Arts and Design Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6061 (Paper) ISSN 2225-059X (Online) DOI: 10.7176/ADS Vol.75, 2019 1 Makeup Lifestyles of the Female Youths in Ghana. Evidence from Kumasi and Accra Tertiary Institutions Solomon Ayesu Marfo, Peggy Maansah Ankai Howard 1 Sylvia Asheley Akrong 2 Kweku Bedu Simpson 3 * 1. Faculty of Creative Arts and Technology, Kumasi Technical University, P. O. Box 854, Kumasi-Ghana. 2. School of Fashion and Design, Blue Crest College, Accra-Ghana. 3. Department of Architectural Drafting, Accra Technical Training Centre, P. O. MB 177, Accra- Ghana. Abstract Women would want to appear more attractive and feminine to enjoy the benefits that accompany it. It is against this background that they predominate in makeup usage. The study fundamentally determined the makeup lifestyles of the female youths in selected tertiary institutions in Ghana. Employing descriptive research through cross sectional survey and using convenience sampling techniques, data were collected from female students, mainly in Accra and Kumasi tertiary institutions and 260 questionnaires analyzed. Findings revealed that respondents generally used makeup for glamour, attractiveness, supporting their career, creativity, feeling confident and empowerment. More respondents applied makeup only on special occasions and mostly considered the complexion, skin tone, skin type, clothing, occasion and quality of the product before using it. Generally, respondents used makeup whilst going to ‘lectures’, ‘on a date’, ‘to church’, and ‘to work’. Some did not use makeup at all on all occasions and more makeup users spent less than 15 minutes on all situations especially to ‘lectures’, ‘job interviews’, ‘church’ and ‘visit to friends’. Greater respondents ‘sometimes’ or ‘once daily’ touched up their makeups and many ‘seldom’ carried makeup item(s) for touch-ups mostly being lipstick, powder, and lip- gloss. More respondents started makeup between 16 and 19 years and more viewed makeup to social situations as ‘important’ and that makeup enhances their self-appearance, and boost their consciousness. Respondents were satisfied without makeup than with makeup and majority were aware of the negative effects of makeup on human skin. The study recommends that makeup users be educated on the negative effects of color cosmetics so that they would be better informed in their application. This study is the first to have been conducted in Ghana and could be useful for the cosmetic industry, researchers and the academia. Keywords: Attractiveness, makeup cosmetics, female youths, tertiary institutions, makeup lifestyle, Ghana. Definition of Terms In this paper, makeup refers to cosmetic makeup and makeup cosmetics means colored cosmetics, makeup items, cosmetics and are thus used interchangeably. DOI: 10.7176/ADS/75-01 Publication date: August 31 st 2019 1. Introduction Physical attractiveness refers to “The person’s aesthetic appeal as a visual social stimulus” (Cash & Cash, 1982), and “the more attractive the face, the longer and the more often people looked at” (Leder et al. 2016). For Cash & Cash (1982), physical appearance influences visual perception, personality and perceived attractiveness, and other features concerning the face and body dictates how human beings select their significant others and friends. This can control a person’s suitability for a position in work related circumstances, and can affect a good number of favorable factors. Females feel pressurized to appear attractive purposely for getting the benefits in their education, career and social life (Verbickaite 2017). Frevert & Walker (2014) found that attractive people are perceived to be healthier, less likely to commit crime, more likely to win in elections, have better relationships, more powerful, look more intelligent and even have some benefits in employment since ones personality is influenced by the perception of ones looks. Cosmetics are capable of creating exceptional facial stimuli by elaborating cues to sexual dimorphism (Etcoff et al. 2011). Fundamentally, cosmetics is to enhance the promotion of sex differences such that the faces of females look more feminine and so more attractive. Jones et al. (2015) found that “the luminance contrast pattern of the eyes and eyebrows is consistently sexually dimorphic across a large samples of faces with females possessing lower brow contrast than males and greater eye contrast than males” adding that women employ cosmetic makeup to enhance sexual dimorphism in respect of the brow and eye contrast as well as increasing contrast that reduce as they grow. Cosmetic products are applied to the body for beautifying, cleansing or improving appearance and enhancing attractive features (Singh 2010) and ‘make up’ constitutes one of the categories of cosmetics purposely for face beautification (Claeyssens 2009). On the whole, makeup stands for a form of feminine expression and this intensely arouses a particular feelings. Usually men are not expected to wear makeup, nevertheless, due to professional and social pressures, women feel obliged to adhere to beauty norms and therefore make themselves up (Buegeler 2015).