Does Wearing Make-up Make You Smarter? with Alessia Evans

Alessia Evans developed a love of makeup from a young age and started working in the cosmetics industry at 19 where she climbed the ranks as a makeup artist, trainer and manager for L'Oreal. Fast forward 10+ years, and Alessia has bowed out of the beauty industry to study Psychology, undertaking a dissertation investigating whether applying makeup makes us smarter... what she discovered was remarkable! Since being awarded the British Psychological Prize for Best Dissertation 2020, Alessia has gone on to write for a magazine on the psychology of beauty and currently lectures at the University of South Wales where she also recently completed her Masters in Psychology Research.  This week she joins Psychology in the Classroom to talk about the impact that make up can have on social interaction, mental health and cognitive function.  We discuss schools’ general aversion to make-up and ask the question ‘Is this rule appropriate?’ The answer may not be what you expect, whatever you think about make-up, Alessia provides some really fascinating insights into the reasons why we wear make-up and why we should perhaps open up the conversation around make-up in schools. You can get in touch with Alessia Here: https://staffdirectory.southwales.ac.uk/users/alessia.evans.html You can find details of Nancy Etcoff’s book here - Survival of the Prettiest, or just search her name online.