How to Glow Up in 7 Days (or less)

How to Glow Up: Create Your Plan to Glow up In a Week or Less

Looking for a change? Want to look good? Feel good? Make someone feel stupid for breaking up with you? Get out of a funk? Or just want to level up?

It’s time for a glow up.

If you’re looking for a quick way to boost your confidence and embrace a new, improved version of yourself, a quick glow up is just what you need. In 7 days (or less), you can get that glow and feel like the best version of yourself.

So let’s dive into some tips on how to glow up in just one week!

Here’s the plan:

First, we’re going to go over the basics of the glow up, what it encompasses.

Next, we’ll cover the Glow Up Pyramid and figure out what level you’re on.

We’re also going to assess where you are and where you want to improve.

Then we’ll cover some activities that’ll have the most impact for the 7 days we have.

Finally, you’ll come up with a plan so that by the end of the week, you’ll look and feel fabulous.

Step 1: Assess Yourself

The first step to any successful transformation is to assess where you currently are. Take a moment to sit down and reflect on various aspects of your life such as your physical appearance, mental well-being, relationships, and personal goals.

Where are you in each of the current categories?

Notebook kinda person? Find a blank page and draw three columns. Down the first column list out the categories below. In the second column write out your current state. In the third column, your goal state.

Health and Wellness

Think about your overall health and well-being. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating a balanced diet and staying hydrated? How about exercise – are you incorporating physical activity into your daily routine? If you’re not, is this something you want to start? If you’re already there, are you ready to take it to the next level?

Physical Appearance

Start by taking a critical look at yourself in the mirror. What areas do you want to improve? Is it your skin, hair, nails, or overall look? Write down a list of things you would like to change or enhance.

Fashion and Style

Now let’s move onto your external appearance – particularly your fashion choices. Take a look at your wardrobe and identify any pieces that you don’t feel confident or comfortable in. Also, think about the style that you want to achieve – is it casual, chic, or edgy? Have you had any body changes lately that require a new approach to dressing yourself?

Personality and Mindset

Your inner self is just as important as your outward appearance. Take some time to reflect on your personality traits and mindset. Do you have any limiting beliefs or negative thought patterns? Are there certain areas of your life where you would like to grow and improve? Are you a kind person? Could you work on your positivity and acceptance?

Mental Well-Being

Next, evaluate your current mental health. Are you feeling stressed, anxious, depressed, or unmotivated? Identify any negative thoughts and feelings that may be holding you back.

Relationships

Think about the people in your life and how those relationships make you feel. Are there any toxic or draining relationships that you need to let go of? Or are there people who bring positivity and support into your life that you should spend more time with? Do you have close friends and/or family you can confide in?

Personal Goals

Lastly, reflect on your personal goals and where you currently stand in achieving them. Are there any specific areas of growth or improvement you would like to focus on during this glow up process? If you already have goals, how are they progressing?

Areas for Glowing Up

Based on your assessment, you can now identify specific areas for improvement during your glow up journey.

Here are some suggestions:

Beauty

There are so many things you can do to glow up your appearance. Women (and men) have been talking about this stuff for thousands of years. From a new hair cut to changing nail polish, or simply keeping your skin moisturized or finding your signature scent, the options are endless.

Here are a few categories of beauty things you can do alter your outer appearance drastically (for the better) :

• Hair care
• Healthy skin
• Makeup
• Nail care
• Brighter smile

Fashion and Style

Perhaps one of the easiest elements of a glow up is making sure what you put on your body is flattering to your body type. Seriously, the right outfit can make a huge difference to not only how you look, but how you carry yourself. Finding your personal style may take some time, but learning about how to wear clothes for your body type can take days or hours with the help of YouTube.

Elements of fashion and style that you may want to focus on in this glow up include:

• Outfits, apparel, and trends
• Accessories
• Shoes
• Jewelry
• Posture

Health

Health is wealth, and if you want to look like you are well taken care of, you first must take care of your self. This means eating healthy and exercise. It’s basic advice you’ve heard before, but it’s the category with the biggest impact to a long-term glow up.

• Fitness
• Nutrition
• Hydration

Personal Growth

Glow ups are a time for self improvement and emotional transformation. Self-care isn’t all taking baths and time to go to the salon. It’s also about personal growth.

So a glow up that focuses on beauty is great, but if you’re still ugly on the inside, well…you catch our drift.

Some elements needed to glow up mentally include:

• Mental health
• Interests, hobbies, and goals
• Traits and attributes
• Mindset
• Confidence and self-love
• Goals
• Positive self talk

Build Your Glow Up Plan

How beauty builds

Think of approaching a glow up like building a pyramid. The first thing you need is a good base. If you don’t have the base, you can’t get to the next level. 

In the case of a glow up, your base is your health and wellness. Without taking care of your basic physical and mental health needs, it’s difficult to achieve a true glow up.

Once you have a good foundation in place, you can then focus on enhancing your appearance and style.

Here’s a tip to keep in mind when approaching the glow up pyramid: before continuing on to the next level of the pyramid, make sure you have your current level on lock.

Make sense? Great! Now let’s build your glow up plan.

Here’s what to do:

How to glow up: Assess, select, and schedule

Step 1: Assess where you currently are and identify areas for improvement.

Where are you on the pyramid?

Which elements of your current level would have the largest impact on you?

For example, if you haven’t change your hair and cut it at home for the last five years, maybe focusing on getting a new haircut or doing some hair treatments or hair masks may be a great use of your time.

Skin looking super dull lately? Maybe it’s time to try a new skincare routine, slough off those dead skin cells and work on uncovering that glowing skin you know is under there.

Been in a funk lately? Take some time to focus on your mental health and mental wellness. Maybe throw a new outfit in there that will make you want to get out of the house for like, the first time in two weeks.

Got healthy hair, skin, nice looking nails, and feeling really good? Perhaps making an appointment for lash extensions or going to see your cosmetic dermatologist could help you fix what you may feel are problem areas.

Below you’ll find a list of activities. Each organized into various levels of the glow up pyramid and then into categories.

You’re going to pick 1-2 of them to focus on each day, based on your assessment and the suggestions above.

If you feel you’ve already got level 1 activities down pat, feel free to move to level two. Done with level 2? Go to level 3.

Like most people and kinda have pieces of each down? Select the areas you’d like to improve on each level.

Just please for goodness sakes, do NOT go to the top level unless you’ve done it all from the lower levels and you have the financial means to do so and you’re doing it for yourself and not someone else.

List of Glow Up Activities

We’ll offer some suggestions for each activity you can do, ranging from Good to Better to Best. Pick which ones fit best with your available budget, motivation levels, and time.

Level 1: Form Your Glow Up Base 

Form Your Glow Up Base

Creating a foundation for your glow up begins with a focus on mental and physical health. This is the bedrock upon which all other elements of your transformation will be built.

Prioritizing your well-being means nourishing your body with proper nutrition, hydrating regularly, and committing to regular physical exercise.

Equally important is nurturing your mental health. This involves practicing mindfulness, engaging in activities you love, and maintaining a positive self-talk. This basic level ensures you are well-equipped to handle the journey ahead and sets you up for success as you move towards more cosmetic activities.

Remember, a true glow up radiates from the inside out!

Just a heads up, these should be a long-term focus of any glow up (or anyone who isn’t even doing a glow up, for that matter). They will take more than 7 days. But 7 days of positive steps will put you on a trajectory that can seriously improve yourself over time.

The Non-negotiables

If you want to know how to glow up, know that there are some very basics you’ll need to get started. Mainly getting enough sleep and enough water.

Sleep

Sleep is the basis for everything else on the triangle. Who wants to exercise when all they want to do is sleep? Not us. Get your beauty sleep.

Hydration

This one is so easy, most of y’all should already have this down pat.

Water is the most important nutrient in your body, so staying hydrated is crucial for proper functioning of your body and mind. But you can overdo it. Overhydration is a real thing.

Other Level 1 Activities:

Level 2: Enhancing Your Appearance

These glow up activities focus on building a healthy base. Meaning a body at a weight that suits you, a diet that is sustainable and good for you, an environment you feel safe in, and taking care of your basic hygiene needs.

Healthy weight

If you’re glowing up for purely aesthetic reasons, ensuring you’re at a healthy weight is the one activity with the most impact to your overall appearance.

• Good: Go for a walk
• Better: Lift some heavy weights then drink a protein shake
• Best: Start a fitness regime like Sweat, Starting Strength, or couch to 5K and stick with it

Healthy nutrition

• Good: Cut back on sugar, alcohol, refined foods
• Better: start tracking your food intake with Lose It or MyFitness Pal
• Best: Cut out sugar, alcohol, refined foods

Basic Hygiene: 

• Good: Wash your face, brush your teeth, clean your body, wash your hair
• Better: Floss and brush your teeth, shampoo and deep condition your hair
• Best: Scrub between your toes, wash your belly button, scrub behind your ears

Environment

• Good:  Tidy up for 5 minutes
• Better: Do a power hour of cleaning
• Best: Deep clean that area you’ve been avoiding

Level 2: Glow up Essentials

Level two is where things start to get more “cosmetic”. Level 2 activities include anything from treating specific skin concerns to quenching that dry and damaged hair to eating more healthy fats or switching your morning coffee for a green tea.

Skincare

• Good: Wash your face with a gentle cleanser in the morning and wear sunscreen
• Better: Do a 7 step skincare routine that matches your skin type
• Best: Get a facial

Makeup

• Good: Toss out old and expired products
• Better: Watch a youtube tutorial on eye makeup for your eye shape and try it
• Best: Hit up a makeup store and have them do your makeup for you (although many stores do require a minimum spend after such a service)

Fashion

• Good: Donate an old outfit that is doing absolutely nothing for you anymore
• Better: Learn your body shape & how to dress for it
• Best: Create 5 outfits from your closet that match the best way to style your body type

Hairstyling

• Good: Properly shampoo your hair, condition, apply leave-in conditioner and hair oil
• Better: Cut dead ends yourself or go get a trim
• Best: Go for a professional hair cut, color, and style

Hair removal

• Good: Exfoliate and shave
• Better: Head to the salon for some facial hair removal. Buh-bye upper lip mustache! 
• Best: Contact a dermatologist and make an appointment for laser hair removal

Nails

• Good: Trim and shape your nails
• Better: Perform an at-home manicure
• Best: Get a professional manicure

Accessorizing

• Good: Wear a necklace that matches your neckline
• Better: Play with mixing metals, texture, and quantities
• Best: Coordinate a theme with your accessories to match your outfit

Smile

• Good: Brush and floss
• Better: Schedule your 6 month cleaning
• Best: Apply teeth whitening strips (being sure to follow the directions)

Interests, hobbies, and goals

• Good: Spend an hour doing something that interests you
• Better: read a book about something that interests you
• Best: Sign up for a course on something that interests you

Personality traits and attributes

• Good: Write 10 things you like about yourself
• Better: Ask someone else to tell them 10 things they like about you
• Best: Journal on some shadow work prompts to help you uncover areas for improvement

Mental wellness

• Good: Reduce stress with a hot bath, complete with candles, music, and bubbles
• Better: Eliminate any negative self talk for x hours (or days, or even the whole week)
• Best: Do an energy audit and list out the things that give you energy and those that drain you in your everyday life. Cut out as many items that drain you as feasible for the next 7 days. and do 3 things that give you energy.

Relationships

• Good: Say a little prayer or send some good vibes to someone you care about
• Better: Text someone that you love them
• Best: Write a love letter. And actually send it.

Level 3: Intermediate Glow Up Activities

Already got these?

Here are some ideas for “next level” glow up ideas to glow up:

• Go get a spray tan or apply some self tanner
• Microblading
• Lash extension & lift
• Learn the best way to administer your skin routine (like applying serum the right way)
• Learn to be enjoy what you already have
• Schedule a laser hair removal sesh
• Hone your nighttime skincare routine
• Repeat your positive affirmations daily
• Go see a cosmetic dermatologist for a consultation
• Eyebrow threading
• Surround yourself with only positive people
• Get a hair cut and color
• Start doing shadow work
• Improve your scalp health
• Do a color analysis
• Start a gratitude journal

Level 4: Advanced Glow Up Activities

These are things like cosmetic procedures and surgeries. Until you totally max out all of the other levels of the pyramid, please don’t think about these. Still, it’s OK to know that they exist. In some cases, they can be the best way to rid yourself of things like deep acne scarring or heavy sun damage (if you want to do more than cover it up with makeup). 

Create a Glow Up Plan

Now that you have assessed yourself, it’s time to create a plan of action. Use the ideas above to get you started. Do as much (or as little) as you have the time and/or budget for, and you’ll see a difference in no time. Maybe even as little as 7 days.

Of course, if you have longer than 7 days to glow up, we’d recommend doing so. But remember, this is a long-term journey. And the personal growth stuff should not be discounted.

Long term glow ups are worth it but they don’t happen overnight.

Here’s an example glow up plan example:

• Day 1: Start off with a self-care day. Take a relaxing bath, do a face mask, or try out a new hobby that brings you joy.
• Day 2: Focus on improving your physical appearance by trying out a new makeup look or getting a professional haircut.
• Day 3: Incorporate exercise into your routine, whether it’s going for a run, taking a workout class, or practicing yoga.
• Day 4: Evaluate your wardrobe and experiment with different outfits that make you feel confident and comfortable.
• Day 5: Focus on your mindset and practice positive affirmations to boost self-love and confidence.
• Day 6: Spend quality time with positive and supportive people in your life.
• Day 7: Reflect on how far you’ve come and continue to prioritize self-care, personal growth, and healthy habits for long-term glowing up.

This is just a sample and really depends on where you are on your beauty journey.

Your 7 day glow up will look different than someone else glow up plan. And that’s OK.

How to Glow up – Inside and Out

A glow up is a journey that takes time and effort, but the results are worth it.

We hope you use this guide to create your own personalized glow up plan.

Remember to focus on progress, not perfection. You deserve to feel confident, happy, and fulfilled in all aspects of your life. Keep striving for your best self, both inside and out.

Start today with small steps towards a better version of yourself and watch how you transform into a more confident, healthy, and happy individual. Inner glow is just as important as outer glow.

Remember, the most important thing is to love and accept yourself every step of the way. You’ve got this!