( CNN ) -- As a cosmetics saleswoman , Shannon Barnes constantly fielded the same question from women looking at mascara ads perched on her department store counter : Are those eyelashes real ? Um , no , she told them . Mascara alone would never -- could never -- produce eyelashes as full and thick as those on the models . Armed with the truth , most customers did the natural thing : they bought the mascara anyway , said Barnes , now a pro makeup artist in Sioux Falls , South Dakota . `` Even I can still be sucked in by the hype , '' said Barnes , who knows full well her facial artistry will be airbrushed by photographers until the models she works on barely resemble those she started with . `` I know the extent of the deception . Sometimes I tell young girls , 'It 's not a real image . ' '' I 'm shocked ! Beauty ads lie ? Do beauty ads tell the truth ? Does it matter ? The banning this week of two L'Oreal ads featuring Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington in the UK for being so retouched they no longer reflected reality produced a pronounced shrug from across the pond , where psychologists and cosmetics industry gurus posited that American women are in on the game -- and they do n't necessarily care . 'Pretty Woman ' Julia Roberts too pretty ? `` We do n't want to see an ordinary person in the ads . We want to see a spectacular person , '' said Nancy Berk , a clinical psychologist in Pittsburgh . `` You underestimate women when you think we ca n't see beyond the facts . We 're aspiring to improve ... we want to feel like we 've done what we can . '' What is beauty and who has it ? The $ 10 billion cosmetics industry walks a fine line in promising lotions and potions will help consumers turn back the clock , diminish lines , lift eyelids or brighten dull complexions . The Federal Trade Commission , which regulates truth in advertising in nearly every sector , requires companies to be able to substantiate these claims , but creative and conditional words such as `` reduces appearance of , '' `` repairs hair '' and `` skin looks younger '' do n't lend themselves to easy or enforceable definitions . `` Doing these ads is not simply careless , '' said Mary Lou Quinlan , CEO of Just Ask a Woman , a New York City marketing agency that 's done business with the likes of Maybelline and Estee Lauder . `` They do n't just write anything they want . It 's creative , but it 's accurate . '' Just like beauty , however , accuracy and exaggeration are in the eye of the beholder . Paula Begoun , Renton , Washington author known as the `` Cosmetics Cop '' who was fired from her first two jobs for refusing to sell skin care products that did n't work as advertised , said hair care , anti-aging and anti-acne products tend to have the most exaggerated to downright false claims . `` An example of this type of wording is , 'Skin appears more even and looks lifted . ' That states what women want to hear but does n't state skin will be lifted or even , '' said Begoun , who has written 17 controversial books on the cosmetics industry and annually reviews thousands of products from more than 400 skin care companies . `` But there are also many times when the ad or claim is just out and out not telling the truth . '' What about women who really believe the hype and then realize they do n't still look 25 ? They tend to be the same people who are dissatisfied with their lives in general and base their self-worth on how they look , experts say . And they do have options , albeit expensive ones . Those inclined to go under the knife can place their hopes in cosmetic surgery , while many will continue to plunk down tens or hundreds of dollars , cruising from brand to brand , on products that may continue to disappoint . `` I do n't think this is a conscious thought process , but we want to grab on to something , '' said Brooke Miller , a psychotherapist near San Francisco . `` If women are really trying to figure out how to love themselves , trying to find that self-worth in a product or a cream , then these companies are not really selling a product , they 're selling a state of mind . '' `` We never really do n't have an option ... and that 's why these companies are thriving , '' Miller added . `` There 's endless possibility . So many people are addicted to the process . '' Even industry executives are n't immune . `` I know if I buy a tube of lipstick and put it on , I 'm not going to look like Christy Turlington , but an ad with Christy Turlington is going to get my attention , '' said Farah Ahmed , vice president and associate general counsel at the Personal Care Products Council , a national trade association for the cosmetics industry . `` It 's human nature . '' 'Can I touch it ? ' The fascination with natural , African-American hair .
Beauty ads do n't show the truth , but do women really care ? Psychologists have found that people are more likely to buy a product if they think it will make them look better. Ads featuring Julia Roberts , Christy Turlington were banned in the UK for being retouched .