A new study just confirmed that makeup does in fact make you feel smarter and can lead to better grades too. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of Chieti, Italy put the'lipstick effect' to the test and discovered that female students who wear makeup cognitively benefit from the psychological phenomenon in which wearing cosmetics can make an individual feel a sense of overall enhancement in self-esteem, attitude, and personality. The effect of makeup even proved to be a better predictor for higher grades than mood boosters like listening to positive music. It's well-documented that wearers feels more physically attractive and consequently revel in a higher sense of self-esteem while wearing makeup, but the effect of cosmetics on cognitive abilities hadn't previously been determined Researchers sorted 186 female undergraduate students into groups. Each was tasked with a different'mood-influencing task': listening to a positive music, coloring a drawing of a human face or applying makeup.