Reality TV star Nicole Snooki Polizzi showed her Twitter fans Wednesday what she looks like without her trademark bronzer, smoky eyes and fake eyelashes.

The response? Much, much better fresh faced than with all the goop, fans said.

OMG! We LOOOOVE @snooki without makeup, tweeted the VH1 television network.

Holy (expletive) Snooks you look the best without makeup! another fan tweeted.

However, psychological studied would suggest otherwise, saying that makeup not only is attractive to the women who wear it, but the people on the receiving end.

In a 2008 study, a French psychologist found that by wearing makeup, Snooki would raise her chances of having a guy hit on her at a bar.

In the study, 30 female volunteers hung out at a bar on two separate occasions: once with makeup and once without.

Unbeknownst to their potential male suitors, two observers secretly monitored who hit on the women by initiating a conversation.

The results:

Time elapsed before first contact from a man

Makeup: 17.09 minutes

No makeup: 23.08 minutes

Average number of men who interacted with the women

Makeup: 2.07 (this number is averaged over 30 women; the 0.07 of a man is not your ex)

No makeup: 1.57

The psychologist, Nicholas Gueguen wrote: The results found in the experiment have some practical implication. They suggest that women can successfully employ cosmetics to increase their attractiveness and to encourage men to establish contact with them.

The study had its limitations, the researcher admitted. In one study, American female college students had a better opinion of themselves when they didn't wear makeup. Also, the experiment took place in a bar, an environment with so many variables that it would be impossible to duplicate the volunteers' behavior over two nights.

But not all women wearing makeup are trying to be bar bait.

A 2011 study found that women generally buy cosmetics because of the emotional appeal, not necessarily because of the underlying function.

Both the emotional and utility aspect of cosmetic brands have a significant impact on consumer satisfaction, but that the emotional component has a greater effect, Vanessa Apaolaza, lead study author and researcher at the University of the Basque Country, said in a statement.

The survey included 355 randomly-selected women aged 18 to 50 who were asked about their own perceptions of the use and emotion behind makeup.

The results showed that consumer satisfaction is greatest when the cosmetics brand helps to strengthen positive emotions through the perception of 'caring for oneself' and removing feelings of worry and guilt about not taking care of one's appearance, Apaolaza said.

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