(it is awesome :) )

Also, the LHC hiring protocol for students must have a attractiveness clause. ;)

Almost anyone can look like that with some decent lighting, makeup, hair and wardrobe etc. That and the body-language of self confidence are all it takes. Editing out all the shots where you look weird helps too. Celebrities and the like are almost universally unremarkable-looking when not at work.

Don't tell the entertainment or cosmetics industries I let you in on that little secret though, or I might end up in the back of van. Sometimes it seems like the whole of western society is built on people being kept in the dark about this fact.

Also I think you might mean "backhanded compliment," although off-hand works quite nicely here as well.