The English Oracle

"This spray zhuzhes". What does "the zhuzh" mean in cosmetics?

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Track title: Industries in Orbit Looping

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Chapters
00:00 &Quot;This Spray Zhuzhes&Quot;. What Does &Quot;The Zhuzh&Quot; Mean In Cosmetics?
00:15 Accepted Answer Score 34
00:45 Answer 2 Score 0
01:31 Thank you

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Tags
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ACCEPTED ANSWER

Score 34


She says: But this "zhuzhes" without effort or skill.

Zhuzh:

to make something more interesting or attractive by changing it slightly or adding something to it:

  • The stylist said he would zhuzh up the outfit with a hat.

(Cambridge Dictionary)

Its origin is unclear and its spelling may also vary:

‘Jeuje,’ ‘Zhoosh,’ ‘Zhuzh’: A Word of Many Spellings, and Meanings: from nytimes.com




ANSWER 2

Score 0


(I don't know if this will go down well, but I'll hazard a guess-etymology anyway — based on how is sounds and what it means.)


I'll bet that "Zhuzh" (or however it's supposed to be spelt) is directly related to:

je ne sais quoi | ˌʒə nə seɪ ˈkwɑː |
noun

a quality that cannot be described or named easily: that je ne sais quoi which makes a professional.

ORIGIN: French, literally ‘I do not know what’.

— Oxford Dictionary of English


The "almost everything cream" that Keira is talking about, apparently just make her hair better in a variety of somewhat vague/imprecise ways; it zhuzhes her hair up a little (it provides a certain je ne sais quoi).