Behind every frumpy woman is a goddess
March 3, 2010 by Deborah Boland and JoJami Tyler - The Glam Gals
A friend just sent this and we had to pass it along. The photo below was taken at a competition in June 2008. The competition was between 9 women for best makeover.
They had every possible beauty treatment available to them over a period of 12 hours before the contest.
Look at the before and after photos.. Conclusion …Behind every frumpy woman is a goddess.
Click on the picture below to see the outcome:
Sooo true! I love this post
Stacy and others,
As a wearer of glasses, I understand your concern for wanting to see after pictures with a few pair of glasses. It would definitely be refreshing to see what the women would look like with an updated pair.
However I think you need to understand that they don’t mean this as a slap in the face to those who choose to wear glasses. I think the people who organized this makeover really just wanted to show off their beautiful faces! And especially since this is a smaller and lower-resolution picture, you wouldn’t be able to see how amazing these women look if they were wearing glasses. Sometimes you just have to think editorially.
Have to agree with Jxxnx – why do they all look the same? Same fake hair, fake tan, fake teeth and tacky, tizzy dresses. Where’s the individuality?
Wow. This is just wonderful. Women over 40 should know that this is their time to shine: After everything they have done for their family, friends, and, yes, even their community, they must acknowledge that this is the best time to look after themselves. Kudos to fabulousafter40.com and to these women for showing us that this can be done.
Hi Deborah and JoJami,
I think we’ve always been on the “same page”.That’s a “given”.
I just find that the media in general has posed women as makeovers from the real”befores” to “over-the-top”transition.I’ve always wondered about what I suspect the silent majority thinks. Could they too not necessarily subscribe to the over-glammed up aesthetic? Is this simply the media not giving us the credit we deserve for better taste? It would be great if we could be trusted as viewers–to see obvious improvement–but with more stylish modern looks as the improved style.I guess that’s been a pet-peeve of mine–as I wish the media would be of greater help in finally and truly improving visual standards.
Hi Sherrie,
We like to post things on our site that promote conversation, like this one about the make over. Basically, we are not saying that one needs to dress up like a beauty queen to be fabulous…we were inspired to see the transformation of some pretty drab looking women and wanted to spark some comments. If you go though our site, I think you will agree that we have lots and lots of photos of simple and classic styles for our readers to use as a good example of how to dress Age-mazing! Thanks for your comment. Moerover,we agree with you that simple modern glasses work best if you have to go formal!
I know these “afters” are part of may be a popular aesthetic –or is it?
For me this is pure Las Vegas–and the look overly sexed-up and lacks the class I think more women should desire (or do they and don’t voice it?).
As a boomer I try for understatement that still captures the attractive, yet natural attributes I still have. Trying too hard to look artificially sexy and young is a too common a pitfall. They’re way better off to do it in a modern stylish way. I wear stylish glasses–although I tend to feel that evening wear may be compromised by them (Sorry- I don’t think Sophia solved the problem, but that’s due to her personal style). The simpler and the more streamlined the outfit –the better simple modern glasses will work (consider a feminine tux or dressy white shirt with a simple evening skirt a la Carolina Herrera).
Actually the ladies in this photo look like the contestants from that short-lived reality show, the Swan. They had plastic surgery – including breast augmentation, dental work, nose jobs, etc. That’s why they all look so good.
I think that unstyled hair in a dull color can age anyone. I am always inspired by celebrities like Andie McDowell, Demi Moore, Sandra Bullock, and Julia Louis-Dryfus who have beautiful hair.
Welcome Jxxnx,
Makeovers are fun to look at and we use them as jumping off points to get us thinking about not giving up and inspiration to try new things. Many women over 40 think, “I will never look that great again” and we say, “Life is too short to be frumpy!” Fabulous AFter 40 is here to help us dream and discover updated ways to dress so that we can feel, Age-mazing Amazing for our age. If you go to our archives you will find lots of great articles on how to dress casual, too.
Cheers,
The Glam Gals
JoJami and Deborah
Great website,I discovered it just recently! I was a little concerned about the similarity of all the women in the group photo. OK, so they all look great, but they all have pretty much the same look (long wavy hair, full-on makeup with glossy lips etc) straight from the pageant competition. Where is the individuality of these people that shows more in the before photos – even if they are not particular “stylistic treasures” in them? I’d rather like to have seen how they looked in nicer everyday clothing, still them, but an improved version of themselves.
Keep it rolling,
Cheers, Jxxnx
Hi Jody,
Yes, your hair can really make a huge difference in your overall appearance! This is a topic we hope to start chatting more about, meanwhile we have a few archived blog posts about hair that can be interesting to read!
Hi Stacy,
You and a few others make a great point about this topic of “to wear or not to wear” glasses! We have a wonderful photo of Sophia Lauren wearing her glasses with her evening gown to the Golden Globes…
Of course wearing your glasses with an evening gown can be a hard thing to pull off. The good news is that most of us are not wearing evening gowns everyday…and glasses can actually be a wonderful and fun accessory to ones wardrobe!
Many women have to wear glasses so you just have to make sure they are up to date and go with our style of dressing. Glasses can make you look smart and with the right pair, can add to your sense of individual style!
Hi Lyrabell,
You don’t have to feel bad about the “glasses”…when you realize that the glasses that these ladies were wearing were out of date. If you have an up to date haircut and current looking glasses you can still be chic!
It’s all about the hair–most of which most of us have less of than we had before 40.
They look gorgeous!
So they have to ditch the glasses to ‘not look frumpy’ cheers that really made my day
This is SUCH a great image!! There’s a couple of lessons here…one of the most important being that the reality is as wonderful as the fantasy – no need to PhotoShop these women – they’re beautiful!!
Amazing makeovers! From frumpy to fab in 12 hours… sign me up!
It’s so frustrating to see women’s glasses removed in the “after” pictures – not just here, but in any makeover I’ve ever seen. I think it would make me look older to be fumbling and stumbling around because I couldn’t see! (Contacts don’t work for me, and I’m not a candidate for lasik.) Tell me you don’t really think a woman has to be glasses-free to be a goddess!
One word WOW!!!!!!!! Where can I find those beauty treatments
They all look amazing. I love before & after pics thanks for sharing.