History Main / BeautifulAllAlong

* IN ''Limelight'', Penny Green removes her glasses in an effort to blend in with an upscale crowd despite being acutely myopic only to have her journalistic rival tell her that she should never wear them while Inspector Blakely babbles "...so you must wear them. But not wearing them from time to time is also agreeable."

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Manga/GirlFriends''. Mari is very plain and unfashionable before she meets Akko, but it seems more like Mari already wanted to pay more attention to make-up and fashion but didn't know what to do, and the emphasis is much more on the sheer fun of this new world Akko introduces to her. Later, someone comments that Akko induced this trope in Mari, and Akko initially agrees but then changes her mind, saying that Mari was always cute.

* Sumireko Sanshokuin aka "Pansy" of ''LightNovel/{{Oresuki}}'' isn't exactly ugly, but male lead Joro thought she looked rather creepy with those thick glasses and hair tied in twin braids. Then she takes off her glasses, lets her hair down and unbuttons her blouse to reveal [[HiddenBuxom a pretty well-endowed figure]], and he's left completely flabbergasted by her beauty.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' when beautiful human Princess Fiona is transformed by a kiss into her true form, an Ogre. Arguably, the words of her curse can be interpreted to mean she would transform into the form of her true love. Also played straight: Shrek finds Ogre Fiona beautiful.

See also SuetifulAllAlong, ClarkKentOutfit, and FanServicePack. Contrast IronyAsSheIsCast, where this is always the potential, but it is never tapped. ProgressivelyPrettier is applying a similar change to a character without much in-universe reaction (it's for the audience's benefit), because it's done either gradually or between adaptations.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Violet was initially an EmoTeen that hid behind her long, black hair and wore dark clothing. After her CharacterDevelopment, she holds her hair back with a hairband and wears much brighter clothing, resulting in her looking much more attractive than before, enough so that her crush Tony notices. The [[WesternAnimation/Incredibles2 sequel's]] improved animation quality further helps with this, giving her [[FanservicePack longer hair, a more attractive face and slightly wider hips]].

** There's also The Oddish line in regards to Gloom, which is pretty much the least aesthetically pleasing. Evolving it into [[HulaAndLuaus Bellossom]] is nothing short of an ugly duckling story. Even Vileplume seems like more of a reversion to Oddish's cuteness.

-->"OK, keep the hair, back on the glasses."

* 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 "Homecoming" she looks gorgeous in her formal gown and in "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 "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 was played with in "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]].
** Inverted in the episode "Inca Mummy Girl". Willow wears a dowdy and unsexy Eskimo costume to a cultural party and remarks that maybe she should have worn something sexy. However Oz ends up noticing her because of the costume.

* A ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode does this with a beautification drug. A woman realizes she doesn't need it and her confidence was what was truly responsible for her attractiveness when she's given a placebo. (Turns out to be a BrokenAesop, though: Apparently, "confidence" completely re-does one's hair and makeup, makes the lighting more flattering, and even generates a [[GaussianGirl soft focus]] effect.)
** Inverted in the episode "The Menagerie" where it is ultimately revealed that Vina's GaussianGirl beauty is, quite literally, only an illusion.
*** Her beauty was real, before she became horribly disfigured when her ship crash-landed on the planet, and she became older; the Talosians simply restored it via the illusion. Also this was done in "The Cage", the abandoned series-pilot; but it's made into an Aesop in "The Menagerie", when Pike also becomes horribly disfigured, and Spock risks everything to also give Pike the illusion of his former beauty.

*** Also illogical since Vina says they put her together wrong because "... they had never seen a human being." However, except for their giant heads the Talosians look exactly like us so really they should have done it right.[[note]]This might be a holdover from an earlier draft of the script, where the Talosians were supposed to be humanoid crabs, and were changed to humans with big heads for budget reasons[[/note]]

* In ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' (or at least in the ''Overload!'' manga spin-off) Kaname's best friend Kyoko is normally cute, but apparently looks like [[http://www.mangatoshokan.com/read/Full-Metal-Panic-Overload/senfgurke2/25/15 this]] with her hair down and her glasses removed. Played with in that the group of creepy fanboys stalking her aren't interested in her like this because they have a fetish for her "glasses and braids" look, although Kaname thinks she's adorable.

* ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'': The titular character is a man who constantly walks around in armor and has a somewhat off-putting personality due to lack of social skills. The mystery surrounding him led a lot of people to make conjectures about his appearance, some even wondering if he might be a goblin in disguise. In the end of Volume 1, he takes off his helmet in front of the guild for the first time and, to the surprise of almost everyone,[[note]]His childhood friend isn't surprised, since she sees him bareheaded regularly[[/note]] he is an extremely handsome man described as having the "features of a warrior" ([[TakeOurWordForIt though his face is never fully shown]]). From there onwards he becomes the series' premiere MrFanservice and since his face is never shown, the shots instead focus on his built musculature. The anime adds to this by having him have a very deep voice to add to his rugged adventurer charm.

* [[spoiler:Dekomori Sanae]] from ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', after [[spoiler:she leaves her dellusions on episode 12]].

* Played with in ''LightNovel/TheSaintsMagicPowerIsOmnipotent''. When Sei Takanashi is transported to another world and into the kingdom of Slantania, the court sees that she's haggard, pale-skinned, and looks seriously ill, thanks to her exploitative office job. After a few weeks of proper rest, nutrition, and sunlight, she "transforms" into a healthy, strikingly beautiful young woman. About the only intentional intervention was Sei creating an eye-bag cream out of herbs but even then, she didn't realize she could cure her vision and let her stop using her eyeglasses.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOj6ia9-sio Yuna]] wore OpaqueNerdGlasses and is plain. When her boyfriend Rikuto's bullies dared her to strip, she stripped to her bikini and it revealed her beautiful body.

* In [[https://www.deviantart.com/go-devil-dante/art/Lteration-page-1-26340616]], a short Death Note Doujinshi, a rare male example happens when light gets fed up and forcibly combs L's hair, commenting that L actually looks kinda cute.

* In the second season ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' episode "The Nowhere Affair", a THRUSH computer picks an ugly duckling [[HotScientist sexy THRUSH scientist]] to seduce Napoleon Solo, in the hopes of reversing the EasyAmnesia that was induced when Solo took "Capsule B" before his capture by THRUSH. The scientist does the statutory transformation from geeky to hottie by, of course, taking off her ugly glasses and white lab coat and LettingHerHairDown.

* Shaenon Garrity does it straight (more or less) in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' in the ''Tin Soldier'' story arc, when dumpy little Marcie of the Department of Irradiation gets a makeover from Tip Wilkins. Her glasses get changed to better glasses, her hair stays up in a perm, but the rest of the trope plays out precisely, including everyone suddenly seeing her as sexy. On the other hand, HotScientist Dr. Lee already looks extremely sexy with her hair ''up'' and her glasses ''on''. No makeover needed there.

* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' when Lane stops wearing her glasses to look better to Zach, who prefers her with them. Agreeing that she looked better before and imploring her to switch back is actually how he and her disapproving mother first start to get along. Though she wasn't trying to appeal to Zach. She was unhappy with how her glasses came out in pictures the band had taken. And even after Zach tells her she looks better with the glasses, she does occasionally wear the contacts afterward, and the subject is never dwelt on again. Subverted comes in by the show just ignoring the "makeover" baggage that usually shows up when a girl takes off her glasses.

** Then Shaenon Garrity does it straight (more or less) in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' in the ''Tin Soldier'' story arc, when dumpy little Marcie of the [[ILoveNuclearPower Department of Irradiation]] gets a makeover from [[WholesomeCrossdresser Tip]] [[KavorkaMan Wilkins]]. Her glasses get changed to better glasses, her hair stays up in a perm, but the rest of the trope plays out precisely, including everyone suddenly seeing her as sexy. On the other hand, HotScientist Dr. Lee already looks extremely sexy with her hair ''up'' and her glasses ''on''. No makeover needed there.

* Lisa Zemo of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide,'' former epitome of the image of the {{Nerd}} with no fashion sense, big glasses, and chronic nasal problems, became "hot" when she returned after a season break with "a new haircut, new clothes, new contacts, and new allergy medication." And instead of her crushing on Cookie as she used to, it was now the other way around.

* Annie in ''Series/{{Community}}'' seems to be undergoing an on-going process of this trope; it's suggested in her backstory that, as well as being a rather neurotic {{Nerd}}, she had problems with weight and acne which she's only overcome relatively recently, which coupled with her various neuroses and self-esteem issues mean that she doesn't fully realize exactly how attractive she really is.

* Winda Wester from ''ComicBook/HowardTheDuck'', who is very beautiful, but has a [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome heavy speech impediment]] and quite a weird personality.
* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' does not feature this trope within the story itself, but comments made by Alex Wilder (who reacted with dumbfounded shock upon seeing her after a year long gap) and several flashbacks (During one of which Karolina suggests that [[TheGlassesGottaGo she get contacts]]) reveal that Nico Minoru went through this transformation. Also one of the few instances that combine it with a [[PerkyGoth major change in aesthetic]].
* ComicBook/SheHulk, maybe. One theory about gamma radiation is that it transforms a human's body to match submerged emotions and feelings that he or she had tried hard to ''keep'' submerged. So while the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] was the embodiment of Bruce Banner's inner angst and anger as a result of his unhappy childhood at the hands of an abusive father, She-Hulk was Jen's uninhibited, feminine side that she so much wanted to let show, meaning the gamma rays simply made her the AmazonianBeauty she was within.
* When Ellen Dolan is first introduced in ''ComicBook/TheSpirit,'' she's a dowdy college girl with, yes, hair up, and glasses. And she has a geeky fiancé. By the end of the story, the Spirit lets her hair down and removes her glasses... and then steals a kiss from the lovely girl. Needless to say, she dumps the fiance soon after. In [[Film/TheSpirit the movie]] by Creator/FrankMiller, Ellen starts out beautiful.
* Male version in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. Laurie comments that the nerdy Dan looks quite handsome without his glasses.

* Broadly speaking, most super heroes with secret identities invoke this trope deliberately, making themselves look dowdier in civilian life so people won't connect them with their hero selves. Once in a while this will get lampshaded by someone innocently suggesting to [[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] or [[Comicbook/WonderWoman Diana Prince]] that they could really be quite attractive if they ditched their glasses, stood up straighter, etc.
* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}: In her Linda Lee Danvers/[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Linda Lang]]/[[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth Kara Danvers]] SecretIdentity, Kara dyes and braids her hair and wears glasses in order to look like an inconspicuous, average, geeky brunette instead of a stunningly beautiful blonde with an athletic build.
* When ComicBook/PepperPotts first appeared as a supporting character of ComicBook/IronMan, she had freckles and looked like a teenager. Several issues later, she "got a makeover" and became the more better-known version of the character (in terms of looks).
* There's a bizarre example in ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'', with Jeanne-Marie Beaubier and her alter-ego Aurora. Aurora wears her hair loose, and no glasses; Jeanne-Marie has a tight bun and "glasses you barely need for reading" (as her brother put it). While Jeanne-Marie is hardly ugly, she looks much more strict and severe than free-spirited Aurora. It reverses the trope, in that her (long lost twin) brother first saw her as Aurora, then was shocked to see her do up her hair and put on glasses ''on purpose'' to look less attractive. This is no Clark Kenting, either; she has multiple personality disorder, so this trope works to draw the line between two different people.

* ClarkKenting with Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, who in her "Kara Kent" identity wears a wig and glasses, in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''.

* ComicBook/SheHulk, maybe. One theory about gamma radiation is that it transforms a human's body to match submerged emotions and feelings that he or she had tried hard to ''keep'' submerged. So while the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk was the embodiment of Bruce Banner's inner angst and anger as a result of his unhappy childhood at the hands of an abusive father, She-Hulk was Jen's uninhibited, feminine side that she so much wanted to let show, meaning the gamma rays simply made her the AmazonianBeauty she was within.

* Subverted in ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' for many fans, who consider Mia Sara more attractive as [[EvilIsSexy "Dark Lili"]] than "Princess Lili". ([[AbsoluteCleavage Her costume]] certainly didn't hurt.)

* Gerard from ''Webcomic/WeakHero'' is a male inversion. In the present day he sports an unflattering green bob that [[BlindingBangs 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.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries The New Batman Adventures]]'' episode [[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE13MeanSeasons "Mean Seasons"]] plays it straight as a twist. A villain going by the name "Calendar Girl" kidnaps various fashion and cosmetics bigwigs in order to exact her revenge from them. The villain wears a metal mask that conceals her face completely and constantly fumes about how the industry has ruined her, especially her beautiful face. At the end of the episode, [[spoiler: it is revealed that she is flawlessly beautiful, but is so distraught by her perceived flaws that she believes herself to be immeasurably hideous.]]

* In ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' Sophie believes herself to be ugly. It doesn't help that other girls agree, and she's wearing clothes a good 50 years out of date. Howl, however, can see her as her true self and comments that she's beautiful, which she denies, at which point her temporary change back to a young girl ends. At the end, Sophie ditches the ugly hat, gets some new clothes, and LettingHerHairDown, [[spoiler:which becomes silver. She breaks the curse, realizing her value and admits to Howl that she believes her silver hair to be beautiful]].
** Of course, a witch turns her into a hunched over old lady for much of the movie, although the curse seems to come and go.
* In the anime ''Manga/LoveHina'', Narusegawa Naru goes from looking like a total nerd to being beautiful by removing her NerdGlasses and taking her hair out of massive braids. Then again, her "ugly" state is a deliberate act intended to drive off unwelcome male attention.
* Likewise, in ''Manga/StrawberryOneHundredPercent'', Toujou Aya becomes better looking by letting her bangs down, and beautiful by taking off her glasses and unbraiding her hair.
* A subtle subversion is Chisame Hasegawa of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. In her daily school life she is a bespectacled computer geek, allegedly with bad skin. But at home she takes off her glasses, combs out her hair, and takes digital pictures of herself in costumes, which she then photoshops to clear up her skin and increase her bustline -- and becomes the virtual idol "Chiu" on her website. Of course, her teacher Negi insists that she's cute enough as-is, [[AdorablyPrecociousChild but he's ten]], what does ''he'' know? Her problems with her appearance may be one reason she seems to prefer remaining in the form of a ten-year-old via the age pills, during the Magic World arc...
** Asuna's friends are also rather surprised at [[SheCleansUpNicely how normal and even elegant]] Asuna can look without her hair ornaments, dressed normally and not kicking people in the face.
* Chika Ogiue of ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}''. Normally, her strange paintbrush hair and baggy clothes mar her appearance, but occasionally she lets her hair down, puts on more form-fitting clothes, and [[{{Meganekko}} swaps her contacts out for glasses]] and turns out to be quite attractive.
** Katou can also be considered this, as she turns out to be quite beautiful when that long, shaggy mop of hair isn't covering her face.
* In ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'' this trope is played in the classic fashion. The ClassRepresentative takes off her glasses, lets her hair down, and the object of her affections (who doesn't recognize her) almost immediately [[MeetCute bumps into her]], and thinks about how cute she is. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't recognize ''him'' without her glasses.

* In ''Manga/TheWallflower,'' Sunako, who shuns light and all forms of beauty, abruptly transforms from SuperDeformed creature into an AloofDarkHairedGirl when her friends are threatened or she has a brief bout of self-confidence.
* Subverted in ''Manga/IdatenJump'': a handsome, brilliant fighter deliberately [[ObfuscatingStupidity hides his good traits and pose as a complete nerd]] to protect his secret identity from his enemies.
* The ''[[Anime/NGKnightLamune40 Lamune & 40]]'' series makes this into a RunningGag; when {{Meganekko}} Cocoa removes her glasses for any reason, everyone in the immediate area has this trope hit them hard -- and she just says "What?" as she puts them back on.

* Skewed a bit in ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'': when Haruhi Fujioka's NerdGlasses come off, the members of the titular club are startled to realize that she's really quite attractive -- but Tamaki still thinks she's a [[{{Bifauxnen}} boy]] (unlike the other club members, who figured it out during the day).
** Inverted the following episode when the club members managed to find a picture of Haruhi sporting long hair and in a schoolgirl uniform, and they question just how such a pretty girl could turn into someone so mousy and boyish looking (to which Haruhi replied that she cut her hair after some mischievous kid stuck bubblegum into it).
* One of Akane's pet peeves in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is that, although female Ranma looks very ordinary in the standard, unisex Chinese uniform (which is tailored for Ranma's male form anyway), "she" is actually a beautiful woman otherwise. (Not to mention Ranma's apparently unconscious, instinctive ability to do both sexpot and {{Moe}} at will...)
** Not surprisingly, Ranma's mother, Nodoka, appears as an [[GenericCuteness attractive, but nondescript woman]] in a kimono most of the time. When she lets her hair down, she goes from "pretty" to total babe in two seconds flat.
** Inverted by Mousse, who initially comes off as a Bishonen, but is a total moron who requires thick Coke-bottle glasses to function properly.
** Near the end of the series there is a BeachEpisode where [[TeamMom domestic mother figure]] Kasumi appears wearing the second-tiniest bikini in the entire episode (only raving loony Kodachi wears a smaller one), and accidentally wins a beauty contest (in which all the other girls have entered, and for which she is acting as a "card girl") when the (mostly male) audience decide they like her best.
** Minor example is Ukyo when she decides to dress like a girl. Even though every guy starts drooling over her, it's only a minor example because she was plenty cute enough already.
* In one ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' filler arc, there was the minor villain Fuuma Kagerou. He pretty much looked like a gorilla with a huge overbite in his first appearance. Then he, literally, [[OneWingedAngel shed his body and was revealed to be a quite beautiful]] [[SamusIsAGirl girl]]... Of course, since [[MeaningfulName Kagerou's]] general powers and abilities were inspired by the mayfly, this also meant that her remaining lifespan was reduced to a few hours through this act.
* The hentai manga ''[[WereSlut Were-Slut]]'' combines this trope with ClarkKenting (and, perhaps, a more subtle form of lycanthropy). After main character Kimiko swallows the Beauty Stone, she becomes so beautiful that she gets flak from her teachers about wearing make-up and has to hide her gorgeous looks behind her usual nerd-glasses. This also keeps people from realizing that she's the Were-Slut, a side-effect of the expired Beauty Stone that... well, it's hentai, so it should be obvious by now. Also subverted by the fact that the boy she took the Beauty Stone to seduce was already in love with her and she only needed to have more confidence in herself (or just be blindly in heat) to make him her boyfriend.
* In ''Manga/GlassMask,'' Maya, who is usually described as "plain-looking", is cast as a beautiful princess opposite [[TheRival the beautiful Ayumi]]. Everyone thinks it's a complete miscast, and are extremely surprised by Maya's first appearance on stage. It only lasts as long as the stage makeup does and weirds out her friends.
* Megumi "Nodame" Noda from ''Manga/NodameCantabile'' is actually a very attractive lady when she washes her hair and doesn't dress in mold-afflicted dirty clothes--and also refrains from shouting at the top of her lungs all the time or making silly faces.
* ''Manga/{{Hyakko}}'':
** Torako may not be really ugly, but her tomboyish demeanor usually lets her be outshined by girls like Ayumi--until she decides to get loose while posing for some photos.
** Tsubomiya Inori plays this straight. Her usual [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Sadako]]-like appearance tends to repel people, but when Torako peels back her forelocks and gives her a makeover...[[http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo186/slayer545/snapshot20081127005821.jpg wow]].
* Delightful example from Episode 8 of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', [[spoiler: where it's applied to [[{{Bishonen}} Tieria]] [[AttractiveBentGender Erde]]. Ditch the glasses and that pink... ''thing'' for a gorgeous dress and hair extensions? [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Why, Miss Erde,]] [[StupidSexyFlanders you're beautiful]]]].
* To show that this trope is not restricted to women, Mitsukake from ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' was first seen with long unkempt hair and a Grizzly Adams BeardOfSorrow. When he saved Miaka and the gang and revealed his real face, he was male model gorgeous.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' has a one-off character, Princess Dia, who wore NerdGlasses. Once they were knocked off her face she was revealed to follow this trope. In the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]] the Sailor Senshi wonder if this trope would apply to Umino if he removed his specs, complete with a {{Bishonen}} Umino ImagineSpot. [[WordOfGod According to]] Creator/NaokoTakeuchi [[spoiler:the trope does indeed apply to Umino too]].

* The [[CoolMask Gasmask]]-wearing, minor character Busujima from ''Manga/BusoRenkin''. [[spoiler:With a combination of SamusIsAGirl.]]
* A male version would be Charden from ''Manga/BlackCat'' who wears glasses and a top hat. When he takes these off he turns out to be a handsome blonde man with flowing curls.
* Subverted in ''Manga/CaseClosed''. An IdolSinger is killed through poison by his beautiful soon to be ex-manager, who is also his ex-girlfriend, because he treated her like garbage and lots of his abuse was about her physical features. Turns out he did this because she had cosmetic surgery to please him, but [[JustTheWayYouAre he liked her "ugly" original face better]] and heavily blamed himself for her change.
* Used in ''Manga/KimiNiTodoke'': the protagonist, Sawako, becomes very pretty when she smiles genuinely –- as opposed to her forced smile, which [[FaceOfAThug scared everyone away until she entered high school]].
* In ''Manga/{{Phoenix}}'', Uzume was an ugly woman being held as a prisoner by Chinese soldiers. After marrying Sarutahiko, she reveals that she's actually very beautiful and that she disguised herself as an ugly woman so that the soldiers wouldn't rape her.

* Parodied in ''Manga/HayateCrossBlade''. Inu, who starts off looking like something that would make ''Manga/TheWallflower's'' Sunako look normal, is given a makeover by her sister-in-arms Momoka. While she does look a lot prettier with her hair done up, she's still considered creepy by her peers thanks to her...odd mannerisms (and matching SpeechBubbles, which don't go away after her makeover).
* Gender flipped in ''Anime/XamdLostMemories'': Raigyo is first introduced as a [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raigyobefore.jpg funny looking bloke in desperate need of a shave and a haircut]]. Then, about two thirds into his introductory episodes, he decides to go and ''get'' that shave and haircut and...well, ''[[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raigyoafter.jpg damn]]''. Newcomer Akiyaki [[StupidSexyFlanders spends a good fifteen seconds just ogling stupidly]] before it even registers in his head that it's really the same guy.
* 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 ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal'' where Rin (who is attractive, just too young) takes down her hair and tries to talk seductively to Manji in order to prove that she can be mature and lady-like. Manji simply bursts out laughing at her and mocks the trope itself.

* 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''.
* In ''Manga/BeautyPop'', this pretty much covers all the girls Kiri makes over. Kanako's second makeover may be the closest to note, though, as it is revealed that her dowdy looks distracted people from her how perfect her hair, skin and nails are thanks to the instruction she's been taking from the SP in regards to their care.
* Vincent Law from ''Anime/ErgoProxy''. At the beginning he has EyesAlwaysShut, a round face, and looks kinda short and dumpy. Some episodes later, after becoming a wanted man, he changes completely: he opens his eyes, musses his hair, loses some weight, stands up taller, and voilà!
* Eureka from ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' definitely deserves an honorable mention when she is not wearing her hairpin, as well as her long hair version in the movie ending. Renton is wise to fall for her.
* In ''Manga/PrincessJellyfish'', Kuranosuke becomes convinced that Tsukimi is one of these, and decides to give her a makeover to prove it. Tsukimi was not amused, because she and the rest of the Amars think that making yourself over is like going over to the 'enemy' i.e. the side of the trendy people.
** Kuranosuke thinks every girl is a princess but is quite realistic in that, while he may think that way, he knows most of the world does make assumptions based on appearance.
* [[spoiler:Brief]] from ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' is revealed to be this in a [[SheCleansUpNicely Cleans Up Nicely]] scene.
* In ''Manga/DGrayMan'', Miranda Lotto lacked confidence in herself and suffering from the stress of being [[OnlySaneMan the only one]] not affected by the time loop affecting her town. It wasn't until she got her Innocence and became confident in her abilities (not to mention LettingHerHairDown and SheCleansUpNicely) that we truly see how beautiful Miranda was.
* Male example played for laughs in ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}'': delinquent gang leader Tatsuya Himekawa sports a gigantic pompadour and a pair of tacky shades, but when he's forced to take off the glasses and let down his hair, he could pass for [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth's]] kid brother. No one recognizes him until his hair goes back up.
** Played for more laughs because, despite the girls raving about how handsome Himekawa looks with his hair down, he persists in subverting the trope by ''keeping'' the ridiculous hairdo and shades for no particular reason at all.
* Another male example appears in ''Manga/PandoraHearts''. After he gets an ImportantHaircut and loses the OpaqueNerdGlasses, [[spoiler:Leo]] is revealed to be [[{{Bishonen}} quite]] [[WhatBeautifulEyes beautiful]] after all.

* In episode 228-229 of ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' (yes, they made a parody of ''VideoGame/LovePlus''), the one person no one ever expected to be that hot was [[spoiler:Pinko]].

* In ''Kodomo no Jikan'', we have Shirai, much to the shock of her co-workers.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Mayuri Kurotsuchi of all people gets a shower scene where we find that under all his war paint he is actually hot.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Manga/GirlFriends''. Mari is very plain and unfashionable before she meets Akko, but it seems more like Mari already wanted to pay more attention to make-up and fashion but didn't know what to do, and the emphasis is much more on the sheer fun of this new world Akko introduces to her. Later, someone comments that Akko induced this trope in Mari, and Akko initially agrees but then changes her mind, saying that Mari was always cute.
* [[spoiler:Dekomori Sanae]] from ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', after [[spoiler:she leaves her dellusions on episode 12]].
* Subverted in the Hideshi Hino manga ''Skin and Bone''. The main character goes from obese to skinny, but still retains the same {{Gonk}} face.
* Aikuro Mikisugi of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' manages to pull off one such transformation in [[http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc402/sparkysharps/mikisugi.gif under two seconds]] simply by ditching the OpaqueNerdGlasses and running a hand through his hair. He does it several more times (and even [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn starts removing his clothes as well]]) before [[spoiler:finally ditching the disguise altogether.]]

* Kaede of ''[[Manga/ShinozakisanKiWoOtaShikaNi Don't Become an Otaku, Shinozaki-san!]]'' is a bespectacled otaku, so it's quite a shock to Akina when she sees how pretty Kaede is when the glasses come off.
* Played with in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. Shirogane is already a fairly handsome young man, but most of the students find him intimidating due to his ExhaustedEyeBags giving him a constant DeathGlare. When he finally gets a good night's sleep after his term as president is over, the rest of the students suddenly find him a lot easier to approach, but Kaguya finds herself ''less'' attracted to him due to him no longer conforming to her fetish.
* ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'': The titular character is a man who constantly walks around in armor and has a somewhat off-putting personality due to lack of social skills. The mystery surrounding him led a lot of people to make conjectures about his appearance, some even wondering if he might be a goblin in disguise. In the end of Volume 1, he takes off his helmet in front of the guild for the first time and, to the surprise of almost everyone,[[note]]His childhood friend isn't surprised, since she sees him bareheaded regularly[[/note]] he is an extremely handsome man described as having the "features of a warrior" ([[TakeOurWordForIt though his face is never fully shown]]). From there onwards he becomes the series' premiere MrFanservice and since his face is never shown, the shots instead focus on his built musculature. The anime adds to this by having him have a very deep voice to add to his rugged adventurer charm.
* One episode of ''GO-GO Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}!'' features a rare male example with Spaceytchi. After washing himself and removing his black outfit, the girls find him much more attractive.
* Downplayed with Ophiuchus Shaina in ''Manga/SaintSeiya''. She's ''far'' from unattractive, but hides her face behind a mask to be more intidimating, leading Seiya to believe she probably looked like the devil underneath. Then he breaks her mask during their fight, revealing she has a rather delicate and feminine face to complement her body. Seiya even comments on how beautiful she really is.
* Lolopechka from ''Manga/BlackClover'' usually has a sloppy appearance with unkempt hair and unattractive glasses. However, when she formally dresses up and remove her glasses in her appearance as the princess of the Heart Kingdom, she's downright gorgeous.
* Sumireko Sanshokuin aka "Pansy" of ''LightNovel/{{Oresuki}}'' isn't exactly ugly, but male lead Joro thought she looked rather creepy with those thick glasses and hair tied in twin braids. Then she takes off her glasses, lets her hair down and unbuttons her blouse to reveal [[HiddenBuxom a pretty well-endowed figure]], and he's left completely flabbergasted by her beauty.
* Played with in ''LightNovel/TheSaintsMagicPowerIsOmnipotent''. When Sei Takanashi is transported to another world and into the kingdom of Slantania, the court sees that she's haggard, pale-skinned, and looks seriously ill, thanks to her exploitative office job. After a few weeks of proper rest, nutrition, and sunlight, she "transforms" into a healthy, strikingly beautiful young woman. About the only intentional intervention was Sei creating an eye-bag cream out of herbs but even then, she didn't realize she could cure her vision and let her stop using her eyeglasses.
* One ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'' chapter features a NewTransferStudent that looks like a [[{{Gonk}} short, pony-tailed monkey in human clothes]] who wastes no time trying to [[CasanovaWannabe flirt with all the girls in Nube's class]] despite their obvious disgust to his appearance. Then Nube finds out that he's actually a member of an all-male {{Yokai}} species who must breed with human females and will do anything to win their love. The student admits this and decides to return to his homeland to train, whereupon he sheds his human disguise and reveals himself to be a {{Bishonen}}.

* When Ellen Dolan is first introduced in ''ComicBook/TheSpirit,'' she's a dowdy college girl with, yes, hair up, and glasses. And she has a geeky fiancé. By the end of the story, the Spirit lets her hair down and removes her glasses... and then steals a kiss from the lovely girl. Needless to say, she dumps the fiance soon after. In [[Film/TheSpirit the movie]] by Creator/FrankMiller, Ellen starts out beautiful.

* There's a bizarre example in ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'', with Jeanne-Marie Beaubier and her alter-ego Aurora. Aurora wears her hair loose, and no glasses; Jeanne-Marie has a tight bun and "glasses you barely need for reading" (as her brother put it). While Jeanne-Marie is hardly ugly, she looks much more strict and severe than free-spirited Aurora. It reverses the trope, in that her (long lost twin) brother first saw her as Aurora, then was shocked to see her do up her hair and put on glasses ''on purpose'' to look less attractive. This is no Clark Kenting, either; she has multiple personality disorder, so this trope works to draw the line between two different people.
* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}: In her Linda Lee Danvers/[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Linda Lang]]/[[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth Kara Danvers]] SecretIdentity, Kara dyes and braids her hair and wears glasses in order to look like an inconspicuous, average, geeky brunette instead of a stunningly beautiful blonde with an athletic build.
* ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'': Meggan, who would go on to become ComicBook/CaptainBritain's girlfriend (and eventually wife) was introduced as a funny-looking, furry outcast in a dystopian alternate dimension. It eventually turned out that she was both an empath and a reflexive shapeshifter whose appearance reflected her feelings and the way everyone around her felt about her. She only seemed twisted and ugly because that's the way her home dimension treated her, but once Cap was nice to her for a while, she turned into a cross between Creator/MarilynMonroe and [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Galadriel]].
* When ComicBook/PepperPotts first appeared as a supporting character of ComicBook/IronMan, she had freckles and looked like a teenager. Several issues later, she "got a makeover" and became the more better-known version of the character (in terms of looks).
* Male version in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. Laurie comments that the nerdy Dan looks quite handsome without his glasses.

* In ''Fanfic/OffTheLine'', when Vincent was a boss mob, his head was circled with jagged horns and had claw-like hands with leathery wings. He was a Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette with visible veins on his skin with his hair covering his face, giving him a very demonic appearance. When he's changed into a pet mob, he loses the horns, the claws and the veins and gets some color in his skin. He's noted to be very good-looking.

* The movie that arguably originated this trope, ''Film/NowVoyager'' (1942), also served to [[UnbuiltTrope subvert it]] in anticipation. Creator/BetteDavis plays an overweight, dowdy, bespectacled, poorly dressed woman who's also [[ShrinkingViolet painfully shy]], unsocialized, maladjusted, and bullied by her widowed mother. When she loses weight, takes off her glasses, and buys fashionable clothes... she's still shy, unsocialized, maladjusted, and bullied by her mother.
* ''Film/ShesAllThat'', a modern SpiritualAdaptation of Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw's ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'', updated the Eliza Doolittle character from a LowerClassLout to the HollywoodHomely nerdy art student Laney Boggs, played by Creator/RachaelLeighCook. The protagonist Zack, challenged in a bet with his friend Dean that he can make Laney into the prom queen within six weeks, obliges. The result is an example of this trope so famous that it provides the page image, and many parodies of this trope will likely reference it in some form.

* In ''Film/FrenchKiss'', Creator/MegRyan is certainly cute and perky, but when she dons a blue dress and wears a $150K diamond necklace, Luc (played by Creator/KevinKline) says, "''Now'' who is the goddess?"
* Subverted in 1962's ''Film/ThatTouchOfMink'', starring Creator/CaryGrant when Gig Young tells a plain looking secretary to take off her glasses and let her hair down, and is disappointed to get the same woman with a bad squint and messy hair. [[ThisIsReality "Gee, it always works in the movies!"]]

* Central to the plot of the 1989 Creator/TonyDanza film ''Film/ShesOutOfControl'', in which an overprotective father discovers his 15-year-old daughter has undergone this kind of transformation while he was away on a business trip, and can't cope with its results and side-effects.
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' used this trope to good effect; when the replicant Rachel took down her hair (admittedly, she wasn't wearing glasses, as she was an android with perfect vision) she revealed herself to be beautiful and, in keeping with the theme of the film, more human.
* ''Film/MissCongeniality 2'' plays with the trope: At first, Creator/SandraBullock tells a school girl to put her hair up because it will enhance her features better and that "people care about people who care about themselves". But at the end of the film Bullock meets the girl again and, [[AnAesop having learned her lesson]], takes the bow out of the kid's hair and says "I know that people care about people who care about themselves? but I really don't care about those people".

* ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'' subverts this not once but twice. The heroine, originally a rather ugly girl with terrible skin, gets a makeover in the hopes of attracting the hero, but the result is almost as bad; she ends up with streetwalker-thick makeup, '80s big hair and shoulder pads. Eventually she goes through a second transformation where she gives up on the makeup, etc., and shaves her head bald -- and looks better than ever (one wonders what happened to the bad skin).
** This is rather common in Creator/StephenChow movies, in that almost all of his love interests have either physical flaws, or are characteristically flawed. One of the most memorable moments in Chow's movies before he became vastly famous was the ending scene of ''Film/GodOfCookery,'' where the comically homely female street chef got an extreme makeover after he alleged death. The actress playing the role, however, is a famous Chinese pop star in real life, so her final appearance in the movie actually had her to do away with her faux ugly makeup.

* Fran in ''Film/StrictlyBallroom'' who has an acne problem at the start of the movie goes through a similar transformation, although Shirley has been on at her to treat her skin with product for the first half of the film.
* Although she was never supposed to be "ugly" (just plain) the character of Jamie Sullivan in ''Film/AWalkToRemember'' has a moment during the scene in which she performs in the school play; as she takes off a black cape she is revealed in a blue silk dress, along with full hair and make-up for the first time.
* Allison's makeover at the end of in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' - that is [[BrokenBase if you are one of the few]] who see it as this, in contrast to the majority who see it [[UnnecessaryMakeover as this]].
* The scene in ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' where Clark Kent is in Lois's apartment with her (off-screen) getting ready for their date. He is debating whether to reveal to her that he is Superman, and the actor straightens his posture, removes his glasses (OK, he doesn't let down his hair, it isn't a perfect example of this trope), does something to his expression, and becomes the ''extremely'' attractive Superman. Lois (still off-screen) says something and he changes his mind, transforming instantly back into the nerdy and relatively unattractive Clark. An excellent piece of acting by Creator/ChristopherReeve. In the original comics, Lois [[LovesMyAlterEgo loved Superman]] because she compared shy, clumsy, and cowardly (after all, he disappeared at the first sign of danger!) Clark against, well, [[PhysicalGod Superman]].
* Visible in ''Film/BatmanReturns''. Who knew that getting thrown off a building, trashing her own house, and tearing up her clothes to make a catsuit would change dowdy secretary Selina Kyle so much? The book of the movie explains it's her self-confidence that makes her able to wear clothes that really suit her.
* In ''Film/SpiderMan1'', Peter Parker loses his eyesight problems when he gains his spider powers, so he stops wearing glasses. Mary Jane notices his beautiful blue eyes, of course.
-->'''PodCast/RiffTrax:''' Well, I won't be needing a shirt anymore; it's the [=McConaughey=] look from here on out!

* This shows up in ''Film/TheHottieAndTheNottie'' when the repulsive best friend is given a makeover. Although the actress is made up with things like rotting teeth, warts, and fungus, you can still tell she normally looks great.
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' for many fans, who consider Mia Sara more attractive as [[EvilIsSexy "Dark Lili"]] than "Princess Lili". ([[AbsoluteCleavage Her costume]] certainly didn't hurt.)
* Toula from ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding'' started out as, in her words, "Frump Girl", but then she got contacts, changed her look, let her hair down (or at least arranged it more attractively), and started classes at a nearby college.
** Though in this case, it's less of a broken aesop than normal, since when Ian meets Toula again after her makeover, he says "I remember you. I don't remember frump girl, but I remember you", implying that he liked her in the first instance anyway.
** The DVD commentary with the writer/lead actress also clarifies that the "makeover" was about Toula becoming more confident with herself as she developed her own identity outside of her parents' restaurant; it wasn't solely about looking pretty so she can catch guys.
* In ''Film/TheMirrorHasTwoFaces'', the frumpy plain Jane professor played by Music/BarbraStreisand gets fed up with her husband's obliviousness to her (although they did agree to a strictly platonic marriage), and spends the several weeks that he's away dieting, hitting the gym, and going to the beauty salon. By the time he returns, she looks terrific and has the self-confidence necessary to dump him.
* In the ''Film/NightWatch'' film, the latent sorceress Svetlana is portrayed as your typical "librarian" with an average hairdo and glasses. Cut to the sequel, ''Film/DayWatch'', where she finds out about her magical abilities, she now wears her hair down and throws away the glasses. Suddenly, she is extremely attractive to the main character, not to mention a lesbian make-out scene in the shower.
* Done subtly in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' with Jane and inverted with Angela. At the start of the film Creator/ThoraBirch wears a lot of makeup to reflect how unhappy she is. As she starts dating Ricky and becomes a bit happier, she gradually wears less makeup as the film goes on. Mena Suvari then wears gradually more makeup as the film goes on, to reflect us finding out why she isn't so desirable.

* Referenced directly and mocked in ''Film/Carrie2002'', when the jock replies to his girlfriend's request to take Carrie to the prom.
-->'''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.
* All Creator/JenniferGrey has to do is take off her mousy cardigan and put on some lipstick to become a sex kitten in ''Film/DirtyDancing''.
* Creator/ElizabethMontgomery, of all people, pulls this in ''When The Circus Came To Town''. Dull, colorless Mary hasn't had much of a life, living in a small town caring for her mother, so when Mom dies Mary decides to join the circus. Having spent the film learning to overcome lifelong inhibitions, she literally unpins her hair at the end. It's supposed to be an affirmation of freedom, but owing to Elizabeth's expression it comes off more like Instant Sexpot.
* 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.
* Mahana in the 1969 short film ''Film/JohnnyLingo'' is constantly called ugly. After the titular character buys her dowry for eight cows, she's suddenly beautiful. Lingo explains that "she was always beautiful" and delivers AnAesop about self-worth.
* In ''Film/TheInvisible'', Annie spends the first hour of the film wearing a black wool cap pulled low and all black clothes, looking like the picture of a teenage thug. Then, hiding out in a crowded club, she pulls off the hat and lets her long wavy hair loose and tosses her face up, reveling in the music and anonymity, and Nick just walks around her and stares at how suddenly beautiful she is.

* Thanks to her FairyGodmother and a PimpedOutDress, this happens to Literature/{{Cinderella}}. This is also the case in many related FairyTale variants, such as "Katie Woodencloak," "Donkeyskin," and "Cap o' Rushes." (Aarne-Thompson Type 501a, to fairy-tale scholars.) A male version would be "Scurvyhead", a blonde prince who keeps his hair covered on purpose so he won't be recognized and just tells everybody he has dandruff.

* ''Literature/TheUglyDuckling'', Creator/HansChristianAndersen, 1843. A large grey bird hatches in a duck's nest. He gets teased because he looks bad for a duckling. The ugly duckling runs away, matures, and discovers he's a beautiful swan.

* Creator/NeilGaiman's short story ''The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch'' plays with this: "Miss Finch" is not the title character's real name, but the narrator calls her that because,
-->"... it's what I thought when I first saw her... Like in one of those movies. You know. When they take off their glasses and put down their hair. 'Why, Miss Finch. You're beautiful.' "
** Since this is a Gaiman story, the circumstances under which she takes off her glasses and puts down her hair turn out to be bizarre, surreal, and strangely disturbing.
* In Darren Shan's ''Literature/TheThinExecutioner'', we see a rare example that doesn't involve a change in appearance [[spoiler:when Jebel has his pick of all the women in Wadi and he chooses the dowdy servant girl Bas over the Wadi princess Debbat]].
* In book three of ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy'', when Nathaniel first sees Kitty's aura as Bartimaeus sees it, he exclaims, "You're beautiful!" to which she replies sarcastically, "Only just now?"
* Played with in Creator/PeterSBeagle's ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'', near the end of the book, the hard-luck, middle-aged Molly Grue puts her hair down, and the narrator says "she was more beautiful than [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman the Lady Amalthea]]" - because the narrator is following the thoughts of [[spoiler: Schmendrick]], who has fallen in love with her.

* In ''Literature/TalesFromJabbasPalace,'' a collection of ''Franchise/StarWars'' short stories based around aliens in the background during the first half of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' the story about the "fat dancer" (remember her?) "{{re|tcon}}veals" that her species stores water (like a camel). By the end of a trek through Tatooine's desert after Jabba's death, she's thin and beautiful. Notable in that she considers herself to be quite attractive both before and after the trek.
* In "One Lonely Night" Literature/MikeHammer is infiltrating a ring of DirtyCommunists, one of whom is a dowdy, plain-looking girl whom he flirts with to get information. She later turns up at his apartment in "a dress that looked like it had been painted on" -- it turns out she's a case of Drop Dead Gorgeous Underneath.
* In ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', Meg Murry wears glasses and has mousy hair. After an emotional talk with Calvin, one of the most popular guys at her school, she cries and Calvin takes off her glasses, and comments that she has "dream-boat eyes." He then tells her to not let any other guy see her pretty eyes. Later in the series, she actually became prettier and married Calvin.
* ''Literature/DeepSecret'' toys with this. Maree is fat, mousy, has a thin nose and thick glasses, and isn't especially known for her gorgeous dress. [[spoiler:However, when Rupert falls in love with her, his perceptions change, and he finally realizes that she's beautiful, even if her physical appearance hasn't changed.]]
* Implied in Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'' books, when [[SweetPollyOliver Alanna]] decides to break disguise for one night and attend a royal ball. Bonus points for making specific references to 'looking like Squire Alan in a dress' and 'doing something with Squire Alan's hair' to achieve the full effect. Although since Alanna is clearly described as being not ugly but not ''stunning'' either, it's more of an affirmation that she can actually look and act convincingly feminine if she wants.

* Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/TheMovingFinger'' does this when [[spoiler:Jerry takes Megan to London]].
* There's a touch of this in Lawrence Block's ''Literature/ArielBlock''. Ariel and klutzy Erskine are PuppyLove in the making (although they'd both disagree because they're friends). Ariel notes in her diary, after describing a warm, funny conversation they've had, "What he should really do is get contact lenses when he's older. His eyes are really quite attractive."
* In Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/BeautyARetellingOfBeautyAndTheBeast'', Beauty is convinced at an early age that she's homely and avoids mirrors throughout her adolescence because of her self-consciousness. The Beast's castle is completely without mirrors or even still water, making it that much easier for her to avoid seeing herself; she is thus pleasantly surprised when at the end of the novel the (former) Beast points her at a mirror and she sees that she's bloomed over the course of the book into a very lovely young woman.

* In Neil R. Selden's ''The Great Lakeside High Experiment'' the main character decided that she and her male friends should pick a "nowhere girl" from their school and see what happened if they gave her a makeover and treated her like they were best friends. When the girl in question gained some self-confidence and started dressing better, one of the boys became attracted to her and when the main character got jealous and let the cat out of the bag the whole thing pretty much blew up in their faces.
* Mary Brown's fantasy novel ''Literature/TheUnlikelyOnes'': The amnesiac "Thing". She has been cursed and enslaved by an evil witch, who forces her to hide her face behind a leather mask whenever she is out among people. The mask, combined with the fact that she's usually walking hunched over due to terrible stomach cramps brought on by the witch's curse, causes the general population to think she's a hobgoblin in service of the witch. The only ones allowed to see her without her mask are her four {{Animal Companion}}s, who have no concept of human beauty and honestly can't tell whether she is ugly or not. Of course, any reader who has even ''remotely'' paid attention can guess that the girl is stunningly gorgeous behind her mask, but for most of the novel Thing really has no reason to think of herself as anything but ugly.
* Creator/TanithLee:
** The (initially) unnamed protagonist of ''Literature/TheBirthgrave'' awakens in strange circumstances with no memory of who she is ([[spoiler:she later discovers that the mysterious name "Karrakaz" that she's been hearing for a while is in fact her own]]), and believes she must be hideous because of the startled reactions she sees on the faces of the first few men she meets. For this reason, she wears a mask for most of the book. It's only toward the end that she is finally persuaded to remove it, and discovers what the reader has probably already guessed.
** ''Literature/ElectricForest'' and in ''Literature/TheSilverMetalLover'', where the girl's controlling mother has been giving her ''drugs'' to make her unattractive.
* ''Literature/Burned2010'' reveals [[spoiler:that if Rephaim chose good and became human, he would look "hotter then an Oklahoma blacktop in the middle of the summer". Just how attractive he could be is the only thing Aphrodite and Stevie Rae can agree on]].
* ''Literature/{{Watchers}}'' by Creator/DeanKoontz. Norma. She's the daughter of an emotionally abusive mother and she's terrified of men. During the course of the book, she gets an ImportantHaircut and suddenly everyone raves about how gorgeous she is.

* During ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' Will, seeking to call attention to himself with a stunt, proposes just this to [[{{Tomboy}} Patience McCray]], the toughest jock in the school. If he pays to get her a makeover and pretty clothes and she hangs on to his arm at his party, he'll look like he's tamed her and she'll show up the more feminine girls at school. Patience smiles sweetly, says she's never been so insulted in her life, and punches him.
* Lampshaded in a Colin Forbes novel when the protagonist encounters a female librarian and thinks of those spy movies where the communist IceQueen takes off her glasses and lets her hair down at the end to become a sexy capitalist. He asks the librarian to take off her glasses, but she remains dowdy.
* Fanny Price in ''Literature/MansfieldPark''. Once her cousins go off and leave the neighborhood without its most prominent belles, everyone starts to realize that Fanny not only looks very well when some attention is paid to her appearance, she's very pleasant company too.

* In ''Literature/FreakyFriday'', Annabel claims at the start of the book that her little brother was the one who inherited all of her parents' good features. But when she and her mother [[FreakyFridayFlip swap bodies]], her mother takes the day off to get her hair cut, her braces removed, and her wardrobe updated, and the transformation is so dramatic that Annabel's crush Boris doesn't recognize her when she comes by and only refers to her as a mysterious "hot chick".
* IN ''Limelight'', Penny Green removes her glasses in an effort to blend in with an upscale crowd despite being acutely myopic only to have her journalistic rival tell her that she should never wear them while Inspector Blakely babbles "...so you must wear them. But not wearing them from time to time is also agreeable."
* ''Literature/AirAwakens'': Vhalla, a modest library apprentice, is not very feminine, likes wearing leggings and a tunic, never makes up, and has trouble with her frizzy hair. And then a prince invites her to a ball. Following her makeover at the hands of servants, not to mention a tailor-made dress, she turns out to be stunning.

* ''Radio/TheBurnsAndAllenShow'': In "Ugly Duckling", Gracie decides to give Ronnie's HollywoodHomely brainy friend Mildred a makeover and send them to the prom together.
* ''Series/That80sShow'' actually managed to do this right by taking the very attractive Creator/ChylerLeigh and putting her in so much heavy goth punk rocker makeup that she truly did become unrecognizable, allowing her natural beauty to shine more effectively for the rare occasions where she was seen without the punk makeup.
* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': In the non-canonical ''The Beginning'' (released as a made-for-TV film in 2005), 18-year-old Daisy is portrayed as a mousy nerd, complete with unkempt hair, bifocal glasses, heavy sweaters, and plaid clothes along with baggy jeans. Then she applies for a job at the Boar's Nest and decides to shed all this for her trademark tight short-shorts, her hair let down, and no more glasses.
* An episode of ''Series/MacGyver1985'' ("Twice Stung") references the cliche- for his next trick, Mac needs a woman's glasses, her hairpins, and the top three buttons of her shirt (upper cleavage level). She complies and it turns out to be part of the con that they're pulling.
* ''Series/{{Jake 20}}'' featured an almost painfully ridiculous invocation of this trope in episode 6 "Last Man Standing", wherein Diane Hughes (the NSA doctor tasked with monitoring Jake's nanite functions) accompanies an ailing Jake to a wedding to look after him. Despite the fact that Keegan Connor Tracy (the actress portraying Diane) is almost unfairly good-looking, they pull this trope with her by straightening her hair and removing her glasses. The reveal is impressively goofy.
* An early episode of ''Series/CharlesInCharge'' ("A Date With Enid", broadcast 12/05/84) featured some [[PlayingWithATrope play with this trope]]. Enid, a classic early-80s girl nerd with ugly glasses and hair up in an awful style, is Douglas' first crush. She expresses a desire to be more attractive to him. Citing the old "take off glasses and shake out hair, voila she's beautiful" cliche, Enid fears that it won't be that easy for her. They spend the entire episode trying things to prettify her that fail horribly, only to discover at the end all she had to do was... take off her glasses and shake out her hair. Of course, the twist is that Douglas now thinks they "ruined" her...

* An episode of ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' had something similar to this with Pugsley's teacher.
* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryMurderHouse'' plays this for pathos when Addie, who appears to have Down Syndrome, wants to "look pretty" for Halloween, wearing the makeup Violet put on her, instead of wearing the ugly rubber mask her mom wants her to wear. Her mom is furious at Addie for doing this, but eventually, reluctantly lets her daughter go out without the mask.

* Inverted in an episode of ''Series/LoveAmericanStyle'', a new young executive is constantly [[DistractedByTheSexy distracted]] by his SexySecretary, played by Carol Wayne. Whenever she is in the room he becomes a bumbling moron and is in danger of getting fired for incompetence. However, when he learns that she needs heavy glasses to read fine print, he asks her to wear them around the office all the time since he doesn't find her attractive when she has them on.
* Lisa Zemo of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide,'' former epitome of the image of the {{Nerd}} with no fashion sense, big glasses, and chronic nasal problems, became "hot" when she returned after a season break with "a new haircut, new clothes, new contacts, and new allergy medication." And instead of her crushing on Cookie as she used to, it was now the other way around.
* Parodied in an episode of ''Series/SeansShow''; "Tie your hair up. Now, put on these glasses. My God, you're beautiful!"

* This trope happens just around mid-run of SoapOpera ''Series/YoSoyBettyLaFea'', where the titular protagonist, who has been considered ugly since birth, embraces a makeover. Interesting because the makeover is treated more as a metaphor of her newly gained maturity (and she resists at some stages), because not everybody thinks she looks prettier now, and because it happens by slow steps: first she gets a new hairdo; then she trades her ugly, horn-rimmed glasses for a pair of cute, modern, minimalist glasses; then she gets rid of her bad-fitting clothes and gets more fashionable ones; and in the last chapter of the soap she finally gets rid of her orthodontics treatment and shows the results. Notably averted (dream sequences aside) in the US version's ''Series/UglyBetty'' since she doesn't seem to have many hang-ups about her body and her odd fashion sense is an expression of her individuality (although they will be addressing the braces soon).

* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' when Lane stops wearing her glasses to look better to Zach, who prefers her with them. Agreeing that she looked better before and imploring her to switch back is actually how he and her disapproving mother first start to get along. Though she wasn't trying to appeal to Zach. She was unhappy with how her glasses came out in pictures the band had taken. And even after Zach tells her she looks better with the glasses, she does occasionally wear the contacts afterward, and the subject is never dwelt on again. Subverted comes in by the show just ignoring the "makeover" baggage that usually shows up when a girl takes off her glasses.
* Male example: In one episode of ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir,'' Hillary has a glasses-wearing boyfriend who she thinks looks better without them and makes him not wear them. This is only revealed after he [[BlindWithoutEm accidentally rams Will's car]].

* 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 "Homecoming" she looks gorgeous in her formal gown and in "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 "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.
--->'''Oz:''' Who ''is'' that girl?
*** And of course it was played with in "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]].
** Inverted in the episode "Inca Mummy Girl". Willow wears a dowdy and unsexy Eskimo costume to a cultural party and remarks that maybe she should have worn something sexy. However Oz ends up noticing her because of the costume.
* Lizzi in the ''Series/{{Greek}}'' episode "See You Next Time, Sisters!". Who knew that a straightening iron and a power suit could give a girl such confidence? Though it was less a confidence issue and more busting her out of her PluckyOfficeGirl position to her boss, Tegan.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' ("Abnormal Psychology") had Diane trying to get Lilith and Frasier together by asking Lilith for a hairpin to fix the refrigerator door. Frasier scoffs at her transparent methods, but Lilith lets her hair down, and the two are instantly inflamed with lust for each other.
* In the second season ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' episode "The Nowhere Affair", a THRUSH computer picks an ugly duckling [[HotScientist sexy THRUSH scientist]] to seduce Napoleon Solo, in the hopes of reversing the EasyAmnesia that was induced when Solo took "Capsule B" before his capture by THRUSH. The scientist does the statutory transformation from geeky to hottie by, of course, taking off her ugly glasses and white lab coat and LettingHerHairDown.
* Alex from ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. A bespectacled, cute-at-best comic book nerd? Sorry, that position is already taken, and we've got quotas to fill. If it was just his "new identity" with a shave and one less pair of glasses, it would be debatable, but then that ShirtlessScene came out of left field...
* Subverted in, of all places, ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. Miss Piggy was doing her usual routine of flirting with the male guest star-- in this case, John Denver:
-->'''Piggy:''' "Oh please, I would love to see you with your glasses off, Johnny, take them off for me please?"\\
'''Denver:''' (Removes his glasses.)\\
'''Piggy:''' (pause) "Put 'em back on, Denver."
* The MTV show ''Made'' had a number of episodes where a {{Tomboy}} or nerd girls wanted to become homecoming queen and are given a coach to transform them into one. The most startling transformation was Kitty from season 4. She was a genuinely geeky but sweet girl with an anime obsession who wore glasses, and baggy clothes and was madeover into an incredibly ''gorgeous'' girl with a great body who proceeded to win second place in her high school beauty pageant.
* Annie in ''Series/{{Community}}'' seems to be undergoing an on-going process of this trope; it's suggested in her backstory that, as well as being a rather neurotic {{Nerd}}, she had problems with weight and acne which she's only overcome relatively recently, which coupled with her various neuroses and self-esteem issues mean that she doesn't fully realize exactly how attractive she really is.
* In ''Series/FamilyMatters'' S5:E23, Steve's Aunt Oona from Altoona comes for a visit. She appears just as awkward and nerdy as Steve himself. Harriet takes pity on her and gives her a makeover, which reveals her to be as beautiful as Donna Summer. Because she ''is'' Donna Summer.
* In the Mexican telenovelas "Alcanzar Una Estrella II" and "Sonadoras", Laura and Lucia go through this after their makeovers.
* In ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' episode ''Somebody Has to Play Cleopatra,'' Miss Harding is a kindergarten teacher that goes from HollywoodHomely to stunning in ten seconds flat by discarding a baggy blouse, [[TheGlassesGottaGo losing her eyeglasses,]] and LettingHerHairDown to get into the role of Egyptian Queen. It works so well that none of the wives will let their husbands play Mark Antony, and Laura later says she's going to have Miss Harding banned from any role except script girl.
* Felicity Smoak from ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' once had to let her hair down, lose the glasses and dress sexy to infiltrate a casino. She looked gorgeous, to nobody's surprise.

* A variation occurs in the ''Series/{{Victorious}}'' episode “Freak the Freak Out”. Cat and Jade get banned from a karaoke club after protesting the results of a singing competition between them and an untalented girl named Hayley who ends up being the owner’s daughter, and as a result wins the club’s singing competition (decided by her father) every night. To get revenge, Jade and Cat show back up and bet Hayley and her friend that anyone they pick from the audience could beat them in a crowd-decided singing competition. The girls [[BatmanGambit pick the obvious choice]]- a rather hideous looking nerdy girl named Louise. Unfortunately for them, it’s actually Tori in a disguise (prosthetic nose, glasses, fake teeth…) that she removes as she sings, revealing her actual good looks along with a great performance that easily defeats Hayley.
* In ''Series/WordOfHonor'', Zhou Zishu disguises himself as a scruffy, homeless man and wears a fake face to ensure that his former assassination organization would not come after him. But once the mask comes off and Zhou Zishu starts dressing nicely, Wen Kexing, Cheng Ling and Gu Xiang all remark and are stunned at how handsome he is.
* {{Series/Pretty Little Liars}}: Hanna was overweight when part of Alison’s gang, but after Alison went missing Hanna worked extra hard to lose weight and weigh less than Alison, which by the start of Sophomore year she managed. After this, Hanna took the missing Alison’s place as the most popular girl in High school.
* Mona was slightly overweight in her Freshman year, and had braces and glasses and wore her frizzy hair in either bunches or pigtails. Mona was desperate to be well-liked and upset when Hanna stopped hanging out with her so she could spend time with Alison, and as Alison realised how much Mona wanted to be popular, she sought out to make her as unpopular as possible and Mona then had no friends, eventually getting Mona to resent Alison and her friends. However, after Alison went missing Mona lost weight, had her braces taken out, straightened her hair and removed her glasses. She then joined her friend Hanna in becoming the two most popular girls in school.

* Played mostly straight in the musical ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' where the very green Elphaba quite literally lets her hair down, takes off her glasses, and dons some lipstick before being told, "Why, look, miss Elphaba, you're beautiful" by her roommate. However, other than the Love Interest, no one seems to notice.
** It is then subverted: Elphaba rushes from the room in tears, shows up the next day in a flirtier wardrobe, and earning everyone's notice ''because'' they know exactly how her roommate "fixed" her. Elphaba's future love interest then tells her that she really doesn't have to change herself, she's just fine. She never follows Glinda's makeover tips again, seeing as the costume department is too busy slowly transforming her into the Wicked Witch of the West.
** Then in Act II,
--->'''Elphaba:''' I just wish...\\
'''Fiyero:''' What?\\
'''Elphaba:''' I wish I could be beautiful... for you.\\
'''Fiyero:''' Elphaba...\\
'''Elphaba:''' Don't tell me that I am, you don't need to lie to me.\\
'''Fiyero:''' It's not lying! It's... uh... it's looking at things another way.

* The character of Phoebe in ''Hoodwinks''. She is introduced as the secretary with her hair up in a bun, glasses and wearing a baggy shawl. At the end of the play Clete takes off her glasses, pulls her hair down and unwraps the shawl to reveal a fashionable gown, saying "I always knew you were a pretty girl, Phoebe". This happens before the ending musical number.

* Latooni Subota from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' wears eyeglasses during the first half of the first game, being a shy and quiet gothic lolita of some sort. One time, her friends make her wear girly clothes and take out her glasses, that attracts many of the Hagane's crew members.
* Chie Satanoka from ''VideoGame/Persona4'' she spends most of the game being treated as HollywoodHomely and Chie is jealousy of Yukiko and Rise for being more feminine and desired than her. [[SheCleansUpNicely Of course the moment Chie puts on a kimono and make up]] at the new year event, the player character notes (what the fanbase already knew) that [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQdWw30IB3urIC1C4BOBxylaQMR-SWlFMCLVkVBHTjPCeGC9CrS she looks absolutely radiant]]

* ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' has Jataro Kemuri, who spends all of his onscreen time masked [[spoiler: thanks to his AbusiveParents constantly telling him how ugly he was]]. But after he loses to Komaru and Toko, the mask gets pulled off, revealing that he's actually pretty cute. Then the Monokuma Kids tear him apart.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Midna was cursed into her diminutive impish guise, and has a rather more shapely and statuesque humanlike true form]] which is then only seen in the epilogue.

* 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.]]

* Ping of ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'' [[http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=1007 attempts]] an inversion, and [[{{Meganekko}} fails]].

* [[Webcomic/{{Narbonic}} Helen Narbon]] finds herself complaining: "Leave it to me to live in a [[GenreSavvy defective fictional universe]]." Of course, the real problem is that she did not lose the glasses.

* Amber in ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' manages to pull this off without losing the glasses, just getting new ones.
** The hairstyle and more flattering clothing helped, but the point still stands. Especially since they weren't that different from what she wore previously.

%%Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples* [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1615 Played with]] in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''.
%%* Mentioned and averted in [[http://www.yousayitfirst.com/comics/index.php?date=20100102 this]] ''Webcomic/YouSayItFirst''
%%* Guineas, from ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' is a rare male example.
* Discussed in [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1880 this]] ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' strip:
-->'''Marigold:''' I fucking '''hate it''' in movies and TV shows where they have the nerdy weirdo girl and all they have to do is comb her hair and put on some makeup and all of a sudden she's '''so beautiful how did we ever not notice before'''. That's not how it '''works''' in real life. It's '''bullshit'''.
** And, ironically, played straight with ''Marigold herself''. Her appearance issues mostly stem from bad hygiene and grooming and [[IAmNotPretty even worse self-esteem]]. When she does clean herself up, ''everyone'' is impressed.
%%* Lampshaded in [[http://www.pvponline.com/comic/2001/08/12/sun-aug-12 this]] ''Webcomic/PvP'' strip.

* ''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.
* Parodied by WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick in the ''Film/TeenWitch'' review. She starts out with a prim, buttoned white shirt, the usual pigtails and her glasses. Then Madonna starts playing, she loses the shirt (she's got something on under it, don't get excited boys and girls), takes off the glasses and shakes out her hair. [[SubvertedTrope BUT THEN]], she puts on a weird top, does her hair in a side-ponytail and puts the glasses back on, making her look ridiculously 80s-ish.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/SixTeen 6teen]]'': A brief gag in the fourth episode features Jonsey complaining that there are no hot girls in the nerdy store he's currently in, only for one of the nerd girls to let her hair down and correct her posture so she can blow him off more effectively.

* In the Creator/ComedyCentral series ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether,'' Clara's retarded cousin "Bleh," who normally wore confining clothes and a protective helmet, turns out to be more than "not just hot-- but ''retarded'' hot" because of her slack jaw and dual lazy-eyes making her look impossibly sexy for a "normal" girl.

* A scene from ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones On the Rocks'': Wilma walks into the bedroom with her hair down and in skimpy clothing, complete with {{Sexophone}} accompaniment. Fred at first seems to react according to the trope, but it turns out that Wilma was blocking his view of the TV.