Do You Have To Wear Makeup To Work

You know better than to bust out the glitter eye shadow in the office—merely if y'all've been thinking that a depression-cardinal approach to makeup will win you professional acclaim and respect from your co-workers, a new written report says you lot should retrieve again.

The study, conducted past researchers at Boston University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, found that women who don a "professional" amount of makeup in the office were regarded as "capable, reliable, and amiable," and ultimately, "more competent" than those women who shunned the use of it.

Twenty-five women of white, African-American, and Hispanic ethnicities, ranging in ages from 20 to 50, were photographed in iv stages: first, bare-faced, then with levels of makeup the researchers categorized equally "natural," "professional," and "glamorous." When the 149 adult participants (61 of whom were men) were shown the photographs and asked to judge these varying makeup looks within seconds, the "professional" look was the winner in terms of competence and likeability. And when 119 unlike participants (30 men this time) were given "unlimited time" to examine the faces, the results were the same.

While wearing makeup was seen in a positive light, the "glamorous" wait (although absolutely attractive at outset glance) tended to wear off on its observers over time, leaving the glammed-upwards women being regarded as untrustworthy.

Then what does this hateful for our makeup bags? If y'all're an "au natural" kind of gal, should you be setting your alarm 20 minutes or so earlier to gussy up earlier you lot caput into the office? If you love to don red lipstick, should you lot leave information technology at home, lest becoming known as the Sneaky Emerge of the boardroom?

My stance: neither. Achieving the happy medium of makeup application may sound hands attainable in theory, but when nosotros're not compared side-by-side to three other versions of ourselves, the difference between "natural" and "professional" may not exist and then clear. And the standards by which we're judged on such matters can differ—a lot—from person to person. When information technology comes to making a professional impression on those around u.s., we're e'er going to be vulnerable to the whims of others' perceptions, and that extends far past the makeup we wear.

Personally, I've never been a large makeup girl, and I'm ordinarily content to stick with a quick swipe of mascara. I've accepted that no matter how I beautify myself for the role, someone is going to disapprove. Then I read this study, but I won't be changing my routine. If my "professional person" lipstick color is what's going to make me seem more likeable and competent, I think I'll laissez passer. Perhaps this makes me a renegade, or peradventure it just ways I'm comfortable in my skin.

Here's my advice: Wear your makeup in a way that makes yous proud and confident. It's proficient to be enlightened that your makeup—like your choice of attire—is going to play into how you're judged. Simply that doesn't mean there'due south a cookie-cutter "right" manner to apply it any more than it means you lot have to wearable pressed shirts and pencil skirts for the rest of your life.

Based on this study, volition you lot exist making whatsoever changes to how you wear your makeup into work?

Photo courtesy of iamtheo.

Amanda Chatel is a freelance writer in New York City. She has written for AOL'south Lemondrop and MyDaily, The Grindstone, New York Mag, HowAboutWe and is a frequent contributor to The Gloss, YourTango, BlackBook, and the Huffington Post. She lives in the East Hamlet with her dog, Hubbell, who is named afterward the Robert Redford character in The Way We Were, and not the telescope. People never grab the difference in spelling.