I've always been interested and mesmerized by mood-changing products, like mood rings and lip glosses that change colors depending on your feelings.
It's reassuring to have something external validate your emotions.
Recently, cosmetic companies have been introducing specially-formulated makeup that claims to enhance your mood and desires.
Makeup products that change your mood? That means no more weekly hours spent on yoga, sipping on chamomile tea or clenching my fists over life's daily demands, right?
I mean, it's still makeup at the end of the day.
Upon discovering these brands have launched mood-enhancing makeup products, the question has to be asked: Is this true, or are we just suckers for good marketing?
Apparently, it all comes down to what ingredients these products use and how they really correlate to the mood-enhancing triggers in our systems.
Let's look at Physicians Formula's Glow and Mood Boosting Blush:
The product claims to make you happy due to the ingredient: Euphoryl. According to the company, euphoryl is used to “promote a feeling of happiness by mimicking the effect of endorphins.”
However, upon researching euphoryl, there is actually no link with endorphins. Instead, it stimulates dopamine.
And, yes, it can be argued that dopamine (with its link to helping make us “happy”) in makeup can have mood-boosting effects, meaning the product works. But this still isn't the case.
In case you don't remember from Psychology 101, dopamine is a chemical signal that gets passed throughout the brain. It is only produced in the brain.
There is no way dopamine can get passed through your skin and find its way into the brain.
According to dermatologist, Ronald Brancaccio, “It's difficult for any compound to be absorbed into the bloodstream via the skin.”
So unfortunately for us, this blush won't make us feel as if we are running through a hill of roses. Instead, it will most likely have a placebo effect.
There are also other cosmetics that use well-known aphrodisiacs, which many people actually believe will boost your mood.
Let's look at Mojo Spa's Light My Fire Lip Balm for Love and Passion:
This product claims to enhance your passion and love life through its inclusion of rose quartz and aphrodisiacs, such as chocolate and caramel.
First of all, it is very difficult to conclude the validity of rose quartz's effects and there have been studies done that provide evidence for there being no significant link between aphrodisiacs, like chocolate and caramel and our moods.
Basically, these so-called mood-enhancing makeup products are more in your mind than they are factual.
But at the end of the day, they are fun and cute ideas that also happen to make us look pretty good.
That is the one and only link between makeup and our mood: both improve our appearances, which in return improve how we feel about ourselves. It has nothing to do with a specific, magic ingredient.
