The version I heard was from “nice from afar, but far from nice.”
Me no get.
My SO has a shirt that says butterface on it. :rolleyes: Him and his brother use it all the time.
As in Georges Seurat, the painter who painted in the pointalism style. From far away the pictures look like what they’re supposed to be, but up close they look like a bunch of dots.
For what it is worth, back in the day, girls that are now called “butterface” where called “Two-Baggers”. Put one over her head and one over mine, in case hers break.
And yes, as 20 year olds I and others used terms like this. I am sure that you are not surprised that 20 year old males can be rude and crude when talking among themselves. 
Jim
Similarly there’s the term Coyote Ugly, which refers waking up next to her after a drunken coupling to find your arm is trapped under her body – rather than risk waking her up or rolling over, “like the wild coyote” you escape the trap by gnawing off your own limb.
And like the “two-bagger” expression, you can also find a “double coyote”, where the truly desperate man will gnaw off both arms just in case the woman goes on the hunt for a one-armed man.
So. . . there are really fellas out there who reference French neoimpressionist painters when sizing up the girls at the bar? That’s a recipe for an asswhuppin’ where I come from.
We be neoimpressionalizing all up in this bitch. Just how we roll. 
I’ve heard Monet used much more than Seurat. That could be the influence from the movie Clueless.