43 pct Chinese females spend 500 to 2,000 yuan a year on cosmetics: survey

About 43 percent of Chinese women in a survey said they spend an average of 500 to 2,000 yuan (74 to 298 U.S. dollars) every year on makeup, China Youth Daily has reported.

According to the survey, 26.8 percent of respondents said they spend 2,000 to 5,000 yuan a year on makeup, which polled 1,865 females.

Over 64 percent said they spend about 10 to 30 minutes doing their makeup each day and 24.8 percent said the process may take up to an hour, the survey said.

Over 70 percent of those surveyed said it was necessary to put on makeup for events such as important meetings or gatherings. Over half of them responded that makeup was necessary when they go to work.

Nearly 60 percent of them said they use makeup to make themselves look better, and 47.4 percent considered the process a fun, the survey showed.

Over half of the respondents said they learned how to use makeup in universities and 23.5 percent said they learned it after they started to work.

The newspaper also quoted a male university student as saying that he learned to use makeup in the university and perceived makeup as an artistic skill.