The One Thing 45% Of Men Think Is A Major Turn-Off
Guys really think you're doing too much.
getty I once dated a man who told me that my red Chanel lipstick made me look like a clown. It wasn't that I had any clown-like features, but the color of my lips, that luscious red that I loved so much, he had just found to be unsettling.
Like a fool, I stopped wearing my red lipstick and stuck to lip gloss that had no color at all. I didn't want to look like a clown in his eyes.
He wasn't the first man to negatively comment about makeup on women. Even my male friends would roll their eyes at the idea of any woman wearing makeup.
In fact, I've yet to meet a straight man who truly loves a glammed-up lady. My gay friends, on the other hand, love my red lipstick. Lipstick, mind you, that I've started wearing again, because forget that guy.
But a study revealed something that most of us pretty much already know: Men do not like makeup.
St. Ives conducted research that included 1,000 women and 550 men. They found that 40 percent of men think women wear too much makeup, with 45 percent of the male participants saying that all that makeup women wear is the stuff that turns a guy off completely.
What?! They don't want to be covered in bright red lipstick kisses?
Additional research from the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology found the same results.
After showing participants in the study, both male and female, various photos of women with different amounts of makeup on, both men and women preferred the photos where women were wearing less makeup.
Researchers concluded that the reason women are really wearing makeup is to obtain a standard of beauty that doesn't even really exist.
Researchers said, “Taken together, these results suggest that women are likely wearing cosmetics to appeal to the mistaken preferences of others. These mistaken preferences seem more tied to the perceived expectancies of men, and, to a lesser degree, of women.”
Not far behind makeup in the turn-off department, at 33 percent, were fake tans. Then, my beloved bright red lipstick came in at five percent. And lastly, thick eyebrows and faux eyelashes were at four percent.
However, these statistics don't exactly correlate with the fact that over half of women wear makeup in order to feel good about themselves, and 28 percent of them feel totally without self-esteem and confidence when they're without it.
Men hate what we love. Is this really news at all?
Further research even found that 14 percent of women would absolutely refuse to leave the house if they didn’t have makeup on, and 17 percent would call off a date if they couldn't get their face all gussied up first.
Basically, we're victims of something that makes us feel better about ourselves, but that something is the biggest turn-off for men.
The takeaway? If trying to please the opposite sex is your mission in life, you're likely to fail. Also, don't make that your mission in life anyway!
Although my makeup bag consists of only my red lipstick and black mascara, I can understand the confidence that comes with getting all dolled up with makeup.
I, too, can feel my self-esteem make a huge leap when I put on that Chanel lipstick. I'm no longer me, but a sultry, sexy, woman-in-command version of me. But at the same time, as someone who isn’t exactly a makeup person, I can see how men might see it as a turn-off.
There’s something truly gorgeous about seeing the actual skin of someone, as opposed to the foundation that, according to some big cosmetic brands, is an absolute necessity for going out into the world. If 14 percent of women won’t leave the house without makeup, then those brands are winning.
I’m the last one in the world to suggest that any woman change herself for a man, especially when it comes to our appearances. I already did that when I kicked my red lipstick to the curb, and it's something which I’m not proud of.
But what I do think is that going au natural is really beautiful.
While St. Ives may be all about nixing makeup for their own financial reasons, I suggest just giving it a try if you never have. Confidence can come from the most unlikely places sometimes, and you might be surprised by how you feel.
Amanda Chatel is a writer who divides her time between NYC and Paris. She's a regular contributor to Bustle and Glamour, with bylines at Harper's Bazaar, The Atlantic, Forbes, Livingly, Mic, The Bolde, Huffington Post and others.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on September 4, 2014 and was updated with the latest information.