English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions 

BEAUTY and APPEARANCE

Idioms relating to beauty and physical appearance   
from:  'cut a dash'   to:  'vertically challenged'

• cut a dash
  • If a person cuts a dash, they make a striking impression by their appearance and attractive clothes.
    "Wearing his uniform, my grandfather cut a dash on his wedding day."
    
    
• deck out
  • If you deck out someone or something, you dress or decorate them in a special way.
    "Paul decked out his car for the occasion."
    
    
• dressed to kill
  • When someone, especially a woman, is dressed to kill, they are wearing very fashionable or glamorous clothes intended to attract attention.
    "She arrived at the reception dressed to kill."
    
    
• dressed up to the nines
  • Someone who is dressed up to the nines is wearing very smart or glamorous clothes.
    "Caroline must be going to a party - she's dressed up to the nines."
    
    
• down at heel
  • A person who is down-at-heel is someone whose appearance is untidy or neglected because of lack of money.
    "The down-at-heel student I first met became a successful writer."
    
    
• face like a bulldog chewing a wasp
  • To say that someone has a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp means that you find them very unattractive because they have a screwed-up ugly expression on their face.
    "Not only was he rude but he had a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp!"
    
    
• face only a mother could love
  • This is a humoristic way of saying that someone is ugly or unattractive.
    "The poor guy has a face only a mother could love."
    
    
• face that would stop a clock
  • This is a humoristic way of saying that someone is ugly or unattractive.
    "You'll recognize him - he's tall and thin, with a face that would stop a clock!"
    
    
• five o'clock shadow
  • This expression refers to a patch of stubble on the face of a man who hasn't shaved for at least a day.
    "He looked tired and had a five o'clock shadow."
    
    
• not a hair out of place
  • To say that someone does not have a hair out of place means that their appearance is perfect.
    "Angela is always impeccably dressed - never a hair out of place!"
    
    
• like something the cat dragged in
  • If you compare a person or thing to something the cat dragged in, you think that they look dirty, untidy or generally unappealing.
    "My teenage son often looks like something the cat dragged in."
    
    
• look a sight
  • If a person looks a sight, their appearance is awful, unsuitable or very untidy.
    "She looks a sight in that dress!"
    
    
• look like a million dollars
  • If you look like a million dollars, you look extremely good.
    "With a tan and a new hairstyle she looked like a million dollars!"
    
    
• mutton dressed as lamb
  • This expression refers to a middle-aged woman who tries to look younger by dressing in clothes designed for younger people.
    "The style doesn't suit her - it has a mutton-dressed-as-lamb effect on her!"
    
    
• pretty as a picture
  • Someone who is (as) pretty as a picture is very attractive or appealing in appearance.
    "The young bride looked (as) pretty as a picture in her beautiful dress."
    
    
• (all) skin and bone
  • If someone is all skin and bone, they are very thin or too thin.
    "After trekking in the Himalayas, he was all skin and bone."
    
    
• thin on the top
  • If someone, usually a man, is thin on the top, they are losing their hair or going bald.
    "Dad's gone a bit thin on the top in the last few years."
    
    
• (as) ugly as sin
  • The expression as ugly as sin is used to refer to people or things that are considered to be very unattractive.
    "Have you seen the new neighbour's dog? It's as ugly as sin!"
    
    
• vertically challenged
  • This term is a humoristic way of referring to someone who is not very tall.
    "High shelves are difficult for vertically challenged shoppers."