Cosmetics increase skin evenness: Evidence from perceptual and physical measures

Abstract

Background Cosmetics are commonly attributed with increasing skin evenness, yet little published data characterizes the effect, either perceptually or physically. We therefore investigated whether makeup increases skin evenness using a perceptual measurement and two physical measurements of color and luminance homogeneity. Materials and Methods Twenty‐two French women (aged 29‐45 years) were photographed without cosmetics, with self‐applied cosmetics, and with professionally‐applied cosmetics. In Study 1, 143 participants rated skin evenness. In Study 2, each face was delineated to create regions of interest (ROI) in the cheek and forehead areas. Both ROIs were then analyzed for luminance homogeneity using an established measure (Haralick homogeneity) and a new measure that incorporates chromaticity (H76). Results In Study 1, the faces were rated as having more even‐looking skin with either self‐applied cosmetics or professionally‐applied cosmetics than without cosmetics. In Study 2, the luminance homogeneity measure found that the cheek ROI, but not the forehead ROI, was more homogeneous after both self‐applied cosmetics and professionally‐applied cosmetics when compared to without cosmetics. The new measure incorporating chromaticity found greater homogeneity in both ROIs in the two cosmetics conditions. The new measure incorporating chromaticity also better predicted the perceived skin evenness ratings from Study 1. Conclusion These results provide systematic empirical evidence that makeup increases perceived skin evenness, and that these increases are partly predicted by physical measurements of skin luminance and color. The data also indicate that H76—the new measure of skin evenness that incorporates chromaticity—better predicts perceived skin evenness.

Professional Versus Self-Applied Makeup: Do Makeup Artists Add Value?

“…We used a subset of the set of photographs collected by Loegel (2019) as part of her doctoral dissertation. Specifically, we used images of the same 22 target women described by Batres et al (2019). Written informed consent was obtained from all the women allowing the use of their photographs for research studies.…”

A role for contrast gain control in skin appearance

“…In this regard, makeup modifies facial appearance in the same ways that we manipulated the stimulus faces in Studies 1 and 2. This implies that the effect of makeup on perceived skin evenness (Batres et al, 2019b) is due not only to products applied directly to the skin, such as foundation, but also to color cosmetics applied to the facial features, such as lipstick and mascara. By increasing facial contrast, these products can suppress the appearance of contrast in the skin, making the skin appear more even.…”

“…Participants were explicitly directed to look at the skin appearance with the task of rating how even and how wrinkled the skin appeared. Evenness and wrinkles are two common properties of skin that are easily assessed by lay observers and are commonly measured in literatures on skin appearance (Batres et al, 2019b;Fink et al, 2001;Nkengne et al, 2008). In this way we investigated the effect of the contrast manipulation on explicit ratings of skin appearance.…”

Light Makeup Decreases Receivers’ Negative Emotional Experience

“…All 50 facial pictures from the same clip were lightly made up following a uniform beauty standard using Photoshop, which included slight whitening and smoothing of the skin and application of pale pink lipstick (see Figure 1). These treatments were based on the outcomes of makeup applications in real life, such as skin whitening 43 and smoothing 44 .…”