History Main / BeautifulAllAlong

** ''Literature/ElectricForest'' and in ''Literature/TheSilverMetalLover'', where the girl's controlling mother has been giving her ''drugs'' to make her unattractive.

* The ''Manhwa/PigBride'' is a young girl cursed with a facial deformity unless she can win over her destined boyfriend. At least, that's what she thinks, [[spoiler:but it turns out that underneath the mask she's really a beauty]].

* Subverted in ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' for many fans, who consider Mia Sara more attractive as [[EvilIsSexy "Dark Lili"]] than "Princess Lili". The fact her EvilCostumeSwitch gets a NavelDeepNeckline certainly didn't hurt.)

* Played straighter by WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, who hated how he looked as a kid and young teenager, but now is relieved to be a PrettyBoy adult who gets a lot of attention (whether it's creepy/rapey or the nice kind).

* Parodied (in a ShoutOut to ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'') by Creator/TeamStarKid in ''Theatre/MeAndMyDick'': Joey takes off Sally's glasses and quickly decides that she's more attractive with them on.

* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTuck'' characters spend an awful lot of time trying to convince [[spoiler:Jill]] that she looks pretty in a dress and make-up. Several characters later sign up for the cosmetology vocation course simply to work the "magic" out for themselves.
* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': {{Discussed|Trope}} in [[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/content_page/9/372-the-big-idea The Big Idea]] with Delta Spike:
--> Harlan had a brief flash of déjà vu, looking at Delta Spike. Then he realized that she was the picture of a Hollywood ‘Girl Scientist’, the one who’s supposed to be a drab little geek, but you know that the second that she takes off her glasses and lets her hair down, she’s absolutely gorgeous. Delta Spike had long glossy black hair that was tied up in a style that really didn’t suit her. She wore a pair of thick clunky-looking black frame glasses that couldn’t have done a better job of disguising her classic features if she’d designed them for just that task. Still, she smiled prettily enough.

* Series/Zoey101 deconstructs this in "Quinn Misses The Mark". After Quinn learns her long-term boyfriend Mark dumped her for a pretty girl named Brooke, she [[BeAWhoreToGetYourMan glams herself up in an effort to win him back]]. Quinn immediately becomes a head-turning beauty among other students who are asking her out the moment they lay eyes on her. While Quinn enjoys the attention, Zoey and Lola [[TrueCompanions tell these new suitors to buzz off since they know they wouldn't have given her a second look before the makeover and tell her to go back to her old self]]. Her plan tragically fails when Mark hates what she did and tells her he dumped her because he and Brooke have more in common, causing Quinn to break down knowing it's really over for good. Logan, of all people, is the one who snaps her out of it giving her a JustTheWayYouAre speech despite the fact she looks like the girl she usually dates.

* Played with fairly mercilessly in an episode of ''Anime/RamenFighterMiki'' where our heroine meets a scary teacher who looks like a StringyHairedGhostGirl. Even her attempts to look friendlier just make her scarier. However, she has the ability to become quite attractive and give off an extremely friendly vibe, ''but apparently only while she's eating ramen''.

* This is actually done twice with Willow in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': although she neither wears glasses nor her hair in a bun, this is done by changing her out of her overalls-'n-jumpers outfits she wore through the first three seasons; in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E5Homecoming Homecoming]]", she looks gorgeous in her formal gown and in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E16Doppelgangland Doppelgangland]]", she astonishes the boys when she puts on Vamp Willow's sexy black leather outfit. Examining her chest, she says "Oh. Look at these." And do they ever!
** Thrice, actually. The first time was in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E6Halloween Halloween]]". Buffy convinces Willow to dress a little more racily for Halloween and Willow proceeds to put her hair up, apply a bit of make-up and wear a midriff top with black mini skirt and boots. She eventually feels too self-conscious and goes out wearing a BedsheetGhost costume over the outfit. At the end she tosses the costume away and walks more confidently in the original outfit just as her future boyfriend Oz drives by and notices her.

*** And of course it's played with in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E20GoFish Go Fish]]" with Buffy herself, who confronts Angelus while drawing out the small stake she was holding her hair bun in place with, letting her hair fall in the process. Angelus immediately mocks the trope, saying "Why, Ms. Summers! You're ''beautiful''!"
*** This trope could also be applied to Xander in "Go Fish". He spends the majority of the series in rather unflattering clothes, and goes undercover ("Not under much," as Buffy says) on the swim team, and Cordelia, Buffy, and Willow [[EatingTheEyeCandy are rather stunned to find out that Xander has a good body when in a Speedo]].

* In ''VisualNovel/DramaticalMurder'', Clear wears a full-face gas mask at all times because his father told him that his face would be too disturbing for people to look at. In his route, Aoba persuades him to finally take the mask off, and... you guessed it, the only thing about Clear's face that disturbs him is how [[{{Bishonen}} distractingly pretty]] it is. [[spoiler:The real reason his "father" had him wear the mask was to prevent him from being recognized as an android, as he looks identical to his evil android "brothers" who work for the BigBad.]]

* Gerard from ''Webcomic/WeakHero'' is a male inversion. In the present day he sports an unflattering green bob that [[EyesOutOfSight covers his eyes]] and gets him nicknamed variations of Broccoli Head. A flashback then reveals that, just a year prior, he was a gorgeous {{bishonen}} with a "bad boy" fashion style (slicked-back hair, studded ears, and a leather jacket) that made him a major ChickMagnet. Then he hit the DespairEventHorizon, part of which caused him to receive nasty scarring above his eye, and he changed his look entirely to distance himself from his old persona and ensure he stood out as little as possible.

* Avoided in ''Film/{{Hairspray}}''. Tracy Turnblad is short and overweight and her make-over can only do so much. Then again, she became popular before the make-over, which is more of a perk of already being popular, by winning the crowd over due to her upbeat attitude and dance ability rather than looks. The love interest, Link Larkin, likes her because she makes him grow as a person, and because he's narcissistic enough to be beautiful enough for both of them. Tracy's mother, Edna Turnblad, is traditionally played by a man, compounding the problems. Her husband, however, doesn't even notice the make-over, as he is in love with her no matter what (and he's as thick as a 1960's bomb shelter door when it comes to noticing things).

* For about a quarter of the runtime of ''Some Freaks'', Jill is overweight and dressed in a deliberately off-putting semi-"punk rock" style (including piercings and green hair worn in an "undercut"). Partway through the film, she graduates high school and moves to college in California, where she loses 50 pounds, stops wearing her piercings, keeps her hair long and in her natural blonde color, and dresses more conventionally. She surprises her high school boyfriend with the changes, but he likes her better the old way - he keeps trying to tempt her off her diet, to the point of trying to trick her into eating some extremely fatty homemade mac and cheese, which leads to their breakup. It's also notable that even after her makeover, she's still considered heavy enough to be invited to a frat's "cattle call", a frat party where all attendees must invite a fat girl.

-->'''Tommy:''' Can we make a rule that if it worked in a Freddie Prinze, Jr. movie, we can't do it real life?
-->'''Sue:''' What are you talking about?
-->'''Tommy:''' Some dumb chick-flick where he tries to turn this ugly girl into a prom queen, except she's really a supermodel and we're not supposed to notice because she's wearing glasses or something.