage, we should.
Attractiveness impacts your career
How facially attractive one is can positively impact a person’s career. A study by followed a sample of 737 male and female MBA graduates through their career over a span over 9 years. Based on how facially attractive they were perceived by others, the more attractive men
Gives you confidence
Confidence is so unbelievably valuable. According to a Forbes article by Dr Margie Warrell, if we don’t use it, we lose it. The more often you make yourself feel confident, be it affirming yourself in the mirror each morning, power posing or perhaps wearing makeup, your confidence in yourself will grow stronger each day.
Confidence is a belief, so sometimes to believe that you look and are amazing, wearing makeup can help that. It’s also a psychological thing, for women we often wear makeup to get ready for the day, it helps us get into the right mindset to get out there and socialize. If not many of us could just be a hermit and lay in bed all day.
Honouring the host
When we ask ourselves what makes special events so special, it’s because they are social events. People make the party and it’s their presence which makes anything special. An empty event would be meaningless. Think of a birthday party or a wedding, we would invite the people closest to us because they are meaningful and we hope they come dressed well and not sloppily.
When you wear makeup after being invited to an event, you are honoring the host by putting in effort to look your best. People can tell if you’ve styled your hair, brushed your teeth, chosen a lovely outfit for the occasion and whilst makeup is not mandatory, it is one aspect that people look at too. Keep in mind, makeup is not solely just for women, even some of my male friends wear makeup when they want to look their best and I applaud them for it.
Ultimately
Wearing makeup can help your skin look healthier and increase your facial attractiveness. There are so many scientific studies that show that being perceived as more attractive helps you in many different aspects of life. It could help you earn more, get promotions faster and increase social connections more easily.
More so during special events where connecting with others is a natural benefit of going to such events, it’s all about strategic self-presentation. Why not make the best of it?
