I often say to people ''you're feeling all made up'' when they are really happy about the outcome of a situation, where does this saying come from?

I often use the phrase ''you feel made up'' or ''all made up'' when someone feels really happy or pleased about the outcome of something or how things have gone. Where does the meaning for this come from?

The OED unfortunately does not tell us, though in its entry for "made-up":

5.

a. Irish English and Brit. regional (esp. Liverpool). Surprised and delighted; very pleased, thrilled.

b. Irish English (regional). Of a person: assured of success or happiness; lucky, set-up (cf. made adj. 6a).

we find a reference to made", meaning 6a, which is:

6.

a. Of a person: having his or her success in life (happiness, etc.) assured. Chiefly in a made man .

It's a Briticism. Here's an article from the UK sports-oriented online magazine The Shuttle, titled Pete's delight... (Pete's a fan of the football team who've just named him "honorary 12th man")

"I feel really made up, it sounds like a small thing but for somebody who has followed the team for so long it really is very important."

The context accords with my understanding that it's primarily part of the vernacular of sportsmen and fans, but I don't think it's uncommon among young people in general. It's pretty much the equivalent of "I'm feeling over the moon".

Purely guessing here, it may come from the bright buzzy feeling a young lady has when she's dressed to the nines, wearing full make-up, out for a night on the town. It may be a variant on to feel puffed up (with pride), but although "pride" is obviously a factor above, it isn't always.

But note I'm feeling really down (dejected, depressed), leading to I'm feeling really up (excited, confident). It's easy to see how made might be included there to amplify the sense that there was some (very welcome) external force or event causing you to feel like that.

Yeah, it's Scouse but also in usage along the East Lancs by Mancunians, Salfordians and Stopfordians.

“(All) made up” has several common meanings:

• (completely) fabricated (that is, a fiction)

• (fully) adorned with cosmetics (that is, ready to see and be seen)

• reconciled to a person with whom one has argued (that is, forgave/forgiven)

It would be pretty easy for the “cosmetics” meaning to be reused as a metaphor for a feeling of satisfaction. The others, not so much.