Want to know the secret to eternal youth? According to scientists, your eyebrows could be the key to looking younger.
Put down that youth-restoring serum that promises to rewind the clock: finessing your eyebrows could be the key to looking younger.
A study published in Frontiers in Psychology (view it here) found that facial features, such as lips and eyebrows, stand out less as we get older. As part of the study, researchers analysed 763 photos of make-up free women aged between 20 and 80 with various skin tones. A computer programme then analysed facial contrast – how much eyes, lips and eyebrows stand out due to differences in light and darkness with the surrounding skin. It turns out, people with stronger facial contrast are perceived as younger.
Researchers then created Photoshopped versions of some of the images using different levels of contrasts. The new images were shown to a group of volunteers who were asked to identify the younger-looking face. According to the group, the high-contrast face was chosen as the younger of the two nearly 80 per cent of the time.
The researchers believe that using cosmetics to darken and enhance features would replicate the same results. Co-author Richard Russell, associate professor of psychology at Gettysburg College, told Time “The way we manipulated features in the photos was very similar to what you’d do with makeup, and I would be surprised if you couldn’t get similar effects,” says. “We know that lips get less red with age and eyebrows get lighter, for instance, and those are both things that you could address with makeup if you wanted.”
All the more reason to start perfecting your brow game, we say. Take a look at three of our faves for defining and filling in brows:
Bobbi Brown Micro Brow Pencil, $60; Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade, $37; Hourglass Arch Brow Volumizing Fiber Gel, $48; Dior Diorshow Kabuki Brow Styler, $55
Not sure how to shape your eyebrows? Click here for our top beauty tips for bold and beautiful brows.
