Well in terms of shapeshifting… you are probably going to want to start at evocation, because for humans, things like shapeshifting and other types of superpowers (flight, teleportation) is a lot harder to achieve. It isn’t that it is essentially harder to achieve, but in a world where we have a set of ingrained psychospiritual values placed on rigidity, you gotta do a lot more, and these skills require a lot of skill and energy to pull off. Not saying that it essentially takes long, for some it would be easier than others, but you be prepared for such a skill to require years of practice, and that is after you have already gained proficiency in basic arts.
You mentioned that beauty spells don’t work, and although I would agree that most of them may not be effectively planned, I’m not sure you are looking at it in a way for it to succeed. Beauty spells aren’t necessarily transformation spells, at least not physically. Beauty spells, at least for those who are not able to make immediate physical change, is based on changing etheric qualities, and thus changing people’s perception of you. You may not look different physically, but people will perceive you as good-looking, regardless of physical appearance. This is how I have seen these things work, and this could be as simple as opening you heart chakra really.
But your perspective is really what might get in the way. If you already perceive yourself as butt ugly, and have some Brad-Pitt fantasy of looking like a Hollywood heartthrob, than you have already lost. You got to at least think that you look good to someone already. Having narrow views about personal self-image is already the downfall, because it honestly makes no sense in terms of beauty, which is a very subjective category.
If you are serious about learning to shapeshift, I suggest getting started with energy work like Qigong and/or Kundalini Yoga, because you are going to need it. I would also suggest getting familiar with the dreamscape, and getting yourself ready for active exploration in that realm. A lot of auric and spiritual work can be done in this realm in relatively short amounts of time, albeit that you gotta be smart with it. Lastly, evocation can really help here, and for you, this might be something you start learning as soon as you pick up energy work.
In the meantime, if you want to change how beautiful you appear, you got to first realize how subjective that really is. Once you realize that all beautiful people can be considered ugly, then you got a lot easier time figuring out what’s going on. Really, you’re just looking to change how people perceive you, which can easily be done with sigil opening, evocation, or simply energy work done on the heart chakra. But physical transformation is not the first place to look, unless you really feel you can naturally master it like tying shoes. If you feel that inclined toward it, then you’re good. Otherwise, you got a lot more means that are more immediate to the normal beginner, which might be better even if you got a “natural” transformation ability. And like Undead is saying, your perspective has to be very broad really, and you have to at least accept that you are already handsome to someone.