BEAUTY BY
2
19th
Century in which French
neurologist Guillaume
Duchenne described the
one muscle that indicates
a true “smile of joy”:
When the orbicularis
oculi contracts, the
eyes crinkle, which is
why the presence of
crow’s-feet has been
shown to signal
overall happiness.
8,000,000
Number of tubes of
Tom’s Antiplaque &
Whitening Toothpaste
that will be manufactured
this year. Something
else to smile about:
The tubes are 100
percent recyclable, a first
for a toothpaste brand.
$45
Amount artist Harvey
Ball earned for his
drawing of a smiley face
on a yellow background.
Commissioned in 1963
by an insurance company
to boost employee
morale, the design
became so popular that
within a decade, 50
million smiley-face
buttons had been sold.
40
Average number
of times happy adults
smile every day—
roughly 90 percent less
than they did as kids.
2017
Year the journal Nature
Communications put
out a study showing that
in functional MRI scans,
brain activity increases
in areas associated
with grin-inducing
feelings of happiness,
as participants
pledged to be generous
toward others.
BEFORE WE CAN BREATHE ON OUR OWN, WE KNOW HOW TO GRIN. IN THE
WOMB, OUR CHEEK MUSCLES FLEX AS WE UNCONSCIOUSLY PRACTICE ONE OF
OUR MOST VALUABLE SOCIAL SKILLS: THE ART OF SMILING. —AMBER ANGELLE
42 ALLURE APRIL 2020
