'ANTM': Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Image credit: Jim De Yonker

PLAYER HATING Miss. J. told Brittany she was pretty enough to be a football player's wife

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Makeovers, swimsuit shoots, and a princess party featuring special guest Prince Couture — the perfect Top Model episode, people.

Let's start at the beginning when Princess Tyra shared life lessons (and tiaras) with her models in waiting. Loved the story about how when Tyra's agency told her mother that Tyra needed to lose 15 pounds, her mother said "Screw that! Let's order pizza," and devised a plan to reposition her former high-fashion daughter as a curvaceous Victoria's Secret/Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue model. When you think about it though there was absolutely no reason for the half-assed princess-themed announcement of makeovers. (I say half-assed because Tyra wasn't wearing a princess gown. You might call that a rare sign of restraint.) But at least we got to see Prince Couture (Mr. Jay) wake the sleeping beauty with a kiss. Joslyn swooned and Sheena appeared mesmerized. Classic.

One of the best decisions this show ever made was to keep the individual makeover plans a secret from the girls until their transformation is complete. That way, you get genuine drama/reactions and, of course, picture-in-picture commentary from Good Fierce Witch Tyra. In general, this cycle's makeovers were a huge success. After a brief identity crisis and some tears, Elina embraced her so-called big, silly red weave, which really was a stroke of genius. It adds mystery and, somehow, a bit of softness. Samantha's sexy trim gave her edge — and made you realize that her face is as beautiful as her body in photos. Hannah's makeover has her looking a bit like Holly from Bravo's Make Me a Supermodel, don't you think? But the important thing is with the brunet bangs and chop to the chin, she looked less like a mouse. I wasn't as wowed by Clark's dark turn as Paulina was. I was, however, in awe of Clark's quote: "I might have brown hair now, but I'm still blond inside." I was more taken with McKey's change to a black Linda Evangelista 'do. It was strong and compliments her sharp features. The rest of the makeovers were almost too predictable. Joslyn, Isis, and Brittany got long weaves. Lauren Brie went platinum, while Analeigh just went slightly blonder. Marjorie stayed short and went warmer. And Sheena stayed long but got "tropical" highlights.

Of course, there was only one place that the girls could show off their new looks: Wal-Mart. Cue the CoverGirl-makeup-aisle challenge and Joslyn's best quote to date: "I'm like completely shocked. We have a whole Wal-Mart to ourselves. Can I go shoppin'?" The girls had to apply their own TruBlend foundation, then tape an ad for the product which, if chosen, would appear on both CoverGirl's and Wal-Mart's websites. Hannah's makeover has definitely emboldened her, because she was confident and articulate in her spot and won the prize. ("This is huge. I'm so thrilled. I'm gonna be online. Like, I can Google myself. This is so cool." God bless her.) Other highlights included Analeigh ending her take with a random "yo" and Marjorie referring to Wal-Mart as Walgreens. This wasn't as hard as filming a commercial in a foreign language, but the girls had to write their own scripts, so we'll be nice and move on.

NEXT: The girls suit up