Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

I wanted to know if there is anyone out there that can help me with my science fair project. I wanted to know how to put it all together. Mine is called "The Mysteries of Makeup" and I want to make it look good and actually have interesting things. I can't really think of anything else to do, but put which eye shadow stays on the longest or what is the worst lip gloss. I want to do something more so if you have any tips or can give me a site to go to I would really appreciate it!

MiMi

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RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

Why don't you do a science project on just what all goes into makeup. You could list all the different ingredients and where they come from. For instance, lipstick, eye shadow, mascara and how they are made and what their ingredients are. What do the manufacturers put into their products to make them last? Another idea is what women in other countries use for makeup and where they find their ingredients. Good luck with your project. (10/01/2005)

By Seagrape

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

I think it would be interesting to do some research on the web and find out what the ladies way back in the olden days used when they had no such thing as eyeshadows and lipsticks. (10/01/2005)

By freedombelle2001

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

Good ideas, all. What I thought of was Egyptian make-up like Nefertiti wore, I think it was kohl which is actually coal or charcoal. Also check into the face paint that African and Native American tribes wore. You could look into that because many of our modern make ups may be made from similar things. You could do a write up on the history of makeup up to the present time.

Here's an interesting link:

http://www.costumes.org/HISTORY/100pages/masksand.htm#History

Susan from ThriftyFun (10/01/2005)

By ThriftyFun

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

After you have done your research, expect to put in just as much time putting together and decorating the experiment for the teacher. Office supply stores have the large trifold boards that can form a nice standing backdrop.

A nice theme could be, "More expensive isn't necessarily better". Check out Paula Begoun's book. She is a beauty expert and author of "Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me". (10/02/2005)

By Holly

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

How about a history perspective. My mom remembers when her older sisters painted lines down the backs of their legs with eyeliner to simulate the stockings they couldn't afford in the 1940's. A company which has been around a long time is Max Factor. How about reporting on different trends in make up style, the blue eye shadow of the fifties, heavy eyeliner of the 60's, the natural look of the 70's, glam rock and punk makeup in the 80's.

How about some before and after shots of people with makeup and without. You could focus on corrective makeup, for those with scars, birthmarks, dark under eye circles, contouring with shading and shadow v.s. cosmetic surgery, tatooed eye and lip liner and eyebrows; new age multifunctional products (chemical exfoliater, moisturizer and sunscreen all in one lotion), the new trend in cosmetics (skin care for men). I could go on and on. I am a true girly-girl; wearing makeup every day since the 6th grade; I'm 38 years old now. (10/02/2005)

By Debbie

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

I would tell the story of make-up: 3000 years ago, the Egyptians already used quite a few products, among which scented grease cones. They used to put it on their hair and let slowly melt. You could also show how beauty standards changed from one civilisation to the other. In France in the 19th century, it was mandatory to have a very pale complexion, and that changed completely in the 20th century when being tanned and fit meant that you were wealthy enough to afford holidays.

By Campaspe

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

Try talking the girls at the cosmetics counters many of them have formal education about the products they sell. I would keep your science projects to one type of makeup or lipstick and look at it's history and ingredients. These things should give you great ideas, some foundations are using new products that reflect light in different ways. (03/07/2007)

By chemist KK

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

I think you should do something about nail polish. Maybe get fake nails paint them with all the same nail polish, then put the in three different liquids to see which one comes off faster. So now, you have a control and a variable. Try liquids such as: soda, water, or just leave one in the sun! It may work. (12/30/2007)

By sunshine bby

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

I'm doing something like that too and I am going to buy a couple brands of lip gloss and then make a data table and you will have to keep your constants such as how much lip gloss you will apply, when you put on the lip gloss, and the temperature of the lip gloss. Then have to put it into a graph and you would make a bar graph because only the dependent variable is a number. The independent variable is the minutes the lip gloss lasts. The hypothesis could be that Covergirl lip gloss lasts longer than Wet and Wild. Hope this helps you and good luck. (10/15/2008)

By KK

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

If this is a "science" project then I don't see why you would look at the "history" of different makeup. Also, looking at which brand of lipstick stays on longest is pretty superficial and I'm confident that you won't get the marks that you want.

I'm in grade 10 and I'm also doing a science project on cosmetics. I'm testing the pH levels in different foundations. pH is the acidity level. 7 is considered neutral and anything lower is more acidic and anything higher is more basic.

Acids tend to decompose matter, so a foundation with a lower pH level will most likely break down excess oil on a person's face which would be good for people with oily skin. Bases tend to rebuild so a foundation with a higher pH level could help rebuild or restore damaged skin cells.

So testing different pH levels on different skin types would be a much more mature and scientific approach on an experiment based on cosmetics. This could also work with the protein layer in hair (testing the pH levels in shampoos) xoxx (10/24/2008)

By Jen

RE: Mysteries of Makeup Science Project

Well, what I'm going to do a project with my friend. We're going to see which type of foundation hides blemishes better; mousse, powder, or liquid? (01/14/2009)

By JJbaby