How to Look Great without Spending a Dime

How to Look Great without Spending a Dime

by: Caterina Christakos

It’s important to develop a smile that delivers a balanced message between “I’m happy you noticed me,” and “I wasn’t born yesterday so don’t even think that you just won round one.”

In other words, you want a smile that is bright, alive, and attractive without making you look like a grinning idiot. And that’s easier to do than you might think.

A good smile is like a good makeup concealer; it can cover up a face that might not be as attractive as you wish it was, or it can draw attention away from some other part of your body that you don’t necessarily want him looking at for the moment.

Developing a good smile is just like developing any other character trait. It takes practice and here’s how you get it. Go into any room where there is a mirror and where you can be alone. Bedroom, bathroom, it doesn’t matter. Then stand in front of the mirror and smile. Smile wide, smile big, smile hard. Make funny faces and laugh at yourself. Think about funny things.

Notice the difference when you smile naturally over something humorous and when you force a smile to appear. Smile until your face hurts, take a break and then start smiling again.

Try to spend at least 30 minutes every day practicing your smile until you can paint it on your face with no effort at all.

If you can’t hit your stride and are unable to find a smile that “works” seek some help from people who smile for a living. Seriously, go to the magazine store, buy some glamour and Hollywood magazines, and bring them back with you to your smile room. Leaf through the magazines until you find a smile you like and then practice, practice, practice until that smile appears whenever you need it.