Desperate Scousewives' Layla Flaherty, Debbie O'Toole, Amanda Carrington and Gill O'Toole
Getting ready for a nigth out can take a lot of preparation; how long does it take you?
According to a new study, Liverpool ladies spend the longest in the entire country getting ready for a night out.
The well-groomed women of Merseyside topped a survey for online beauty retailer Escentual.com – with 46 per cent spending more than three hours on average getting dolled up before going out.
Escentual.com surveyed more than 500 women from across the UK, asking them to reveal how long they spent grooming themselves for a night out.
Top five areas for spending more than three hours preparing were Merseyside; Nottinghamshire; Bedfordshire; Oxfordshire; and - perhaps surprisingly - Essex, which scraped into fifth place with just 12 per cent of women admitting to spending more than three hours getting ready for a night out.
The five areas spending the least amount of time grooming were Humberside, and Susan Boyle’s home town West Lothian in Scotland, where a staggering 75 per cent of women respondents said they spent 15 minutes or less before going out; Clywd, Wales, where 95 per cent of respondents said they spent less than 45 minutes, Derbyshire, and West Midlands.
Liverpool, home of reality TV show Desperate Scousewives, is rightly famous for its glamour. Scouse girls including Coleen Rooney and Alex Curran are often spotted wearing rollers at the Albert Dock during the day before a big night out.
Emma Leslie, Escentual.com’s Beauty editor, said: “We always see strong sales from the Liverpool area, with the most popular products being false eyelashes and bronzing powders for the high glamour look, so it’s not totally surprising that Merseyside topped the poll.
“Essex was surprisingly only fifth for women spending more than three hours getting ready. Again, it’s got a very glamorous image to maintain thanks to shows like TOWIE and great nightlife and closeness to London. But, surprisingly, it was pipped to the top by Nottinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire. It could be because Essex girls have their beauty and going out regimes so well planned.”
Nottingham, in second place, is well known for its nightlife, but Bedfordshire – birthplace of Carol Vorderman - came an unlikely third. Most surprising, perhaps, was that Essex, home of glamorous TOWIE girls Samantha Faiers and Jessica Wright, could only scrape into fifth place despite having a glamorous reputation as spiritual home of the vajazzle, big hair and fake tanning.
A typical night out regime can include anything from applying fake tan, blow-drying and styling hair to exfoliating, moisturising and polishing the skin.
Emma continued: “At the bottom end of the scale, we found Hull and West Lothian girls whizzed out quickly spending less than 15 minutes. Women from Clwyd, Wales, Derbyshire and West Midlands were also much more likely to be found enjoying their night out rather than agonising over their lipstick.
“There’s no magic number that is going to mean you’re ready to go out. We always say at Escentual.com it’s about whatever works for our customers. For some women glamming themselves up is an important part of the whole night out experience, often with friends. While others just prefer to feel more comfortable and chose a more natural look”.
Other interesting figures thrown up by the survey included: In London only two per cent of women spent under 15 minutes getting ready; in Nottinghamshire it was just three per cent; on the Isle of Wight women were equally split between spending two hours, and 30-45 minutes; in Powys Wales, all the women surveyed spent two hours on average getting ready.
In Berkshire, 72 per cent of women spent between 45 minutes and an hour getting ready to go out, suggesting they might be influenced by the Duchess of Cambridge’s look. The former Kate Middleton, who grew up in the county, famously opts for more natural make-up.