putting lipstick on a pig
Superficial cosmetic improvement
Putting lipstick on a pig is making superficial changes to disguise something fundamentally flawed or unattractive.
The cosmetic improvement doesn't change the underlying reality: The redesigned website is just putting lipstick on a pig—the service itself is still terrible.
The phrase implies the effort is futile or deceptive, since the essential nature remains unchanged.
- polishing a turdImproving the fundamentally flawed
- window dressingDeceptive surface appeal
- camouflagingConcealing by blending in
- covering upHiding wrongdoing from others
- sugarcoatingMaking unpleasant seem pleasant
misleading · smoke screen · rebranding · whitewashing · repackaging · obfuscating · gilding the lily · falsifying · spin doctoring · distorting · beautifying · glossing over · upgrading · refurbishing · modernizing · dressing up · false front · smoke and mirrors
putting lipstick on a pigcomplete overhaul
total makeover · sea change · paradigm shift · turning over a new leaf · reinvention
putting lipstick on a pigcalling a spade a spade
Stating things directly
telling it like it is · brutal honesty · transparency · straight talk · warts and all
putting lipstick on a pigstarting from scratch
reinvention · metamorphosis · radical redesign · revolution · born again