A recent survey found that one in three women won’t even pop to the corner shop without make-up and nearly two thirds always wear cosmetics for work. Hilarie Stelfox talked to three women who believe in the power of cosmetics and asked a psychologist why we’re hooked on beauty products

I HAVE A confession. Since the age of 15 I have rarely ventured out into public without wearing, at the very least, a lick of lipstick or an application of mascara.

In recent years I’ve adopted the full face look – foundation, powder, eye shadow, blusher, the works. Putting it on is a daily ritual, one that I enjoy.

According to psychologist Sarah Jane Robinson, who teaches at Huddersfield University, make-up can be, quite literally, a mask that enables women to take control of how they look and feel.

“It can be a protection,’’ she said. “It means we can control the picture the outside world has of us. It can help self esteem.

“And I can’t get away from the fact that it can be a pleasurable thing, something women do for themselves that improves how they feel.”

Like many women, Sarah Jane says she recalls her own mother applying make-up.

“I remember thinking to myself how beautiful she looked and that when I’m older I’m going to do that,’’ she added. “When she wasn’t in I’d get her make-up bag out and put her make-up on.”

Make-up has been worn by women – and men – for thousands of years so there’s nothing new about using cosmetics. It is engrained in our culture.

“It’s part of early socialisation,” says Sarah Jane, who began wearing make-up herself as a teenager and now has a 15-year-old daughter who uses it. “Girls are introduced to make-up by their mums and grow up to think that wearing make-up equals attractiveness.

“It can also be a bonding exercise for mother and daughter.”

In her view, make-up wearing only becomes a problem when women feel they can’t step out of their homes without full ‘war paint’.

“One of the problems is that women see these completely unattainable images in magazines, images that have been photoshopped to look flawless,” she said.

“They have an unrealistic image of what make-up will do for them.”

To some extent the cosmetic industry feeds on our insecurities and the fact that we judge each other on appearance.

“We have an expectation that women will wear make-up if they do a certain job, for instance” says Sarah Jane. “And we make assumptions about women who don’t wear make-up. We might think they have so much self esteem that they don’t need to wear make-up or that they aren’t on the ball because they don’t look groomed and professional.”

Anthropologists would argue that make-up serves a primal purpose. It’s about attracting a mate. “Youth is really important when we are trying to attract people,” said Sarah Jane. “By wearing make-up we are trying to trick the opposite sex into thinking we are young and therefore more fertile. Of course, it only works up to a certain point and your true age will become known eventually.”

A recent survey of 3,000 women by Superdrug discovered that the average woman waits up to 10 weeks into a new relationship before revealing her face without the mask of make-up and 14% said they got up early in the morning to put their face on before their partner wakes up.

Although make-up can undoubtedly be enhancing, the current trend for false eyelashes, false nails, fake tans and hair extensions may be taking things a step too far.

“Too much make-up can be off-putting,” says Sarah Jane. “A lot of girls are going for the celebrity look with false everything which requires a lot of commitment. And imagine waking up next to someone with their false hair and eyelashes falling out on the pillow!”