JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE 54 purchase products, like makeup, from a certain luxury brand or in purpose to satisfy either their cognitive or emotional needs (33). To some, the social dimensions such as the conspicuousness, popularity, or exclusivity of the luxury brand might be of particular importance as they signal wealth, power, and status, and strengthen membership of peer groups. To others, luxury goods might serve as a fi nancial investment or have to meet their individual standards of superior quality. Another segment’s luxury brand consump- tion might stem from hedonistic or materialistic motives that express their individual self. In sum, luxury brands have to encompass the consumer’s values to justify the pur- chase. Because the world of luxury brands is not homogeneous, the product category and situational characteristics play an important role. From the consumer’s perspective, each luxury product can provide a certain set of values and may be more appropriate in certain situations than in others. However, other studies showed that women who belong to upper social classes and earn high salaries usually feel sentiments of superiority. In addi- tion, having more opportunities and facilitations turn the socioeconomic level of a woman to an indicator of success with education and professional career (34,35). All of these accomplishments give each worker an impression of ability and effi ciency that will gener- ate positive self-esteem and build self-esteem without resorting to cosmetics (36). As a result, the urge to purchase and use a lot of makeup products is more intense for middle- income and lower income consumers than higher income consumers. The association between makeup use and the socioeconomic status is still controversial more studies are needed to evaluate this correlation in depth. LIMITATIONS Our study has some limitations mainly related to its cross-sectional questionnaire-based design. Causal sequential relationships should be investigated in larger longitudinal studies while considering other factors that might be associated with makeup use. How- ever, the study casts light on many important fi ndings and is the fi rst, to our knowledge, to address factors associated with makeup use among Lebanese women. The information obtained from the scales were self-reported and, thus, might predispose us to an informa- tion bias, such as problems understanding the questions and over/under evaluation of the symptoms. The Arabic versions of the scales used have not been validated yet. Our sample was randomly selected across Lebanese regions however, because most women enrolled had a university level of education, our results cannot be generalized to the entire popula- tion future studies taking these limitations into account are warranted. CONCLUSION In conclusion, in our society, makeup has become one of the main routines in our daily lives. Physical appearance has become essential for most women, for various reasons, among others, to attract the attention of others, for personal satisfaction, for more self- confi dence, or to feel desired. In addition, makeup is considered a companion for most women who allow them to have a better picture of themselves and a higher self-esteem in the different aspects of life. According to our study, the use of cosmetic products by Lebanese women is associated with many factors such as AO, self-esteem, socioeconomic status, and religion. These

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