Makeover Fail

Why is my reflection someone I don't know?

The intention behind a makeover is to improve or refresh someone's appearance, to help boost their confidence, and perhaps make them more appealing to a third party. But in this particular case, the revamping of his or her image has not fulfilled one or more of these goals. On whatever level, the subject of the makeover is not happy with the result despite reassurances from those around him or her; alternatively, his or her partner, spouse, or someone else who he or she was trying to impress, will not like the new look. Faced with the failure of the makeover, you can expect its recipient to change back to his or her earlier look as soon as this is possible.

This is Truth in Television; not all makeovers are successful, and understandably so. The subject of the makeover may simply not like the new look (this may well occur if he or she was incited or pressured by someone else to undergo the makeover), may think it does not represent his or her personality, or may not be willing to continue with the upkeep that the new look requires. Alternatively, a significant other may not like the partner's new look.

Unlike the Unnecessary Makeover, where the value of the makeover is subject to the judgment of the fan base, this trope occurs when said fail is intended by the author, informed by the person having undergone the makeover, or otherwise made obvious in-universe. Often, a Makeover Fairy will be involved and the subject of the restyling will come to odds with him/her over the change. There may also be debate or conflict with a third party who is/was supportive of the makeover and who is pleased by it. Compare Makeover Torment, when a character is given a makeover not consistent with their gender, Femininity Failure, when a more masculine woman tries and fails to look and/or act more feminine, and Cosmetic Catastrophe, when a young girl's attempt at a makeover ends in failure. Often involves a Be Yourself Aesop. Can result in Fans Prefer the New Her if the viewers prefer the look the character despised.

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Examples:

Comic Books

• Archie Comics (2015) deconstructs this with the "Lipstick Incident": Betty is convinced by other girls to impress Archie with her next date with him through this trope. However, this makes Betty hyper-sensitive over her looks and makes Archie very uncomfortable, ultimately leading to an argument over Archie's supposed double standard about him ogling girls with makeup but likes her plain as possible, leading her to slash Archie's face with her lipstick.
• New Mutants: In the "New Mutants Summer Special" issue, the evil forces of consumerism tried to convince Rahne that she needed makeup and a bland nuclear family life to be happy. Not only was the in-story makeup a disaster (looking like it was drawn on by a small child), but the picture they show her in place of a mirror doesn't look as good as her natural short-haired tomboy look.

Fan Works

• The Bolt Chronicles: In "The Cakes," Penny’s mom receives an ill-advised makeover that leaves her looking like Divine from Pink Flamingos.

Film — Animated

• Played with in Mulan. Mulan is made over from head to toe before being presented to the matchmaker, which includes having her hair put up and getting a full face of heavy makeup. Mulan's facial expressions indicate that she is initially taken aback by the change, though she appears to be trying to adjust and when it is ready, seems like she might be satisfied or at least have accepted it as part of her duty to impress the matchmaker. At this point, it is purely a matter of opinion whether the look is a case of She Cleans Up Nicely or an Unnecessary Makeover. After she fails at the meeting with the matchmaker, Mulan sings "Why is my reflection someone I don't know?" She wipes off the makeup and takes down her hair. In effect, the makeover imposed on her is made symbolic of the role that she is expected to play in society and that does not reflect who she is inside.
• In Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, Pocahontas tries to better fit in at the English court by wearing a Pimped-Out Dress and powder to lighten her skin. After escaping from the Tower of London, she decides she'll better represent her culture and her people by appearing in her own clothes with her mother's necklace.
• In UglyDolls, during the song and Makeover Montage "All Dolled Up", Mandy insists there's nothing wrong with the Uglydolls and they don't need to try and conform to the standards the Perfection dolls go through to look nice, but she dresses them up still when they insist. Unfortunately, this fails to do anything, and ends up spiraling the hopes of the Uglydolls down even further.
• In Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope finds her princess makeover - which she gains after her identity as the true ruler of Sugar Rush is revealed - unnecessary as she prefers her regular clothes and the role of president.

Film — Live Action

• In Doctor in Clover, Dr. Burke gets a new look so he can look younger in an attempt to get with Jeannine. The only issue with this is after his makeover he looks too young and loses the chance to take Professor Halfbeck's job in Canada.
• Downplayed in Now, Voyager, where the subject is a spinster who has been forced to downplay her own beauty by her abusive mother. The result is that when she gets a glamorous new look, she has no idea how to take all the extra attention and worries that she's trying too hard.
• The heroine of Rebecca (1940) tries to give herself a makeover to look more glamorous for Maxim - donning a Little Black Dress from a fashion magazine. While she looks nice, he finds this off-putting because he prefers her natural beauty.
• Shaolin Soccer: Mui has terrible skin and a disheveled appearance because she spends all her time making steam buns. Sing takes her to a low-rent stylist for a makeover, but she receives cartoonish makeup and a weirdly proportioned outfit that make her look even worse.

Literature

• Animorphs: Cassie has zero fashion sense, both due to working with animals and not being that interested in it. Her best friend Rachel the Action Fashionista takes it on herself to fix this, to mixed results.
  • In on case, one guy barely noticed Cassie, another got her name wrong, another remembered her name but thought she'd gained weight, Jake thought she always looked great no matter the clothes, and Marco admitted that Rachel paid him for his over-the-top reaction (two dollars, but he'd have done it for one).
  • In another, Rachel helps Cassie look good for the beach.
  "He thinks I look dumpy," I muttered to Rachel under my breath.
  "Cassie, you are so hopeless. What you know about guys could fit on the head of a pin. Good grief. That is not a 'she looks dumpy' look. That's a 'whoa, she looks hot, but I better not show any reaction or she'll get offended' look."
• In The Berenstain Bears and the In-Crowd (1989), Sister gets put down by the popular new girl in town, Queenie McBear, who among other things wears an outfit that would have been trendy at the time of publication (purple stretch pants, a designer top, a yellow headband, and hoop earrings). Mama attempts to help Sister fit in with the "in-crowd" by buying her a pair of sharp jeans, a striped designer top and a headband. Sister puts it on, looks at herself in the mirror, and concludes: "It's very nice, and I really appreciate the new things. But there's one problem: It's just not me! I like me, and I wouldn't change me for a whole bunch of Queenie McBears!" She takes off the trendy new clothes, and puts her old outfit back on, "hair bow and all."
• In the Bridget Jones series, there were two books where Bridget got down to her goal weight of 116 lbs. from her much-maligned 125-138 lbs.; in both instances, it was remarked by people who knew Bridget (and consider her reasonably attractive) that she looked very ill and even remarked about how diminished her breasts look. Granted even after all this, Bridget still aches to be thin.
• Earth's Children: Deliberately invoked in The Shelters of Stone. Marona and her friends offer to give Ayla a makeover for her welcoming celebration. Ayla agrees, thinking they're just being nice and wanting to fit in with the Zelandonii. However, she realizes that the elaborate hairstyle they give her looks lopsided and unflattering, raising her suspicions. She decides to just wear her hair down and also firmly refuses to let them paint her face. Her suspicions are confirmed when she goes out to meet everyone and it's revealed Marona and co deliberately gave her inappropriate clothing to wear, and were trying to humiliate her further by giving her ridiculous hair and make-up.
• In a ca. 1968 book from the Mr. Mugs series of Canadian school readers, Cathy sees some pretty poodles on TV and gets the idea to make Mr. Mugs, the Old English Sheepdog, look like one. She puts his head fur in curlers and, pleased with the result, she lets Mr. Mugs look at himself in the mirror. He is not pleased. When her brother Pat sees Mr. Mugs looking like a poodle, he gets angry and immediately sets himself and some other boys to washing Mr. Mugs to get the curls out.
• In the X-Wing Series, Plourr Illo was a muscular Amazon-type with a shaved head, who sometimes wore a headpiece◊ that looked like an odd hairdo. A few arcs in, she was revealed to be a princess in exile. Her old nanny fussed over her head, bemoaning the long hair she used to have. Plourr and the Rogues went to her homeworld, where Plourr started letting her hair grow — and generally, she dressed the same as ever when not in a court function, and she kept her hair short.◊ But although this wasn't a terrible change, there was something about the bald aesthetic. Ah well.

Live-Action TV

• Jim of 8 Simple Rules runs into an old flame called Jackie and initially wonders why they didn't work out. Then after a few days with her, he remembers her trying to make him over to suit her wishes.
  "She tried to class me up; dress me in fine suits...I've always been a little rough around the edges and that's how I like it."
• One episode of All in the Family plays with this trope. Gloria, on a whim, buys herself a brunette wig and has some fun showing it off. Mike finds himself extremely attracted to her as a brunette and, when the two start getting frisky with each other, asks her to put it back on. Gloria is offended by the fact that he's only showing that much interest in her because of the wig and, refusing to be "the other woman" in her own marriage, sends him to the couch for the night.
• About half the makeovers in America's Next Top Model. There's always going to be a model who gets a makeover she (although after males were allowed into the contest, there were plenty of fails there too) doesn't like. Special note is Cassandra, who was forced to get a Mia Farrow esque short haircut, despised it and left the show when Tyra wanted to cut it even shorter.
• In The Dick Van Dyke Show episode "My Blonde Haired Brunette", Laura's friend Millie suggests that bleaching her hair would bring a spark back to her and Rob's relationship. Laura accedes to it, but doesn't like the result, though Millie thinks she looks good. Just then, Rob calls home from work and Laura, suspecting that he's on to something, asks him what he would think if she bleached her hair. He responds negatively. Rob insists on coming home early, having gotten the idea to take Laura out to dinner in order to make up for paying less attention to her. Laura and Millie then scramble to dye Laura's hair back; when Rob comes home, he finds Laura with her hair half brown, half blonde.
• Tim of Extreme Male Beauty gives himself a makeover, getting into shape in the space of eight weeks, shaving off his beard and getting a haircut. Both he and his wife hate the result, and he decides it wasn't worth it for what he originally wanted.
• In Glee, Finn breaks the bad news about Rachel's makeover to her, "I'm gonna say this as nice as I can, but you look like a... sad clown hooker".
• H₂O: Just Add Water has an episode where Rikki (normally a tomboy) dons a pretty red dress for a dinner party with Zane's family. This is symbolic of her ignoring the problems Zane and his father face to her and her friends. She later returns to the party in her normal tomboy clothes to deliver a "Reason You Suck" Speech to the rich guests.
• In an episode of Normal People, Marianne decides to give herself a makeover for a school fundraiser in the local nightclub. She puts on more makeup, lets down her hair and wears a Little Black Dress. While she does indeed look good, it attracts some unwelcome attention and leads to her being groped. She's reduced to tears, and it marks the end of her trying to fit in.
• The People v. O. J. Simpson: Marcia Clark becomes self-conscious of her place in the public eye and gets a new haircut, resulting in her rather infamous hair helmet. She confidently struts into court on the next day back, only for everyone to stare at her in confusion.
• A good portion of the makeunders in Snog, Marry, Avoid?. When we catch up with the subjects months later, many of them have reverted to their original styles - or a balance between that and what POD gave them.
• In the Colombian Telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea ("I am Betty the Ugly"), the eponymous "Ugly Betty" decides to have a makeover to better reflect her rise in self esteem (which came from having an affair with her handsome boss who was using her to scam his way to the top of his parents' company). However, the antagonists, which consisted of her boss' fiance, her secretary, and the head designer of the firm state the obvious: that she looks even more ridiculous now, and comment on how they feel sorry for her boyfriend that has to put up with her new appearance. She goes back to her more meek appearance when she realizes that they were mocking her behind her back.

Newspaper Comics

• For Better or for Worse had an arc in 1989 where Elly got the idea to cut her long, straight hair, as Georgia had done.^note On her website, Lynn Johnston has stated that this was in response to fans' suggestions that she shorten Elly's hair. But when she actually went to have it done, she was indecisive. The hairdresser suggested a (then still fashionable) body perm as an "easy change"; Elly assented to the idea but was not happy with the result, finding it to be very unlike herself. John claimed to like the perm (though there was a good chance that he was just being kind or diplomatic), giving her second thoughts. She later told Connie that she was not sure if she should keep it and Connie told her the look was right for her, but Elizabeth's frank (if unwelcome) comparison to the Bride of Frankenstein more or less settled the matter. Johnston drew Elly with some curl in her hair for about four months; she started drawing it straight again in September of that year and never gave her that look again.

Poetry

• In "The Year Santa Went Modern", a humorist narrative poem by Richard Armour,^note Published in "Family Circle" in 1963 and adapted into a picture book in 1964 Santa Claus, at his foreman elf Slick's instigation to modernize the way he does things, decides to go on a crash diet; Slick uses the opportunity to get the now slim jolly old elf to have a very stylish business suit sewn for him, and when this is done, easily convinces him to complete the update to his look by shaving off his beard. But when he sees the result, Santa realizes that the new look is antithetical to what he stands for. He instantly regrets the change but with only a week left until Christmas, he is compelled to do his rounds that year with a false beard and a pillow under his Santa suit while his beard and belly grow back.
• This poem by Monica Gilbey Bieber gruesomely deconstructs this trope. In the poem, an evil seamstress most likely meant to symbolize society forcibly sews a dress and mask into the skin of her victim, meant to symbolize the person being forced to change into someone s/he is not.

Web Video

• In The Nostalgia Chick, the Makeover Fairy (a character played by Elisa Hansen) is the very embodiment of this trope. Her makeovers always fail. This notably happens in Chick's review of "Grease", where the fairy tries out various looks on Nella but none of them make her more desirable, of "Grease 2", where she attempts the same on Todd in the Shadows, and "Jem and the Holograms", where she gives the Chick, Nella and herself 1980s glam rock-inspired looks. Only the fairy is pleased, and despite their protestations she leaves the Chick and Nella to remove the garish makeup and hair coloring themselves.

Western Animation

• As Told by Ginger has a Picture Day episode, where the protagonists decide to try wearing makeup to make their school pictures look better. Their inexperience with makeup results in a Cosmetic Catastrophe - and a whole new kind of embarrassing photos.
  Dodie: "I look like a ventriloquist's dummy!"
• Spoofed in the first part of the two-part finale to Clone High. Joan is given a makeover by Abe, using a Fangoria expy as reference, and comes out as a cyborg sexy nurse. Abe likes it, she hates it. Then she's made over by her blind stepfather, with predictable results. Finally Cleo steps in, putting her in a slinky dress, fishnets, high heels, teased hair, and heavy makeup. Joan hates this just as much as the others, but Abe goes nuts for it. Meanwhile, JFK makes Gandhi over in his own preppy style, which is... odd, to say the least. In the second part, JFK claims to prefer Joan in her typical casual getup, although he may have been lying to get into her pants.
• The Family Guy episode "Don't Make Me Over" features this twice, once as a one-off joke and once as the main plot. In the one-off joke, Peter, Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire offer to help Horace spruce up The Drunken Clam to attract more customers. Peter remarks that the work will be faster if they "do a 1980's 'Fixin' Stuff Up!' montage!" A jaunty 80's tune plays as the guys give the bar various improvements...which ends with the Clam looking absolutely horrible ("I think we made it worse."). In the main plot, Meg wins a free makeover at the mall which makes her prettier and popular; unfortunately, the fame goes to her head, makes her into an Alpha Bitch, and ultimately ends with her losing her virginity to Jimmy Fallon on Saturday Night Live. That event, plus the realization that "being pretty is too much work," has her back to her original appearance at the episode's end.
• In the Jem and the Holograms episode "A Change of Heart", Minx makes excessive attempts to be nice to people. One of her ideas is to "treat" Jerrica to a makeover. Jerrica basically gets manhandled and physically forced into it. The result is silly-looking but easily reversible (notably she is given garish makeup and a partial ponytail tied so as to stick up straight). The look is included in that episode's song "Too Much".
• One episode of The Powerpuff Girls (1998) has Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup getting hooked on comic books and deciding that to be "real" heroes, they have to emulate the characters from them by becoming "Liberty Belle," "Harmony Bunny," and "Mange," respectively. This coincides with yet another Kaiju attack on Townsville. When they first hear about it, it takes too long for them to don their new outfits to save the day; the next day, when the monster comes back, they can't get to the city fast enough: Blossom's Cool Car gets stuck in traffic, Bubbles's new method of travel—pogo stick—is incredibly slow—and "Mange only travels in darkness," so Buttercup just sits in the house until nightfall. Finally, on the third day the monster visits, they finally get the chance to fight the creature, but insist on using their "new" powers instead of their natural amazing abilities to strike back. Finally, the monster (who's named Steve and actually a really nice guy) starts talking and tells the Girls that he's incredibly disappointed in their display. When they protest, he explains that they don't need props, costumes, and gimmicks to be "real" heroes—their own commitment to justice and gifts do that. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup thank Steve, then promptly kick his behind (which is exactly what he wants—turns out the Kaiju that regularly attack Townsville are Punch Clock Villains who fully expect the Girls to win and wear their own brutal beatings as a badge of honor among monsterdom).
• Recess - Spinelli gives herself a makeover when she's entered against her will into a beauty contest. But she realises how untrue to herself she is being and, when she's supposed to be giving a speech about what she'd do if she wins, ignores the statements prepared to impress the judges and announces that this isn't who she really is. The judges then award her the winner for being herself.
• In an episode of The Weekenders two Alpha Bitches decide to give Tomboy Lor a makeover when they hear a guy likes her. Her friends are creeped out by it since she looks identical to the two of them and at the end, the boy states he prefers Lor as a Tomboy.

Other

• Rose McGowan in her autobiography talks about feeling pressured to hire a stylist to fit in while she was acting in Hollywood. She hated the look, feeling like "a plastic weirdo", and eventually rebelled by cutting all her hair off herself and retiring from acting.
• Bette Davis early on in her career faced the studio trying to turn her into Greta Garbo or Jean Harlow. The low point was a film called Fashions of 1934 - where she had to wear a blonde wig and false eyelashes. They tried to stop her taking the part of Mildred in Of Human Bondage - fearing that an unsympathetic part would destroy her glamorous image. It ended up being a true Star-Making Role for her.
• Paige botched her first tryout with WWE by trying to make herself fit the 'Diva Look'; she gave herself a makeover involving a tan, lightened hair and no piercings. On a second tryout, she went in her usual look; Raven Hair, Ivory Skin and piercings in. She was signed immediately. This process was dramatized in Fighting with My Family.
• Another wrestler example; Krissy Vaine wasn't signed by WWE for years because she was told she looked too similar to Torrie Wilson ("we already have one of those"). She darkened her hair to get signed but hated the look, and one day rebelled by going back to her original platinum blonde...and was then called up to television.
• One episode of the short-lived and controversial reality show The Swan had one of the contestants, Lorrie Arias, receive lots of plastic surgery from the show, including breast implants, a face-lift and a nose job. Unlike the other women who participated in the episode and loved their results, Arias was horrified and demanded to be changed back to her former self. In the years since, she had a nervous breakdown (brought on by the show not preparing her for the results by not offering any therapy to her and being left in isolation, in addition to her pre-existing body dysmorphia disorder), gained a substantial amount of weight and became agoraphobic.