WASHINGTON – Strawberry Fizz. Orgasm. Nourishing Nude. Lipsticks have a lot of unique names.
An analysis done by a University of Oregon professor finds women prefer shades that are named after food and sex.
Professor Debra Merskin’s research says, “Lipstick names draw upon the imagination first, then memory. They shock and fascinate us. They disturb us.”
She classifies lipsticks into 14 categories. The top three, according to her study, are as follows:
- Color: Straight-ahead color names.
- Food: Deserts, beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), spices, and fruits.
- Sex and Romance: Words that refer to a woman’s intentions, state of dress (or undress), or more romantic references.
Merskin says cosmetics companies and advertisers “optimize women’s emotional connections with food, particularly desserts and rich beverages” with lipstick in two ways, by having women symbolically consume the forbidden fruit and by letting them transform themselves into something consumable.
HT: WTOP on Twitter.
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