Yahoo Finance Surprising way Aussie are using ‘instant beauty’ to boost their pay: 'Significant increase'
Aussies are turning to fillers and injectables and seeking out "instant beauty" to increase their incomes.
Australian demand for injectable beauty treatments like Botox and fillers has soared in recent years, but consumers are looking for more than just self-care. In fact, they’re looking to increase their earning potential.
Dr Vivek Eranki, founder and CEO of leading beauty, injectables and laser hair removal clinics, Cosmetique, says the industry is seeing a “surge in demand” for “instant beauty”, with clients coming with the intention of securing higher-paying jobs.
“We call it pretty privilege,” Dr Eranki says. “We are seeing a significant increase in the number of people wanting treatments to enhance their look and improve their chances of getting a new job or a much-needed pay raise.”
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'We call it the beauty bonus'
Dr Eranki explains that a desire to be more attractive for financial reasons is a common theme in the injectables industry.
“Research shows that attractive people can earn higher salaries compared to their less attractive peers," he said.
"This is partly due to positive biases that associate attractiveness with other desirable traits like intelligence and reliability.
“Beautiful people are said to receive better salaries and higher end-of-year bonuses than other people. We call it the beauty bonus.”
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Research has proven this time and time again, as studies highlight the commonalities in what humans deem as ‘attractive’. Not only do we show biases towards people we perceive as attractive by seeing them as more intelligent, kind or trustworthy, attractive people are more likely to be confident and assertive, which can further increase their earning power and ability to build a valuable network. This creates a self-fulfilling cycle where the positive associations we have with attractive people further uphold their confidence.
Dr Eranki cites ‘the halo effect’ as a reason why attractive people earn more.
“The halo effect is a cognitive bias where people assume that [someone] with one positive trait such as attractiveness, possesses other positive traits such as intelligence or kindness. This can lead to more favourable evaluations and treatment in different contexts, in particular job interviews,” Dr Eranki said.
And it’s not exclusive to women. Some studies have shown that attractiveness has an even greater impact on men’s earnings than on women’s.
Leyneaka Maigler from Adelaide has a public sales-facing job, and gets lip injections to improve her earning power.
She cited “enhancing my appearance, boosting my confidence, and presenting a more polished image in my public-facing role” as reasons for investing in the treatment.
“Physical appearance can make a significant difference in my role,” she said. “Feeling more confident and polished can positively impact my interactions with clients, potentially leading to higher sales and commissions.”
Leyneaka said she allocates a portion of her budget “specifically for beauty expenses”, which include her semi-regular lip injections, as well as skincare products and other beauty services.
Beauty injectable spending withstands economic downturn
Anti-wrinkle injections and fillers are among the most popular procedures performed in Australia. According to the Australian College of Cosmetic Surgery, Australians consume more than $350 million worth of wrinkle reduction procedures with Botulinum Toxin (Botox) each year.
Research from Finder in 2023 found that Aussies spend an average of $1.6 billion per month on beauty treatments and procedures, with Botox topping the list in monthly spending.
Despite the rising cost of living and tightening household budgets, Finder’s Sarah Megginson said many were “reluctant” to give up their beauty expenses. Megginson cites “comfort and confidence” as a reason for people wanting to keep these treatments in their budget at all costs – literally.
This idea is supported by the well-known economic phenomenon of ‘the lipstick effect’. This effect suggests that during economic downturns, consumers maintain some spending on small, often more affordable luxuries – like lipstick. This behaviour is a perfect example of how our emotions drive our financial behaviour far more than mathematical logic.
In some cases, the lipstick effect is driven by a desire to have a small taste of luxury or ‘self-care’ despite cutting out a lot of other spending. In others, it’s driven by a desire to enhance one’s confidence or appearance to alleviate the psychological discomfort caused by economic uncertainty.
“Across industry, we normally experience what we call the ‘lipstick’ effect as people turn to beauty to make themselves feel better during tough economic times, but we are also experiencing the impact of pretty privilege as people turn to cosmetic injectables to beautify their look for job hunting purposes,” Dr Eranki added.
He concluded that despite the obvious inequities that pretty privilege creates, it is “alive and well” in the minds of a lot of people and this is creating an unprecedented surge in demand for injectable cosmetic and beauty treatments.
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