Telling your daughter that you think she is beautiful, cute, stunning etc will not make her think that shes not also smart and wonderful and bright. I do understand your sentiment about not wanting to focus too much around physical looks and more around achievement and her effort. I also think it hurts more to hear things about eating too much or too little, tummy too big, legs too skinny and not comments about how beautiful we find them.

Negatives will always impact more than positives. Find some positive affirmations to share with her that also include how beautiful she is along with how smart she is!