• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 2, 2013

You’ve heard of “fat” days. Well, according to a new beauty study from Omnicom’s PHD, Women have ugly days as well and Monday tops the list.

The shop conducted a quantitative survey of women 18+ across the U.S. that was designed to identify when women feel most vulnerable about their appearance throughout the week in order to determine the best timing for beauty product messages and promotions.

"Identifying the right time to engage with consumers with the right message is Marketing 101," says Kim Bates, who heads Brand Planning at PHD. "But when you are trying to connect with women on so personal an issue as appearance, it can be even more important to understand the wrong time as well."

The study found that overall, women across all age groups and geographies have strong commonalities when it comes to feeling vulnerable about their beauty, especially the day of the week they feel their worst. Nearly half of those polled (46%) said that they feel least attractive on Mondays.

Traditionally Mondays have taken a lot of grief for being the first day of the work week and that was acknowledged by respondents as at least partly the reason that they feel less-than-gorgeous on that day. But Sunday isn’t far behind on PHD’s so-called “ugly index” with 39% of respondents identifying it as their worst day. An oft-cited reason was “the visible and emotional effects of weekend social activities on their faces,” per the agency.

When asked to name the time of day when they feel they look their worst, 69% percent of respondents identified the hours between 5-7 a.m. and 7-9 a.m. Late night takes its toll too on the feeling-pretty scale, with 54% saying they believe they’re least attractive after 10 p.m., and worn out too.

The findings show that women have the strongest positive feelings about their appearance in a relatively short window between noon and 3 pm.

Among the situations in which women feel least attractive, the top mentions included  when they are waking up (69%), sick (67%), sweating (62%), stressed (61%), crying (60%), and the end of a long day (54%).

Other triggers that women listed for feeling unattractive--feeling depressed, angry, worried, or lonely. "The cultural and psychological implications of that response are significant," said Bates, "and from a marketing perspective, it could be a factor in everything from creative concept to media platforms to promotional offers."

According to Bates, the findings point to an opportunity to “heavy- up” and wrap marketing and media activity around the days that the beauty consumer feels the best and worst about her image, using a contrasting "Encourage/Empower" engagement strategy. "When it comes to engaging with women at any level, knowing where she is on her personal attractiveness index, and the appropriate messages relative to that information, can only make for a more productive exchange."