Twelve months on, does life still feel beautiful?
No small part of the success of the experience is the network of close, new friendships for women whose low self-esteem limited their social lives. Alison and Helen Hobbs from Derby have become best friends; Sandra spent new year with Jennifer Craighead in Perth, whose little boy was teased because of his mummy’s “Bugs Bunny” front teeth, but no longer. They all talk easily about each other as old friends do — indulgent and admiring as they laugh at how one member of the gang ditched her partner after surgery and found a toy boy. “She came back a bombshell and buggered off. Good for her!” They are all united on why they applied for the makeover: nothing to do with wanting to look like movie stars, just the need to be normal, functioning women, able to smile and kiss and talk without putting a hand over their face, and sit in a car at a junction without worrying how their nose looked to traffic approaching from the side. Who can blame them? Female beauty is a prime determinant of life c
