What do you do to instantly look great?

[Daffodil2018]

... or better, at least?

I had a baby 6 months ago and haven't shifted the baby weight. Haven't had my highlights done since December, am growing out a terrible gel pedicure and my eyebrows need their own postcode since I haven't had time to get them threaded.

I'm meeting up with a bunch of work people this week including lots of glam female colleagues and I want to look "put together". I have no time to get any treatments (or lose 2 stone) so my basics will be:

Wash and blow dry hair (possibly curl if time)
Full face of make up
Do my nails the night before
Paint toenails (over the gels)
Shave legs and armpits
Moisturise everywhere
Clean, ironed outfit

What else could I do? What do you do when you want to pull it out of the bag with little time/money to prepare?

Try and sort your eyebrows yourself and put a little brown eyeshadow on them.

Lip gloss

Quick rub of fake tan cream too.

I would do your eyebrows, wash and blow dry hair and then shape and paint your nails. Have fun!

Stand up straight.

Breathe deeply and smoothly.

Keep still.

Paint toenails (over the gels)

The only problem with this is that you might get an obvious demarcation line between where the gel ends/your nail regrowth. Other than that, your plan sounds good. It’s hard to suggest what else as I do most of your list on a daily/regular basis! Face masks and perfume perhaps?

Agree with the suggestion of tidying your brows yourself (not reshape, just pluck out the obvious stray hair) and a bit of fake tan. Fake tan makes your skin look glowy and airbrushed almost. Exfoliating will help too.

Other than that, I think nice jewellery/accessories will always make you look put together eg a classy watch.

Don’t paint over the gels-that will look dreadful. Remove them properly (or what I would do is just peel them off!) and repaint.

Out of your list I'd only have the blow dry. Get your eyebrows shaped, always makes me feel more confident when my brows look good.

I cba to do a full face of make up, shave legs and moisturise all over though. No way!

Pick a colour that really suits you and wear that- even a scarf/earrings in that. Warm dark blues and greens really makes my eyes stand out and even if I’m feeling shit I get compliments if I wear those colours.

Look up that “what’s your colour/deep winter/soft summer etc” thingy if you need inspiration.

Soak your toes in acetone (sp?) Then buff off with nail file. Wont take longer than half an hour.

(Next time just put glitter polish on your toes. Looks nice and lasts ages!)

A manicure and pedicure make me feel great.

Eyebrows make a huge difference! Nice manicure, fresh make up, nothing heavy, bright colours in clothes.

The eyebrows definitely

Go to a beauty bar at superdrug and get them threaded there maybe as you can take your baby with you. Everytime I go half the clients have buggies including me

Soak off gels, don’t paint over!
Exfoliate and fake tan.
If you have something like coconut oil laying around in your kitchen you can use it on hair and skin the day before as a treatment.
Light concealer under the eyes to give the illusion you’ve had 8 hours of sleep

Skin care before make up! Make a nice scrub to use the night before and finish with oil. My skin always looks glowing if I use oil the night before.

If you are the Mum of a young child, then it will be the clothes that make you look good - at the moment you'll be too tired to do anything other than throw on whatever was on the floor!

So clean and IRONED clothes are my suggestion. Check over for any stains, check for dropped hemlines that you haven't got around to fixing. Ensure your underwear is decent too, a grubby bra under a fresh top can really pull down the look.

I put on hint lip balm (Nivea or body shop), and a bit of perfume.

I also like to put on new clothes, or at least one item of clothing that's new (can't do that every day!!)

Can you shape your own eye brows or go to a Superdrug brow bar if nearby. Definitely tidy your nails, acetone could be delivered on amazon prime to soak the gels off and paint them. Or a mobile nail technician to come one night?

Try on a few outfits and wear something you feel nice in. Maybe your hair looks quite balayage now?!

Go and have fun.

Good night sleep.
Clean, ironed clothes that fit. Clean decent shoes.
Neat clean shaped nails. shaped eyebrows. clean teeth.
Nice neat earrings, necklace, watch

Smile, be happy, don't moan.
Enjoy!!

Hair is 80% of your look.
Definitely tidy the eyebrows.

For clothes you need a solid neutral (eg jeans), an interest piece (eg printed/coloured top), a completer (jacket/cardigan) and 2-3 accessories (bag, necklace, scarf, hat, belt, bracelets, .... but only 2-3)

The completer and accessories will give you the pulled together look. And while you may be limited in what fits at the moment (i was post-baby) in terms of tops and bottoms, jackets and cardigans and even coats can be left open so fit isn’t as big an issue.

Moisturise and clean hair. That's it.

I personally never notice anyone's eyebrows unless people have done that shave them off and paint them back on thing.

If I need to look and feel better I wash and dry my hair, I’m growing out a pixie so I clip bits up here and there to disguise the mullet look.
Simple quick makeup, I’ve gone from liking full coverage foundation and lots of eyeshadow to sheer coverage, minimal shadow and a bright lip.
Good fitting clothes but my go to is usually jeans, a nice shirt or blouse and my flats.

Wow, thank you all! Some very motivating suggestions here.

I have started by soaking off the terrible gel pedicure and am going to try and get my eyebrows done in Superdrug today.

Definitely going to iron my outfit - I am planning on wearing a long skirt (ASOS graphic print), white All Saints T shirt and gold sandals.

It's really my hair and weight that make me look shit at the moment but maybe I can sell the balayage look!! It doesn't help that my boobs are absolutely enormous while BFing and that makes me look rather matronly. But a bit of grooming will hopefully go a long way.

Can't wait to eventually have the time and money to go to the hairdresser again ..!

Deep V neckline for de-matronising the boobs til they’ve gone back to normal.

Liberal squirt of a very posh perfume.
You could always detour to the local department store on way and take your pick

eyebrows for sure

but also if you can find the time a run or brisk walk in the sun every day,

I find that honestly look loads better if I've done some yoga. Posture, oxygen, relaxation, endorphins....

Sounds like a good plan OP. I hope you have a great time.

I find a fake tan/gradual tanning lotion makes me feel so much better. But only if you have time - a hurriedly applied fake tan is worse case scenario!