Can I look and feel fabulous in 24 hours?

August 28, 2013 10:14 AM

I am attending a wedding tomorrow night, have been on a diet and am thinking of some last minute things to do before hand to get myself ready to look and feel good. Any advice/strategies apprecaited :)

So there's a big party where I want to look my best. I need your ideas on what you do for yourself when you are going out to look/feel good,

1 week: To help me feel good with a bit more time, I have been on a strict diet for 7 days and have lost a few pounds, I'm getting a new shirt in dark colours too.

24 Hours: Got some beauty tips to make me feel glowing, like a teeth whitening kit, an eye mask. All the ususal before hand... Good scrub, do hair and makeup, scenting, iron clothes etc.

Please give me your best 1 week /24 hours ideas to look and feel great before going out, and more specifically last minute tips and ideas, maybe even last min stretches exercises or foods to make me glow/feel great :)

(non gender specific, and homemade ideas all cool) xx

posted by krisb1701d to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (27 answers total)

Getting a good night's sleep.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:18 AM on August 28, 2013 [5 favorites]

Make sure you're hydrated. Before you go to bed tonight, lay out all the stuff you're going to wear and carry tomorrow, and any backups of stuff you might need (lip balm/comb/spare shoelaces/etc.). Get a good night's sleep. Go for a brisk walk tomorrow before you get ready for the event. On the way to the event, listen to music that makes you feel happy.
posted by rtha at 10:19 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

No alcohol always helps.
posted by thinkpiece at 10:21 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm going to say NO on a teeth whitening kit, because they work in part by opening up the little pores in your teeth. Which in the short term opens up your teeth to more staining in the event that you drink coffee or red wine.

If you have not previously tried a skin product, DO NOT put it on (or anywhere near!) your face before a big event. If you break out it will be a bummer.

YES to drinking plenty of water. Meditation Oasis on iTunes has some recordings that I like for relaxing/meditation. Get enough sleep. Have a good long walk tonight and a shorter brisk one before the event. Talk on the phone to a friend who makes you laugh.

If you do get a surprise pimple, use a dab of plain (plain, white, not the gel) toothpaste to help shrink it. You can also crush an aspirin (uncoated) and mix it in water to reduce a pimple.

For ironing your clothes, wait until the garment is completely cool before you put it on. This sets the press, if you put it on when it's warm, you'll add wrinkles.
posted by bilabial at 10:27 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Make sure your eyebrows look great!
posted by bq at 10:27 AM on August 28, 2013 [9 favorites]

Best answer: - water water water water water
- good sleep
- upped fiber intake
- Moisturizing cream on your hands and feet, and then wear the booties/gloves to bed.
- Make sure you wear really fabulous underpants. Like I said in a recent post, fancy panties will always make you feel fancier, even when no one else will see them. Fancy underpants all the way.
- some exercise beforehand is a good idea. Get your blood moving, get a natural glow from that.
- I'm a firm believer in getting a massage before any big event.
- I also think having nicely pedicured feet can make anyone feel kinda special and great.
- totally agree with the advice to not try anything new in terms of makeup/face cream/etc, just in case it makes you break out. For the same reason I wouldn't suggest a facial beforehand either.


one final thing - if you want to look your best, I would suggest laying off the booze for the whole event. You don't want to invest all this time and effort into looking fabulous and then have the wine hit you really hard and get drunk. (and since you've been mega dieting it may very well hit you hard.) Nothing takes someone's fabulous away like drunken staggering and slurring. Keep it classy, keep it together, go for the sexy, in control thing.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 10:27 AM on August 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

Can you squeeze in a massage or a visit to the spa for hot/cold baths? Also, some yoga before starting to get ready for the party might put you in a sultry, slinky mood. :)
posted by deliciae at 10:29 AM on August 28, 2013

Do you have access to a gym with a steam room/sauna/hot tub? Before big events I like to do rounds of steam-cold shower-sauna-cold shower-hot tub-cold shower and then do my exfoliation after that. Steam rooms especially seem to do wonders for taking puff and redness out of my skin.

Also, I highly recommend the ExfoliKate body scrub from Kate Somerville. It's expensive but magical -- the only time I've had an exfoliation this thorough is when I did one of those ungodly painful salt scrubs at a Korean spa, and thankfully the ExfoliKate is not painful at all because it's a "chemical" (fruit enzyme-based actually) exfoliant rather than a physical one.
posted by joan_holloway at 10:32 AM on August 28, 2013

Best answer: If you can get into this mindset, I think it helps: perfection is not the only form of beauty. Imperfection is also beautiful. This is perhaps not something one can cultivate within 24 hours, though.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:33 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Nap and a shower right before the event. Finish the shower with at least 60 seconds under an icy tap. So refreshing and you feel ALIVE!
posted by mochapickle at 10:33 AM on August 28, 2013

And I just looked and I see you are a male. I didn't know what when I wrote my response, but I still stand by all of my suggestions. I frankly think the world would be a happier place if everyone wore fancy underpants and had regular pedicures. I actually have a pair of "power panties" that I break out when I need some secret courage. They are just pretty panties, nothing special, but I now associate them with being confident and in control and buckets of awesome. I suggest you go out and spend some money on a properly nice pair of underpants.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 10:36 AM on August 28, 2013 [6 favorites]

Bronzer!!!!!! A really good one, not the drugstore variety (though some of them can be good too.) Milani makes a nice, inexpensive drugstore one and Bobbi Brown makes a great high-end one. Trust me on this: Before bronzer, J-Lo was just a former "Living Color" dancer.
posted by nubianinthedesert at 10:38 AM on August 28, 2013 [3 favorites]

No salt, in/on anything.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 10:43 AM on August 28, 2013 [3 favorites]

Manicure and massage, for all sexes and genders.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:48 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Give yourself time to get ready in a really luxurious way so you're not rushing anything and you can sit and get everything just right and really take the time without rushing or hurrying.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 10:51 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Turn up the music during prep!
posted by thinkpiece at 10:56 AM on August 28, 2013 [3 favorites]

I got a facial the day before I got married. Aaaah. And I looked nice too.
posted by bearwife at 10:59 AM on August 28, 2013

An irresponsible but reliable suggestion: a 15 minute tanning session the day before. Don't go overboard!
posted by fingersandtoes at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2013

A morning bikram yoga class! But if not, then Nthing the sauna/steam room idea and some exercise. Followed by ample hydration, always.
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 11:18 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I find one thing that works for me is to get myself all prepped to the nines, but purposely leave out one tiny detail, to remind myself that imperfection is no big deal - otherwise I feel myself picking my appearance apart looking for imperfections.

Knowing you're fabulous even if you didn't get it perfect is worth a million bucks.
posted by gohabsgo at 11:39 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Spend some time in a sauna. A real one with the hot rocks, not the other kind with the red lamps. Alternate between the heat and a cool shower for 20-30 minutes, or as long as you can stand it. You'll like two million bucks.
posted by jquinby at 11:46 AM on August 28, 2013

Wear your shoes around the house for a few nights beforehand to get used to them, make sure they won't kill your feet, figure out where any blister spots might be, etc.
posted by JannaK at 3:02 PM on August 28, 2013

Best answer: No salt, in/on anything.

Quoted and bolded for emphasis.

I hardly eat any processed food, so except for THE CHEESES I have a fairly low-sodium diet and I can tell you that any reduction helps. Whether it's cutting out one fast food meal or snack a day or forgoing that shake of table salt you will notice a difference. (The first thing I notice when I've eaten more salt than usual is my fingers turn into sausages, and even if no one else really notices I feel icky when my rings start feeling tight.)
posted by Room 641-A at 3:43 PM on August 28, 2013

Lots of good advice above! I'd like to recommend an Epsom salt bath the night before. It will help your body absorb magnesium, which is really relaxing and also can help stimulate your digestive system in a gentle way, which can also help you feel lighter the day of your event.
posted by shortyJBot at 5:19 PM on August 28, 2013

treat yourself to a manicure and pedicure!
posted by dottiechang at 6:33 PM on August 28, 2013

If you're not in bed yet, do this yoga routine. You'll sleep better and wake up extra refreshed.

Do you shave? Any chance you could go to a barbershop tomorrow and get a professional shave with the hot towel and everything?
posted by fozzie_bear at 8:50 PM on August 28, 2013 [6 favorites]

Missed the editing window:

In the morning, go for a brisk walk and then do the a.m. yoga routine while your muscles are still warm.

Both routines I linked are from this DVD.
posted by fozzie_bear at 8:59 PM on August 28, 2013 [2 favorites]