Women and make up

The findings are the result of more than two years of research by cosmetics giant Kanebo but came as a surprise to the team, headed by brain scientist Dr Ken Mogi.
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The researchers had expected to find that women experience positive emotions after they had applied the make-up.
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The company's "Cosmetics, Beauty and Brain Science" project determined that there are distinct cognitive activities involved in a woman's perception of her face with and without make-up. 
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Using a brain scanner, the scientists were able to monitor activity in the caudate nucleus of the brain and confirm that when a woman sees her own face without make-up, she anticipates how she will eventually appear to others and a "reward system" is activated, releasing dopamine to give sensations of pleasure.
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We know from previous research that when this area of the brain is activated we can derive pleasure from certain activities, said Keishi Saruwatari, of Kanebo's laboratories.
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We interpret that as meaning that when a woman looks at her face she is imagining how she will look when she has applied her make-up.
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There is a mixture of expectation, encouragement and ambition, he said.
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Make-up contributes to building relationships with others and feelings of pleasure in women.
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The research focused on female responses, but the team believes similar feelings may be at work when a man shaves or puts on cologne of a morning.
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We can now not only put a functional value on a product now, but also measure the emotional appeal, said scientist Yasuhiko Tanaka.
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By using quantifiable research, we will be able to strengthen the emotional value of a product and enable us to develop more appealing versions."