Put Down The Brush! Men Actually Prefer Women Who Wear Less Makeup

Many women prefer not to wear any makeup, but for others, they consider it a way to look and feel more attractive.

A study is now showing that women's perceptions about the need for makeup might be skewed, and while women preferred faces that were a little more done up, men actually liked women who were wearing less.

The study, conducted by researchers at Bangor University and Aberdeen University, gave 44 women an array of makeup, including foundation, lipstick, eyeliner, eyeshadow and mascara.

The female participants were asked to transform their makeup-less faces into something they'd wear for a night out.

After applying the makeup, researchers then altered the before and after photos to produce 21 images showing the women's faces with varying amounts of makeup.

The photos were then presented to 44 Bangor University students, who were asked to pick the image they thought was most attractive, and the face they believed men and also women would prefer.

Surprisingly enough, women more often picked the makeup-heavy photos as more attractive, whereas the men surveyed were more attracted to the images with considerably less makeup.

Overall, however, all of us women might be overdoing it for our evening looks — according to the survey's results, men and women both preferred the image of the model when she was wearing 40 percent less makeup than she initially put on.

H/T: Time, Photo Courtesy: We Heart It