The Glamour Hangover

Coping with post-even burnout, dopamine crashes, and the emotional aftermath of high-prep beauty moments.

Feeling the emotional crash after a big event? This post explores the glamour hangover, beauty burnout, and the quiet come down after pageants, photoshoots, and high prep moments. It is okay to feel it.

There’s this little window of time after a big event where everything feels still, but not the peaceful kind of still. The kind that hums in your bones and leaves you feeling a little hollow. It doesn’t matter if it was a pinup contest, a photoshoot, or just a long anticipated night out. Once the glitter settles, there’s often a quiet crash. A glamour hangover.

It’s a real thing. A post event dopamine drop. A beauty burnout. That foggy, flat feeling you get after you’ve poured everything into getting ready, showing up, meeting people, and being fully on… and then suddenly, it’s over.

Nobody really talks about the emotional prep that goes into these kinds of events. It’s not just about hair spray and lashes. It’s the curation of a look, the anticipation, the mental rehearsal. It’s putting on a version of yourself that doesn’t always get to take center stage.

And when it clicks, when your outfit lands, your lipstick holds up, and you feel that moment of being truly seen, it feels like magic. You shine a little brighter. You laugh a little louder. And for a while, you forget the weight you’ve been carrying.

But then comes the crash.

You peel off the lashes. You unpin the curls. You take off the heels and the shapewear and the version of yourself you crafted for that day. The group chat slows down. The buzz dies off. You wake up the next morning wondering what to do with all that leftover adrenaline.

That’s the part no one warns you about. The emotional toll of performance beauty. The post glamour stillness that can feel like sadness. And it’s not because anything went wrong. Sometimes, it’s because everything went right.

For me, that crash shows up like a kind of post event burnout. A dip in motivation. An ache to relive what already passed. I try to push through it sometimes… clean the house, scroll too much, throw myself into something else… but honestly, it helps more when I just name it.

It’s okay to feel a little off after the high of being seen, celebrated, and surrounded by people. It’s okay to feel tired after showing up in your most curated form. It makes sense. That version of you took effort. Heart. Intention.

And the part of you that exists without lashes and lipstick? She deserves to rest.

If you’ve felt that after the show ache, the post pageant stillness, or the dopamine crash after a big event, you’re not alone. Let yourself feel it. Let yourself come down gently. You’ll find your way back to the mirror when you’re ready.

If you’ve felt that after-the-show ache, the post pageant stillness, or the dopamine crash after a big event, you’re not alone. Let yourself feel it. Let yourself come down gently. And when you’re ready, here are a few ways I’ve learned to soften the crash without pushing it away:

• Give yourself a low-pressure ritual. A cozy bath, a slow coffee, a favorite playlist… not to reset, but to land softly.
• Name the feeling out loud. Glamour hangover. Post event drop. It sounds silly, but calling it what it is helps take away the shame.
• Capture the moment in a way that honors it. Write it down. Print a photo. Say what you loved about it before your brain moves on.
• Don’t rush into reinvention. There’s pressure to plan the next thing immediately. You don’t have to. Let the afterglow last a bit.
• Remember, this is part of the process. The crash doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you cared. It means you showed up.

You don’t have to fix it right away. But you can tend to it. The beauty wasn’t fake. The moment wasn’t too much. You just need a little softness on the other side.

xoxo
-S