Return to Glamour Land

I am going back to New York for a visit in a month and I must say I am terrified.  Why terrified you ask?  A friend suggested that I read this article in the Times called What it feels like having a Manhattan makeover, so now I am terrified. Ok, I am not terrified, just a bit nervous.

In a nutshell,  it is the story of a frumpy British girl that turns into a glamazon while living in New York.  I lived in Manhattan from the time I left home to go to college at age 18 until I moved to London, when I was quite a bit older.  Let’s say I left my twenties in NYC.

I was not really a true glamazon when I lived there as it was before the whole size zero thing and Sex and the City but I was a lot more glamorous than I am now. I think London has given me a make-under.

My beloved and I are going back to the homeland for a visit and possibly an engagement party which means seeing people that remember when I was on the right side of polished. Therefore, it is battle stations for me. How do you do a re-glamorization on a budget?  You get a little help from your friends.

My first port of call was Twitter, where I found Groupon  and Wahanda which are both fantastic resources for spa deals so I booked a facial treatment at a wonderful 65% discount from Groupon and a stress freeing massage from Wahanda at 71% discount.  What is better then that? The prices made the whole trying to be a glamazon, a lot more affordable.

My next step was to dig out my old teeth whitening trays and ordered some more whitening goop off Ebay.  I must say this whitening malarkey has gotten a lot less expensive than it was 10 years ago.

The tail end of my makeover is about scheduling – I have started sewing class with the plan to make two dresses before I go so I will be suitably dressed.  I have cleared my evenings to work on sewing projects and to put anything I can on Ebay to raise extra spending money.

And for the final touches – I have made my hair and nail appointments for the day before I go, which means I might be looking a bit shaggy with large roots in the up coming weeks.

I am hoping that after all this work I will not let myself slide back into being a wee bit sloppy, as opposed to the super groomed NYC gal I am on the inside. I have found that there are quite a few ways to be well groomed on the less expensive side, if you look for them.

Do you have any tips on getting the well groomed look on the cheap?  Please leave me a comment or drop me an email. Sorry if this post is a bit London/UK centric but I don’t really know about deals elsewhere.  If you know of some other amazing deals, give me a shout and I will write a post about them.