So THAT'S what it takes to turn into a Strictly dancing queen: 9ft of hair extensions. 50 types of glitter. Knickers you can see from space. CLARE GOLDWIN gets the makeover the hit show gives its stars The sequins are sewn, the feathers fluffed and the tans buffed to a fine shade of mahoganyâ€‰.â€‰.â€‰.â€‰all thatâ€™s left is the dancing as we brace ourselves for the Strictly final. This yearâ€™s contest has something of an added frisson thanks to the four glamorous finalists â€" Abbey Clancy, Susanna Reid, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natalie Gumede. Whoever tangoes off with the trophy, tonightâ€™s spectacle is as much thanks to cosmetics as it is to choreography. So, we set the Strictly team their toughest challenge yet. Could they turn me, a 40-year-old mother-of-two, into a glitzy finalist? And not just any finalist, the most impossibly glamorous of the lot: model Abbey Clancy â€" in the outfit she wore on launch night in September. Strictly's toughest challenge: Can they transform 40-year-old Mail journalist Clare Goldwin with the stunning look of boasted by contestant Abbey Clancy at the latest series' launch event in September? Strictly make-up artist Bryony Blake and lead hairstylist Neale Pirie didnâ€™t bat an eyelid when I turned up flat-haired and harassed for my Strictly makeover this week, despite the fact I am 13 years older than 27-year-old Abbey. So, dance skills aside, would I end up looking a bottom-of-the-table three or score a perfect ten? Seven make-up artists and two assistants work on each live show, and the celebrities are allocated the same artist every week. Luckily for me, Iâ€™m given Abbeyâ€™s make-up artist, Bryony, whoâ€™s worked on the show for five years â€" she also works with Susanna. AbbeyÂ¿s make-up artist, Bryony, whoÂ¿s worked on the show for five years, gives our girl the Strictly warpaint She starts with my eyes, explaining: â€˜I always do these first because we use a lot of glitter, which gets everywhere. This way I can clean the excess glitter off the face before applying foundation and blusher.â€™ But before she applies any colour, my fake lashes â€" a Strictly staple â€" go on. Every female dancer wears a new set every show, and with 15 contestants over 13 weeks, plus extra for the professionals, it totals around 200 pairs. Bryony uses five eye shadows for a dramatic, smoky effect, then two different glitters â€" a silver-coloured gel pen Glam Crystal by Collection 2000 that costs less than Â£3 and a subtle pink shimmer powder thatâ€™s applied between my inner eye and nose to make my eyes â€˜popâ€™. Two eye liners add definition â€" one gel liner for my upper lids and a pencil for the lower. When it comes to foundation, each celeb has their preference â€" Abbey likes a tinted moisturiser, Susanna prefers a fuller coverage foundation. After concealer, Bryony â€˜sculptsâ€™ my cheeks with three colours under my cheekbone to add shadow, then two shimmery highlighters to add shape. Abbey encourages the make-up artists to enhance her already razor-sharp cheekbones even further. Next comes blusher â€" a mix of four colours â€" then mascara and finally lipstick The Strictly lip is described as a â€˜nudey-beigey-pinkâ€™. My lips are lined and four colours, including Tom Fordâ€™s Sable Smoke, are applied, then topped off with Dazzleglass lip gloss by MAC. Neale Pirie is Strictlyâ€™s hair supervisor, and has worked on the show for four years. He leads a team of six stylists and two assistants, each with 15 brushes and combs. Neale starts, as he does on the dancers, by quickly blow-drying my natural hair and spritzing it with Oribe dry texturising spray to give body and hold. Then itâ€™s time for the extensions that will turn me into a blonde goddess, just like Abbey (I hope). Every week he buys 500 grips (matte, not shiny so theyâ€™re not picked up by the studio lights) for the team. Thatâ€™s 6,500 grips a series. Turn me into a blonde goddess: Each weft of real hair (artificial hair canÂ¿t be styled or curled) is 22in long and with at least five rows for each female dancer that totals approximately 9Â¿ft 2in per person With 15 celebrity or professional women dancers, he also buys at least 128â€‰ft of hair extensions â€" or the length of about four London buses end to end. Each weft of real hair (artificial hair canâ€™t be styled or curled) is 22in long and with at least five rows for each female dancer that totals approximately 9â€‰ft 2in per person. Neale clips my blonde extensions in place, then blends them in. He backcombs sections of hair at the roots, then smooths the hair on top. Hairspray is also a Strictly must- have. The team use at least six cans of extra-strong hairspray a week. In the course of a series, thatâ€™s almost 80 cans, so just under 13 gallons of hairspray â€" almost enough for a bathful. And it feels as if thereâ€™s almost a bathful on my hair. Strictly wouldnâ€™t be strictly without the megawatt glow of the tans. While Iâ€™m tanned just two hours before my transformation, all the showâ€™s tanning happens on a Friday â€" after the dress rehearsal â€" from 2pm to 10pm, to ensure itâ€™s developed and dry for the live show. Golden brown: Jules Heptonstall, skin finishing expert at St Tropez fake tan, uses four different shades and applies just two layers per celebrity In recent years, Strictly has toned down the tan to make dancers look less orange, but still during the series they get through eight gallons of tan, the equivalent of just over two Nebuchadnezzars (giant bottles more than 20 times bigger than a normal wine bottle) of champagne. Jules Heptonstall, skin finishing expert at St Tropez fake tan, has been the official tanner to Strictly for the past two years. He and an assistant operate two spray booths. He uses four different shades (from very light to dark) and applies just two layers per celebrity. â€˜Sometimes some celebrities ask for more and I pretend to give them an extra layer, but never actually do,â€™ he says. â€˜Susanna Reid and Abbey Clancy are the biggest fans of the fake tan this series. Abbey almost banged the door down to get in once.â€™ The only female celebrity who hasnâ€™t been tanned? Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who has such a porcelain pale complexion it was thought sheâ€™d look unnatural. However, itâ€™s rumoured that for tonightâ€™s final she will submit to the full Strictly and may finally come in front of Julesâ€™s spray gun. Though, after giving in to the spray tan gun myself, I wouldnâ€™t blame Sophie if she didnâ€™t. To get the Strictly glow I stripped to a pair of paper knickers, before holding my arms and legs at different angles, while my spray-tanner pointed her gun at my nearly naked body. Not one for the faint-hearted. Strictlyâ€™s costume designer is Vicky Gill, who has worked on the show for eight years. Her season begins during the summer when she meets with producers to discuss new concepts for the upcoming series. Together with assistant Esra Gungor, sheâ€™s in charge of a team of 27 seamstresses, who can only begin work on the Monday before the live show once they know who has gone through to the next round. Over the week, the team shapes the dresses to mannequins customised with sponge padding or bubble wrap to mirror each celebrityâ€™s body. For this, they take measurements before the series starts â€" though these often have to be adjusted as contestants lose weight. Past celebrities Lisa Riley and Russell Grant dropped about two sizes, for example. Tight fit: All the dresses are built with a combination of combination of Lycra, elastane and power mesh, eliminating the need for control underwear Fittings donâ€™t happen until the day before the show. The wardrobe team often work until 2am on Friday morning and are still attaching rhinestones until the moment before broadcast. As I gingerly step into Abbeyâ€™s dress â€" built around a nude-coloured leotard made from incredibly stretchy mesh fabric â€" it is immediately obvious how sophisticated these dresses are. All the dancersâ€™ dresses are built in the same fashion, eliminating the need for control underwear. The fabric is a combination of Lycra, elastane and power mesh. Vicky explains: â€˜We canâ€™t have any flesh-coloured knickers on show during the dances or there are complaints from people thinking they arenâ€™t wearing anything underneath. â€˜Instead we make a virtue of the knickers in bright, big, bold colours so you know they are there.â€™ While Abbey must be at least a size smaller than me (Iâ€™m a 10/12), the dress has stretched to accommodate my extra curves and is supportive and comfortable. Vicky also reveals that the dress Iâ€™m wearing cost Â£3,500 to make â€" the price of most of the Strictly frocks. So, has any celebrity refused to wear one of the frocks? â€˜A celebrity might have one idea how a dress will look, then discover at the fitting it looks different from how they expected,â€™ says Vicky. â€˜But nine out of ten times thereâ€™s no problem.â€™ Formidable Jerry Hall was a different matter, however. Vicky says: â€˜There was one occasion she had expected to be dressed as Marilyn Monroe. Mid-week production decided to try something different, but when it got to Friday, Jerry saw the dress, made it clear she wanted to be Marilyn and asserted her celebrity powers. We made her Marilyn again and worked through the night to make sure the dress was finished.â€™ The dresses are kept by the BBC, used for the live tour or sold to foreign versions of Strictly. Occasionally, a celebrity will buy one of their favourite frocks â€" which Fern Britton did. Vicky gives me a final tease. The dresses tonight will include a frock that is white, black and gold with leather, another thatâ€™s pink and sparkly and one thatâ€™s emerald green and gold. But whoâ€™ll wear which? Itâ€™s a constant battle to stop make-up melting under hot studio lights. And the key to keeping it in one place? Tissues. They use one box per dancer, patting tissues over the face to leave make-up in place (though some stars sweat so much they need towelling down after their dances). Two make-up products also help to fix make-up â€" a MAC foundation that is often used on the men because Bryony says itâ€™s so water resistant, and MAC Blot powder to soak up excess moisture. Apparently, Abbey isnâ€™t a fan of the powder because she prefers a dewy look, and Bryony has to fib about what sheâ€™s applying to her face. Bryony estimates she has around 50 different types of glitter in her kit. Female dancers wear glittery make-up every week. Besides the glitter on my eyes, thereâ€™s the glitter spray liberally applied to every dancerâ€™s body before routines. They get through at least six cans per show â€" or about 80 a series. Abbey reportedly prefers not to wear tights at all, while most competitors wear specialist dancersâ€™ fishnet tights that are reinforced so they donâ€™t ladder. The sole is specially woven to pad the foot and reduce blisters â€" though apparently lots of plasters are still required. Fishnets are chosen because they are less noticeable on screen than ordinary sheer tights. Each female dancer gets through at least four pairs in a series. However, former contestant Nancy Dellâ€™Olio insisted on her favourite brand of Wolford hosiery. But as Vicky says: â€˜Because they are a fashion tight they laddered frequently â€" theyâ€™re simply not built for performance.â€™ Most shoes are made to order by a specialist dance shoe company that can make a pair in as little as two days. The dancers have worked their way through 450 pairs this series â€" most last a week as they train in them every day. The finished look: Even Craig would agree Bryony and Neale have made Clare look fab-u-lous Vicky estimates theyâ€™ve used a staggering 800,000 crystals this series â€" with each one individually hand-glued on. She says â€˜myâ€™ dress has 10,000 crystals alone, that took two people 16 hours to stick on. Strictly crystals arenâ€™t just any old rhinestones, but AB Swarovski crystals with a special coating that creates a rainbow effect under the lights, making them look even more glittery and iridescent. The other most-used embellishment is ostrich feathers â€" 500ft in this series â€" and they trim my dress, too. A dress needs 33ft and each female dancer wears one dress trimmed with ostrich feathers. Even Craig would agree Bryony and Neale have made me look fab-u-lous. As someone whoâ€™s never been able to grow her hair longer than her shoulders, I love the extensions that give me Abbeyâ€™s tousled blonde mane, and my eyes are more dramatic than one of Brendan Coleâ€™s outbursts. In particular, I love my glittery eyelids. My three-year-old son is impressed and says: â€˜Wow Mummy!â€™ when he sees me. As for the frock, not only am I delighted I got into a dress designed for Abbeyâ€™s willowy proportions, but wearing it I feel more glamorous than I ever have before. I see why celebrities love taking part in Strictly, and feel ready to glide onto the dancefloor myself tonight. If only I could actually danceâ€‰.â€‰.â€‰. Additional reporting: INDIA STURGIS