Can beauty be quantified?

A New York Times article stated that participants identified their portraits quicker when their faces were computer enhanced to be 20% more attractive. How does one take a subjective quality as ‘attractiveness’ and quantify it as a percentage? Is there software that can do this?! Does anyone in the fashion or talent industry ever speak in these terms? E.g. “Get me someone not less than x% as pretty/handsome than ______ (insert name of favorite model / Hollywood star).