My Magazine Makeover

What an odd feeling to open up a magazine in the supermarket and see yourself leering out from it.  I shut it up quickly and surreptitiously took it to the till.  Although, I look quite glam don't I?  About as far removed as I actually look today, a little under the weather and feeling sorry for myself lolling about on the sofa in my chav suit.  Yes, it's all sweat pants and scrunchies here today.

Way back in the summer, I responded to a Facebook request from Woman's Own asking for makeover victims volunteers.  To be honest, I forgot all about it, until out of the blue, I got a call inviting me up to London.

It turned out, the date was my daughter's first day at school so it seemed like a good way of taking my mind off thinking about whether she was coping.

A short stroll from Blackfriars station and I arrived at their plush offices. However, the 'magic' is done in the basement so I was whisked off to the bowels of the building.

They took the most minging photo of me ever for their 'before' shot and after a brief chat with the stylists and magazine editor, the team got to work on me.

And boy did they work on me!  My hair was cut, coloured, curled and blow dried. My make-up was applied, false eyelashes glued, nails painted, eyebrows plucked, cheek bones highlighted...

I can't say I honestly enjoyed the make-up experience.  Given that I have a morbid fear of anyone going near my eyes, it was pretty much torture for me.  Did I mention I also hate having my photo taken?  I bet the poor loves where wondering what on earth to do with me.

BUT.  The end SO justified the means.

Sadly as it was a hair makeover, they only needed a head and shoulder shot, which meant I couldn't play dress-up with the rails and rails of garments and Marcos-esque collection of shoes.

But I did come away with a lovely set of photos, and amazing new hair colour and had a great day.

I totally underestimated how many people were involved, and how many hours went in to filling just one page of a weekly magazine.  All credit to these guys.

If you want to apply for your own makeover, they are looking for people right now.

And if you fancy buying the magazine, it's the 23rd November bumper edition, out now.

Thank you so much to the Woman's Own team.