10 Things That Cheapen Your Appearance

Small details make you look cheaper than you are: oversized lashes, overfilled lips, cakey foundation, fake-looking brows, fussy nails, very sweet perfume, oxidised jewelry, pilling and pet hair, over-elaborate hair, and an anxious attitude. Almost every one signals a lack of confidence, and almost every one has an easy fix.

When I worked as a lawyer on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, looking cheap was not an option, and I watched extremely capable women get quietly disrespected over one or two small details.

Here are ten of them, the little things that make you look cheaper than you are, with the fix for each.

Why do oversized eyelash extensions cheapen your look?

Because while lash extensions can open the eyes and look feminine, too many, too long, and too thick tip from feminine into vulgar, and they are obviously not your own. The signal they send is a lack of confidence, a sense that you are not happy with your natural beauty, and that quietly costs you: people tend to trust an unsure presentation less, in professional settings and personal ones alike.

The moment you let go of the unrealistically long lashes, you tend to get more attention and a warmer response, not less, because ease with your own face reads as confidence.

Real expensiveness is mostly confidence.

Why avoid big lips with heavy contour and gloss?

Because that look belongs to the flashier, newer aesthetic of wealth, the one built on showing in every way that you have made it, rather than the understated, long-established kind of expensive that reads as quietly old-money. A heavily drawn lip line with lots of gloss signals the louder register straight away, so if you are going for understated, it works against you.

Instead, choose a lip liner almost the same colour as your lips, using the slightly darker inner edge as your reference, and if you like shine, reach for a lip balm rather than a gloss, since balm gives a healthy glow where gloss reads as plasticky.

Why does cakey foundation in the wrong shade look cheap?

Because it breaks the illusion of effortlessness, the sense that this is simply what your skin looks like. To do foundation the expensive way, match it to the colour of your neck so there is no line between face and neck, choose brands with a wide shade range, and test the match in natural light rather than under store lighting, stepping outside with a mirror if you can.

Apply a little at first and build only where you need it, and if you look pale once the shade is right, add the relief back with bronzer, highlighter, and blush rather than more base. Do not try to erase every imperfection, because that is the part that looks artificial; a few freckles or the occasional spot actually read as more confident and more expensive.

Why can laminated eyebrows cheapen your look?

Because, popular as they are in American beauty culture for looking polished, from a French point of view they often read as too fake, landing in the same bracket as false lashes and overfilled lips. Poorly done, with sharp angles, an off colour, or a stencilled look, they cheapen the face twice over, looking artificial and suggesting you could not judge what would actually suit you.

Instead, dye your brows if they are too light, have them shaped well by a professional or learn to do it and comb them, and fill them only where needed. Very sparse brows can take a little lamination worked into your natural ones, like a gentle extension, and if you need tattooed brows for any reason, choose your artist with great care, since that choice makes or breaks the result.

Why do elaborate manicures look cheap?

Because both the shape and the colour of your nails carry connotations, and a squared or stiletto shape in a bold, fleshy colour, or covered in nail art, tips into a gimmicky, childish register rather than an expensive one. The pairing is what matters: short nails with red, for instance, reads as understated with a hint of sexy, a nice small tweak if the rest of the outfit is not.

To play it safe, a short or short-almond nail in a nude shade always looks expensive and lifts any look. If you love nail art, keep it to a single accent nail, which shows a little personality while staying polished.

Why does a very sweet perfume cheapen the impression?

Because sweet, candy-like scents carry a girlish connotation, even when the perfume itself is expensive, so on a grown woman they can read as leaning on youth rather than self-possession. Florals are a safer, more expensive-smelling choice, and if you love a sweet note, use it only in small doses.

The expensive way to wear scent is to leave no trail. Rather than turning heads across a room, let only those close to you notice it: one spray and walk through it, or a little on the wrist, so the perfume is a quiet surprise rather than an announcement.

Why do green marks from jewelry give you away?

Because there is nothing wrong with buying inexpensive jewelry, but the cheaper pieces often oxidise over time and leave green marks on your skin, around the neck or ears, which is exactly the tell that the jewelry was cheap. When it is new you cannot see the difference; the marks appear later.

The fix is simply to notice it: retire pieces once they start to mark your skin, and lean on a few that do not, whatever they cost.

Why do pilled clothes or pet hair look cheap?

Because even a genuinely expensive piece looks cheap the moment it pills or carries pet hair, and it gives off a more neglected impression than you deserve. Happily, both are quick to fix.

For pilling, run a small fabric shaver over the knit to remove the bobbles, or use a de-pilling comb that strips them away. For pet hair or dust, a lint roller over your coat before you leave the door makes a real difference, since cat hair will cheapen even the finest wool coat.

Why do overly elaborate hairstyles cheapen your look?

Because an elaborate style breaks the effortless impression you are trying to create, and it can suggest you feel you need to be noticed, that without all of it you would not be enough. That, again, reads as a lack of confidence in your natural self.

The fix is the easiest of all. Let your hair simply look clean, healthy, and cut recently enough that it does not look like you cannot get to a hairdresser, even if the trim came from your mother or your sister.

How can your attitude undo everything else?

Because you can get all the rest right and still undermine it with how you carry yourself. Watch for fidgeting, over-explaining, and seeking approval, in your words and in your energy, because an expensive woman is confident not only in how she looks but in what she thinks, and so she is not anxious about whether she is saying the right thing. If you are still building that confidence, the most useful thing you can do is to say less, which calms the fidgety urge and reads as composed.

At the same time, do not be too contrived. Real ease is not stiffness, the held shoulders and frozen posture of someone afraid to move; if you need to push your hair off your face, just do it. Trying too hard to look composed reads as discomfort, as though you do not belong, which is the opposite of what you want.