Can Makeup Make You Better at Work?

It sounds wrong, but it may be right: A good lipstick can help you get ahead.

- Kayleen Schaefer

FOR THE FIRST TIME in my 10-plus-year career, I’m the boss. When any of the 13 people at the fashion website I run wants to write a story or spend some company cash, they ask me. I have more responsibility than ever before.

It’s also the first time I’m wearing makeup—real, grown-up makeup—to work. Each morning, I use tinted moisturizer, brow pencil, brown eyeliner, and mascara. I finish with powder and coral red lipstick. This prep is as essential as checking my in-box before my commute.

The Logic Behind Lipstick

For most of my working life, I had a haphazard relationship with makeup. If I had a big meeting, I tried to at least fill in my eyebrows, but I focused more on the actual work. It’s not that I didn’t care about how I looked, but the idea of earning a promotion (or even respect) based in part on a flawless mani seemed unfair and slightly depressing. Anyone who spends that much time on what they look like can’t possibly be working that hard, I thought. And—possibly naively—I just didn’t feel it mattered much.