coming back to the OP The description in the red dwarf books when Lister first meets Kochanski springs to mind "It wasn't quite a face to launch a thousand ships, may be more like two ships and a small yacht"
I'm actually writing a novel about an omniscient view about her physical attractiveness, is that okay? I think its very rough, but I just wrote it. ineffably irresistible, you would be impacted one way and another by her beauty, when you saw her well behaved doll face bewitchingly blooming into a million shards.
First person narration seems to permit appearance descriptions broader levels of embellishment. The character may be one who is not creative with their words: describing the one who captured their interest in a very 'matter of fact' way: or they may be extremely creative in their description of another, utilizing metaphor to express the depth of emotional impact in a way that the former 'factual' style is incapable of portraying. A more factual way could sound a bit like this... "She was gorgeous! A perfect hourglass! She had on a black dress, and sported long black hair. She presented herself confident and cold, but had a subtle gentleness in her eyes. She moved toward me through the gaping crowd like something unnatural: hiding unknown, perhaps life-long intentions for me!" If they're more creative and emotionally expressive, they may sound something like this... "Of angelic countenance, and abundant curves with modest inclinations, appeared one adorned with fabric and filaments of finest ebony silk! Of statuesque grandeur, and dichotomous grace, she moved to me through the fading, gasping crowd: a breath-stealing ghost of deviant posture, set upon haunting me forever!"
I have often thought it might be nice to write a description of a beautiful woman other than my wife. But (probably fortunately for me) I have yet to find a way to coax or inveigle one into a story. "You can be the main character, the star!" Hmm, they say. "You can have an arc with... a goal, and, and a change of attitude!" Hmmmm. "You can have a love-interest, who's brave, and strong, and has their life all worked out - I promise you, they're asbolutely unlike any of the other characters!" Human beauty is relational and has context. It's impossible to make a character in a book beautiful to the reader. Erotica can hijack the "I am, I want" paradigm to make the reader form a mental image (in all likelihood of their own internalized other - which as everyone knows is usually their mum in men, and George Clooney in women). But it's a mistake for most fiction to play that trick. This leaves two directions of travel: writing beautiful descriptions of women ; and writing women as beautiful to other characters around them. Other posts not too far away have already exceeded anything I could do about the former, so I'll keep to the latter. Readers have been taught to detect virgin/whore dichotomies in descriptions of women (a theory which either Google or the patriarchy has prevented me from finding any specific attribution for). It's hugely unhelpful to writers - and I wonder if it's even somewhere in the background of the OP's "Jenny is stunning." Stunning for whom and why. More helpful might be to consider the characters' respective life-cycles and relationship histories. Are they looking at the moment? One of them? The other? Both? Neither? What are they seeking. What is their logic of objectification? And how do they socialize it? A problem with books is they crystallize and leave behind them permanent impressions of characters' throwaway unconscious functioning. On some occasion when I went to the shop in the last three weeks, I passed a beautiful girl at the bus-stop ('aha' thinks the reader). If I could still have written a description of her by the time I got to the shop, though, there would be something wrong. Any crowd is full of to-us beautiful people - the problem with books is they tend to treat unconscious, non-verbal parts of the human machine as verbal, therefore-conscious, therefore-significant - and therefore worthy of recording. But what to do in the specific case of a meeting where A is going to be beautiful to B for the story? I'd suggest to just dump all the pre-processing. The unconscious comparisons we make at bus-stops of faces to our internalized ideal mates don't add anything to the story - we can skip to the character's conscious realization that they might react somehow to this other person's to-them beauty. Which is a variation on show-not-tell isn't it? Young Adults falling in love at first sight: we blush, everything around us narrows, we have to look away from them. That looking away is a character choice. Record it for the reader. But also explain it. Why them, there and then? There's nothing random in it - it's as artfully composed in real life, and generates our stories, just as in fiction. But to understand characters in terms of their true life cycle now runs into new problems of gender politics. How can this thread be about describing beautiful "women! (And while we're on the topic, [...] guys" ? When there are 110 other genders, most of whom don't yet have any literary reference points at all for us to draw on. I hope an answer is that a well-written description of one person's beauty to another uses observation and research that are very transferable.
Emulate other authors. Find a good description and steal its structure. I'm not talking about mad-libbing in your own synonyms (that would be bad), but grab the ideas. Here's Raymond Chandler: I sat down on the edge of a deep soft chair and looked at Mrs. Regan. She was worth a stare. She was trouble. She was stretched out on a modernistic chaise-longue with her slippers off, so I stared at her legs in the sheerest silk stockings. They seemed to be arranged to stare at. They were visible to the knee and one of them well beyond. The knees were dimpled, not bony and sharp. The calves were beautiful, the ankles long and slim and with enough melodic line for a tone poem. I'm not going to rewrite this for another woman, though it would be fun! haha. Here's how I would break it down: motion from MC followed by the "look" (A look is the easiest way, almost the laziest, to move from the MC to his surroundings) short statement about a woman wanting to be be seen (this gives the MC permission to ogle? I don't know) short statement building tension (danger, something emotional) physical pose demanding more looks, closely repeating second line finally . . . physical description. more description, contrasting against poor ideal back to description and leading to . . . imagery (Huh, whenever I see "Regan" I think of that kid from the Exorcist. I guess the name was from King Lear? She was one of the daughters and the MC was an actress. I think it's mentioned in the book. I'm off topic, sorry.) Anyway, there's a logic to the description. The focus starts on the MC and then is given wholly to the woman. It only breaks away once to mention the stare is still ongoing. It carefully places emotional cues ("she was trouble" and "seemed to be arranged," which hints at purpose), but doesn't dwell too much on them. It shifts fully to the physical and uses imagery to enhance everything that has already been said. That imagery will be the bridge out of the description. The paragraph is a mix of the MC's desire and suspicion, an almost architectural appraisal, and then a metaphor for grand emphasis. That's one approach, and only one. I find the repetitions interesting. I mean, [look, stare, stared, stare] would normally be an error, but the repetition is important here. "Worth a stare" is almost the same as "arranged to stare at." The ideas are nearly identical. Chandler knows where the emphasis goes and so says some things twice. If you find a couple dozen excerpts like these (in different voices would be nice) and spend your time breaking them down into bullet lists, you can write tons of these paragraphs. Do a hundred of them because you like to write! haha. Those approaches will become ingrained, and you'll find yourself understanding rhythms that will carry you through a description successfully. IMO, it's the rhythm in those descriptions that make them work (that's what the bullet list shows), and in my example it's that ending image that seals the deal. It's like an exclamation point done in metaphor.
Here's an example where it's done mostly indirectly, through the effect seeing her has on the young man. It's from the song Hollywood Nights by Bob Seger: She stood there bright as the sun on that California coast He was a midwestern boy on his own She looked at him with those soft eyes, so innocent and blue He knew right then he was too far from home He was too far from home *** He'd headed west 'cause he felt that a change would do him good See some old friends, good for the soul She had been born with a face that would let her get her way He saw that face and he lost all control He had lost all control There's a lot going on subtly here. Just that first line alone. There are two different ways to interpret it—does it mean she's as bright as the sun is on the California coast? Or just that's she's as bright as the sun, and she's standing on the California coast? Both are implied, and as with dreams and poetry, I think both must be taken into account. Bright as the sun. It implies she's blonde, though not necessarily. But the cliche of the California girl is that she's blonde. The most beautiful women in the US, if they have those beach bodies, tend to make their way to California or Florida to bask in the sun and the attention (is that still true, or do they now just make their way to YouTube and Instagram?) I see another possible meaning embedded in bright as the sun—when you see a woman of astonishing beauty your attention becomes focused entirely on her and everything else falls away into insignificance. It can seem like she gives off a radiance like a sun—she lights up all the dark corners of your world, which was formerly drab in comparison. It can be like the sun breaking through dark clouds or over the horizon. Dazzling. And basking in her radiance can feel really good, like basking in that golden California sun. I also picture a scene where she's standing high on a hill and most of the scenery is dim with evening, but the sun picks her out and illuminates her brilliantly. These lyrics are extremely poetic, they conjure layers of nested imagery and meaning. I like the way the lyrics contrast a few lines about him and a few lines about how she affects him. Compared to her—the brilliant California sun—he's a midwestern boy on his own. The midwest doesn't offer any of the intoxicating beauty of California, especially the coastline and the beaches, or the girls. He feels insignificant and out of his element, lost and lonely when suddenly she casts her impossible radiance into his dim world. In a sense, he's overwhelmed by her in the same way he (the midwestern boy) is overwhelmed by California. It's almost as if they've merged—they symbolize each other for him, and he's dazzled and overwhelmed by both. The only bit of actual physical description is the mention of 'those soft eyes, so innocent and blue'. This is one of those details that become so magnified under the magical influence of attraction, such that photographic techniques were devised to superimpose eyes onto skies to try to get across the profoundness a single glimpse can have. Often one part of a person stands out, like the way a beautiful person stands out, and is all you can see or remember afterwards. And often it's eyes. They sort of stand in for the whole person (the new sun that has risen in your drab dull world). All of this is implied (albeit parts of it quite subtly) in those lyrics. Or at least anyone who's experienced these effects can read them in.
From a writer's stance, do not drown your audience in descriptions, but do not simply tell us this woman is beautiful - tell us why, paint a glorious picture. Also, consider this woman's status and how she relates to your main character. Normally, you would not describe their mom in a super sexualized manner unless it's somehow relevant to your story, nor would you describe them meeting a pretty 7/11 cashier in the same way you'd describe their beloved wife or someone they've admired for a long while. Consider your character's personality too, their first impression of a woman would reflect their ideals more than you might think - for example, someone who is shallow or simply out for a quick romp would be more interested in a mate's body or trivial features. From a woman's POV, and especially when it comes to my boyfriends or close friends, I love unique compliments or compliments about the things I dislike about myself. If your MC is detailing a woman whom he cherishes, he might find the laugh she finds annoying to be the most enchanting sound or he might love the pronounced dimple on her chin when she smiles. Perhaps she's not the most ravishing but her smile could light up a room or the way she comforts people when they're going through a hard time gives her a glow in his eyes. Personally, if I wrote a description of my present boyfriend or thought about the features I find most appealing about him - he'd probably throw up trying to read it but he's got one of the best smiles. One of his front teeth overlap from being punched during a high school fight and he calls it a "snaggletooth." It's one of the first things I noticed when I started seeing him and he hates it but it's always hit me just right. Or, the way the light catches in the white tips in his hair from working in the sun all day. A callous on his thumb from cutting himself at his first job, he tries to pick at it regularly but I enjoy the feeling and it's a reminder of a life he lived before me. And besides physical traits, I think the way he interacts with his niece or animals is beautiful. He's a f... the rules sort of guy, but he will never enter through an exit door, just little things like being courteous affect someone's quality. A genuinely kind 5 will - for most people - trump an unbearable 10 in any circumstances. Everyone is beautiful to someone for different reasons, write why your MC finds this woman is beautiful.
