20 • IMPACT • Urban Decay Research and Impact
Urban Decay Professor Mike Nicholson
Phoebe Huzar Undergraduate student
Beauty with a (neuroscience) edge
Picture the scene: a swish newly-opened cosmetics store in an upmarket London mall. Student and supervisor sit huddled over a small flickering laptop display, baffled by the readings of the electroencephalograph (EEG) output.
The state-of-the art equipment has been recording the brain activity of customers as they explore the store, its merchandise, and then indulge themselves with a complimentary makeover from skilled Beauty Advisors. The readings throughout have been varied and interesting, but what the researchers are witnessing now is quite astonishing.
Relaxation measures have increased by over 800% in response to a single event during the course of the shopping experience. This is due to contouring: the skilful application of cosmetics products to define, enhance and sculpt the structure of the face. More specifically, it is the stage of contouring performed with a single large make-up brush! The power of the ‘fluffy brush effect’ in positively affecting the mood of consumers, along with subsequent spending, is just the latest discovery to emerge from an exciting collaboration between Durham University Business School and the cosmetics
brand Urban Decay, part of the L’Oréal global empire. For the past two years, with guidance from supervisor Professor Mike Nicholson, undergraduate student Phoebe Huzar has been making an increasingly important contribution to Urban Decay’s retail experience design. It all began with a one-year internship, during which, Phoebe set out to investigate ways in which the brand’s retail outlets could gain a competitive advantage through the careful crafting of a more engaging and emotionally rewarding in-store experience. Early in this process, attention quickly focused on the delivery of in-store makeovers, a common practice in cosmetics retailing, but one fraught with contradictions when seen through the consumer’s lens. On the one hand, customers relish the opportunity to have their make-up professionally applied by a trained Beauty Advisor, an experience that is both relaxing and an opportunity for learning. At the same time, however, most brands conduct their makeovers in the middle of the shop floor, a very public display that can easily dissuade more self-conscious customers – customers who often belong to potentially highspending market segments.
