The 15 Best & 10 Worst America's Next Top Model Makeovers

Hey, y'all! I'm a long-time America's Next Top Model fan, but in the past couple years, I've fallen off the bandwagon-- not finishing off the few seasons I haven't seen, and not really re-watching episodes either. But, over the past week or so, I've been re-watching some older episodes of ANTM, including several makeover episodes, as those are my favorites. And given my love of lists and rankings, I decided that I wanted to do a blog post listing my favorite and least favorite makeovers in the 22 cycle history of the show.

Before I jump into the lists, I wanted to explain my criteria for choosing which makeovers made each list. As should be obvious, these are very subjective lists. While I typically try to be as objective as possible, I have my likes and dislikes-- and some of those will become evident pretty quickly. It should also be noted that these aren't rankings. The makeovers are listed in cycle order with only a couple exceptions.

When it comes to the "best" makeovers, the end result is not the only important factor-- how big of a change it is also plays a role. What I mean by this is that someone who walks into makeovers looking amazing and walks out of makeovers looking almost exactly the same isn't going to end up on my list. (Prime example being Kim cycle 5-- loved her look but it barely changed)

An important thing to note when dealing with the worst makeovers, however, is that I'm not taking into account "botched" makeovers. Throughout the years, there have been several cases where a girl has gotten a makeover and Tyra had to fix it because it was a disaster. You won't find those on this list, because the look itself wasn't the problem, but rather the execution. There are a couple looks on this list that technically fall under that category, but they were still awful even when they got fixed.

OK, I've rambled long enough-- let's just jump into the lists.

Top 15 Best ANTM Makeovers

Cycle 18 Makeovers

OK, it might be a bit of a cop-out to rank a whole season on the list, but the makeovers this season were seriously on-point and would've taken up a huge chunk of this list. Tyra went out on a limb and went for funky colors and interesting cuts, and it was a bold choice that really paid off for a lot of the models. Below are some of my favorites among the bunch. 

Azmarie

This one technically breaks my rule of the makeovers needing to be a significant change but I really loved her look.

Catherine

Catherine has a very classic, very British look, and the bold hot pink/red hair made her look super edgy.

Laura

As you'll discover rather soon, I'm a sucker for ice blonde makeovers. The red and blue clip-ins were a little overboard with the "America" theme, but I love the overall look.

 Louise

Despite her freakout over cutting and coloring her hair, the shorter hair looked amazing with her bone structure.

Sophie

By taking her slightly more blonde and adding a subtle pink, Sophie got a really cute but high fashion look.

Alisha

Alisha's short hair looked fine, but adding the hair on one side and shaving the other gave her a really cool, edgy look.

The Ice Blondes

Tyra really likes to give girls hair so blonde that it's almost white, and it almost always looks fantastic. Once again, these would've just dominated the list, so I lumped them all together. Laura from cycle 18 was a great example, but there are several more below. 

 Anya- Cycle 10

Taking Anya from brunette to ice blonde with matching brows gave her a really interesting look that worked really well for her.

 Erin- Cycle 13

Erin might be my favorite of the ice blondes. Her pale skin combined with the nearly-white hair gave her a super edgy look.

 Rae- Cycle 13

Rae was the least drastic change but bleaching her eyebrows and going even more blonde made a huge difference.

Amanda- Cycle 3

Amanda's ice blonde looked especially great because it was combined with her light blue eyes.

Laura- Cycle 19

Laura's makeover is different from the others because she's actually fairly tan, which gives the ice blonde a very different look altogether. 

Shandi- Cycle 2

Now, we're moving into the single makeovers. Shandi was really the first stand-out makeover. She was really nerdy and a bit mousy, but dying her hair blonde really made her stand out from the pack and gave her a totally different look.

Naima- Cycle 4

Naima had an interesting look beginning the competition, but her honey-blonde mohawk really complemented her skintone. I went back and forth between this one and Keenyah from the same season, but the more I looked at her hair, the more I realized how much I love this look on her.

Jenah- Cycle 9

TBH, this picture doesn't do the makeover justice. This makeover really took Jenah over the top. She looked a bit pedestrian before, but the long blonde hair really made her look high fashion.

Fatima- Cycle 10

This is the single makeover in the history of ANTM that really stands out to me as the best makeover in the history of the show. Her hair was a total disaster at the beginning of the show, and her makeover looked amazing. It was such a drastic change and it completely changed her look.

Allison- Cycle 12

This is another real standout, memorable makeover. Allison is one of the favorite models through the show's history, and her makeover was the better version of Shandi's. Her hair at the beginning of the show was very basic, and the big blonde curls added to her quirky ethereal look.

Fo- Cycle 12

Fo had a lot of trouble adjusting to her short hair, but I think it's probably the best "chop all the hair off" makeover in the history of the show. It kept her cuteness but gave her a little edge and it worked really well for her face.

Lulu- Cycle 13

Lulu's look was such a drastic change and it made her look super high-fashion. I'm not usually a huge fan of bangs, but they really framed her face well.

Raina- Cycle 14

Raina's lighter hair looked fine, but the dark hair gave her a much edgier look. Combined with her thick eyebrows and her blue eyes, her dark hair helped to create what I believe to be the best picture in Top Model history:

Phil- Cycle 20

We all thought Tyra was crazy for giving Phil a weave, but the long hair really worked on him. That plus the beard really gave him a distinct look that was really current and interesting. 

Nina- Cycle 20

I'm always a fan of Tyra giving a girl red hair, and I think this was the best. The blue eyes, pale skin, bangs, and vivid hair combined to give Nina a really interesting look.

Shei- Cycle 21

This was another makeover where we all questioned Tyra a little bit, but I really like how it ended up turning out. It gave her a really edgy, interesting look.

Hadassah- Cycle 22

Maybe I'm just a sucker for edgy haircuts, but shaving one side of her head took Hadassah from being almost too pretty to being pretty but with an edge.

Lacey- Cycle 22

Like I said earlier, bangs aren't always my favorite, especially heavy bangs. But they framed Lacey's face really well and really highlighted her eyes. Before, she looked pretty pedestrian, but this hair made her really high-fashion.

Top 10 Worst ANTM Makeovers

Ann- Cycle 3

I just don't understand the point of this, let alone when or why this was considered high fashion. Because those two front blonde chunks just look messy. The length is good, but that blonde can't be overlooked.

Michelle- Cycle 4

This is actually this hair at its best. Most of the cycle, her roots were growing in really dark and it honestly just looked really odd on her. This is one of the rare cases where ice blonde definitely did NOT work as it was supposed to.

Saleisha- Cycle 9/ Brittani- Cycle 16

I lumped the two of them together because they were given very similar makeovers. I'll give Tyra credit-- it definitely made them more edgy and both of them won their cycle. But, that doesn't mean the makeover was good. The general consensus is that these makeovers didn't really suit their faces, and I definitely agree. The bangs are overpowering on both of them, and the cut is much too blunt. I definitely agree that they needed to be edged out, but these styles were definitely not the right ones.

Dominique- Cycle 10

This is one where even Tyra realized it was botched. However, even after fixing it, this didn't look good. The short hair really aged Dominique. She was 23, and it made her look (as noted by a photographer) like the mom of one of the girls. The color wasn't great, the way it was styled was aging, and the cut itself was aging. Not. Good.

Stacy Ann- Cycle 10

Like with Saleisha and Brittani, I agree that Stacy Ann needed to be edged out. But this haircut was not the way to do that. Given her strong bone structure, a short cut was probably the way to go, but not this short cut. Maybe a nearly buzzed cut or a buzzed cut combined with long pieces in the front (a la Simone Cycle 14). It just seems like it's either slightly too long or slightly too short, which makes it look odd. 

Brenda- Cycle 14

This makeover is one of the standout worsts for me. As with the past few, I definitely think she needed to be edged out. But this short hair aged her quite a bit. With the long hair, she was deemed "too sexy," but the short hair made her look so much older than she was. On top of that, the cut itself wasn't that great. Like with Stacy Ann, shorter was probably the way to go, but not this cut.

Destiny- Cycle 19

I feel like a broken record. Yes, an edgy cut would work well on her. But not the way they did it. But why is the hair on the left side of her head so long? Just shave the side and leave the bangs. The way they did it in makeovers just didn't look good. It didn't work with her hair texture, and it just didn't work. 

Brittany- Cycle 19

TBH, I kinda liked her original look. Maybe it's the styling but I just really hated this makeover. Like with the others, I think some tweaking would really help it out. The color was off, the cut was off, and the styling was horrid. 

Kari- Cycle 21

And this, my friends, is the worst ice blonde makeover the show has ever done. There were just too many aspects that were slightly off. The shade of blonde wasn't right for her skintone. It was too yellowy and not enough ice. And then combine the bleached brows with her hairline being so far back, it just didn't look good. A few tweaks could've fixed it, but it was a mess as-is.

Denzel- Cycle 21

This is probably the worst idea Tyra has ever come up with for makeovers. She decided that Denzel needed a beard, but he couldn't grow it himself so she gave him a lace-front beard. It looked about as fake as you would expect it to. And the worst part was that no one seemed to realize it looked awful. Denzel thought it looked good, Tyra thought it looked good, but it looked horrible and fake- like someone had glued fur to his face or something. It was really bad.

Ava- Cycle 22

If Denzel's fake beard wasn't the worst makeover idea ever on the show, Ava's is. Tyra literally called this the "fashion mullet" (or something very similar-- mullet was definitely in the name). The sad thing is that if they'd just gotten rid of the "mullet" part of this, it could've been good. But it looked like a mess. No one can ever make mullets look good. It's not possible. Tyra tried really hard with this, but it was horrible. No, no, no. 

Hate-Reading The Selection: Updates & Opinions

Hey, y'all! So today, I'm going to be doing some hate-reading. Just briefly, before I jump into anything else, here's my little disclaimer about hate-reading.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post on the topic of hate-reading, which you can check out by clicking here. In that post, I discuss what it means to hate-read and include a disclaimer discussing my intentions when hate-reading a book. I won't go into full details, given that I wrote that whole post about it, but the long and short of it is this: hate-reading doesn't have to be malicious, and I don't intend for it to be. I'm not here to bash a book, and I'm certainly not here to belittle anyone for liking this book. My point here is not to offend, but to approach criticism with a snarky, comedic tone; to point out the ridiculousness of a book in a humorous way. So I urge you to remember all of this before leaving an angry comment.

That being said, let's take a look at the book I'm going to be hate-reading. And that is The Selection by Kiera Cass.

By the way, what even is this cover? Like... she looks like she's smelling her armpit. Not to mention the "girl in a dress on the cover" trope. Props for the dress being pretty, though. However, I do have to say that I think that the dresses on the spin-off books (The Heir & The Crown) are absolutely gorgeous and leagues better than the dresses on the covers of the original trilogy.

Anyway, this book has been on my radar for about as long as I've been on BookTube. Quite honestly, I've never really intended to pick it up, simply because it's not really my thing. I'm a self-described reality competition junkie. I can't even count the number of reality competitions I've watched throughout the years. But in that time, I've never watched a single episode of either The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. Ever. It just always seemed too dumb and too ridiculous. But, the temptation is there to watch an episode simply to laugh at it. And that's kinda what I intend to do with The Selection. It has pretty much the same premise as The Bachelor, and from reviews I've read, the writing, world-build, plot, and characters all seem to be on-par quality-wise with what I'd expect from The Bachelor (AKA laughably bad). Because of this, I expect to thoroughly enjoy every second of reading what I expect to be a laughably bad/cheesy book.

Continue reading below to join me on this adventure, as I will be doing updates whenever something stands out, is completely ridiculous, or is just plain dumb. I'm so excited, y'all.

*****

July 5th:

acknowledgement/dedication: So the dedication reads "Hi, Dad! *waves*" and I'm not sure if that's cute or annoying. I'm gonna go with cute for now, but I feel like this is just a little taste of the fluffiness that is yet to come...

pg 1: Starting off strong, y'all. "So far, I had a solid collection of my honest opinions. . . I didn't think there was a single one she would listen to." Someone explain that ellipsis to me. Please. And it's unnaturally spaced out as well. I fail to see how that makes any sense there. 

pg 2: "We did a silent dance through the kitchen and dining room..." There's nothing wrong with this, I just think it's a really weird phrasing, especially since they're mad at each other. Also, we just got an entire paragraph about how her mouth was watering for tea with lemon. Tea is not that dramatic. 

pg 4: Kiera Cass does understand that China acknowledges Jan 1 as the start of the new year, right? They still celebrate it at the traditional time, but the year still starts on January 1st...

pg 8: This dialogue hurts. "I'm so average." "Stop it, you're so pretty." "Am I actually pretty?" "You totally know you're pretty." *dramatization* *but not by much*

pg 12: "Finally the intruder spoke, a sly grin spreading across his face. 'Hey there, gorgeous.'" How is this romantic? This excerpt could easily be inserted into a horror movie and be incredibly creepy.

pg 15: "If only I could sit and patch them up for him. That was my great ambition. Not to be Illea's princess. To be Aspen's." Literally everything about this hurts me. 

pg 27: I love that we just got a quick little run-down of what's happening, in case we somehow didn't understand. Also, yes, I went a whole 12 pages without updating, but only because that whole chapter was cringey and there wasn't just one single moment that stood out. 

pg 33: Just realized that I haven't noted this yet, but the fact that America Singer is a... wait for it... singer is one of the most silly things I've ever read.

pg 45: Side note, the inherent sexism in this society is already about to drive me crazy, and not just toward the women-- America just mentioned that she couldn't see herself with such a "wimp" as Maxon.

July 6th:
pg 50: "America, I'm supposed to be providing for you. It's humiliating for me to come here and have you do all this for me."... "I'm not some charity case, America. I'm a man. I'm supposed to be a provider." Again, with these stupid, seemingly pointless gender norms. First off, she's a class higher than him and has talents, so she's perfectly capable of providing for herself. Also, she literally made you food from the little money that she earned, because she knows you can't always afford to eat, and you have the audacity to be humiliated because of some seemingly arbitrary gender norms? Dude, get over yourself and eat the stupid food. //endrant.

pg 53: UPDATE! They just broke up over the food argument. LOL. That's the silliness I'm here for!

pg 56: y'all, she was chosen for the selection! Didn't see that one coming, did you?

pg 58: Her body now belongs to her country. Literally, her body has now become an object to be possessed by a country. ugh.

pg 64: "This isn't exactly a rule, but it would be unwise of you to ignore it. When you are invited to do something with Prince Maxon, you do not refuse. No matter what it is. Dinner, outings, kisses-- more than kisses-- anything. Do not turn him down." Great, so on top of all the other things that Maxon has control over, he also basically gets to do whatever he wants with her. Fabulous.

pg 76: America, you're in your upper teen years. DO NOT call your father "Daddy." It's just weird.

pg 90: Guys, this makeover scene is literally ripped from the pages of The Hunger Games.

pg 96: "Do you think Maxon will like it?" "Of course! What guy doesn't like a gorgeous blonde?" cringe cringe cringe cringe cringe. This dialogue hurts me. Also, there's a specific "Women's Room." Because even rooms have to be divided by gender in this society! :)

pg 99: So everyone in this society has really out there, unique names, and the maids are called Lucy, Anne, and Mary. It feels like Cass just chose the first 3 basic female names she could think of and was like "OK done!"

pg 102: It bears mentioning, but the entire point of the competition within this novel is to pit women against each other in a competition for a man's affection, which is just so obnoxiously stereotypical and catty that it almost physically hurts. Haven't women been portrayed as catty, gossipy, & unable to cooperate for long enough? I fail to understand why a woman would want to write a series in a world that she created that has such inherent, seemingly arbitrary, sexism ingrained in the society.

July 7th:
pg 104: "He is someone in this room's future husband, after all." A few girls sighed at the thought. Excuse me while I vomit. This is about as cliche as it gets.

pg 118: Currently LOLing at the scene that just happened in the garden. As usual, the dialogue is just uncomfortable. America is unnecessarily obnoxious and whiny. Maxon is rigid and awkward. Hooray. (Side note: If Maxon doesn't promptly stop saying "my dear," I'm gonna lose it.)

pg 123: "Tsk-Tsk. A lady never raises her voice above a gentle whisper?" Oh yeah, lady? Since the whole room just heard you, I'm going to assume you said that above a gentle whisper.

pg 125: Image that, guys! Prince Maxon has taken a liking to our little special snowflake! I'm so surprised! And when he smiled at her, she completely changed her mind! How romantic.

pg 136: I'm sorry, but that just seems like the silliest way, plot-wise, to create a way for America to have alone time with Maxon. Some weird, random bet? Shouted across the room for almost no reason? It's so ridiculous and just... weird.

pg 141: She's getting nervous about being with Maxon alone, and doesn't know why! What could it mean?! (obviously you're beginning to develop feelings, dummy.)

pg 159: Ooh, Prince Maxon has some theories no one will listen to! Given how this book has been going so far, he's probably right. #basic.

pg 178: Literally every time "King Clarkson" is mentioned, all I can think of is Kelly Clarkson. #sorrynotsorry. Also, America is now excited by the idea of Maxon visiting her that night. Shocker.

pg 197: Wow, she's starting to like him! Didn't see that coming! Also, I know that I haven't had snarky things to say for the last ~40 pages but that's mostly because it actually hasn't been that bad. Maybe it's that I'm getting used to it, but there haven't been as many cringey, awful moments. Sure, it's still incredibly cheesy, and the dialogue is mostly just ... ugh. But it hasn't been quite as awful. Actually, it's been almost sweet. Almost.

July 8th
pg 200: Here we go again with everyone telling America she's amazing and her feeling uncomfortable and unworthy.

pg 207: And now we have girls actually slapping each other. Lovely.

pg 212: So we just got a scene that was obviously meant to be for world-build. The Selected girls are being quizzed on their knowledge of Illea's history, which serves to inform the reader of the history. This is problematic on so many levels. First, this scene is just very clumsy. Given that they're going to be selected on their personality and looks, their knowledge of the country's history doesn't seem like it's going to pop up anytime soon. So this is a rather clunky attempt at masking world-build for something that's actually important to the plot. Second, this is a really flimsy world build. Third World War, China invading, attacking Russia, these are all the easy explanations. It's just so baseline and surface level that it seems boring and unoriginal.
Also, this whole no written history thing-- clearly they're trying to hide something. If that was meant to be a subtle hint that something suspicious is going on, it's not. It's really obvious. And if this is a dead end, then she wasted our time with something meaningless and pointless.
One last note before I continue: At this point, a US history book would be hundreds of years old. And yet America's dad just happened to have one lying around the house? Really?

pg 218: What? Her feels are getting stronger and she thinks it's just nerves? I'm shocked.

pg 257: Ok, so now that she's finally realized that she has feelings for him (only because he kissed her), she's convinced that she's now the one. Like... slow your roll. 5 seconds ago, you were telling him you just wanted to be friends.

pg 262: Guys. There's literally a place called Honduragua in this story. Cass literally just created a super-country by creating a ship name for Honduras & Nicaragua. What even?

pg 264: "Why don't you run along?" And here, everyone, we have an example of a cliche line. America is annoying. Blahblahblah nothing new here.

pg 268: "I looked beneath my eyelashes at Maxon and smiled." I'm sorry but what does that even mean? That phrasing is just... what? Like yes, America, your eyes are under your eyelashes. Proud of you. Unless this is talking about her bottom lashes? This just makes no sense.

pg 289: So America and Maxon have been all buddybuddy for more than half of this book and suddenly she disagrees with him and he pulls out the "I am lord and master of this country" stuff and calls her "Lady America" again? I'm so over this. He was becoming vaguely likable and then goes and pulls something like this. That's one thing Kiera Cass is really good at-- making characters overreact.

pg 290: Ok, so America has been tossing and turning "for hours" and then out of nowhere, Aspen opens the door and comes in? That's creepy. Like, she didn't even indicate that she was still awake, but here he comes barging in. Not cool. Also, she's had mixed emotions about him for the entire book, and suddenly now that he barges in and practically forces himself on her, she's glad to make out with him? Even while saying she hates him? Really?

pg 297: So, that girl that America's been freaking out about the entire book? She tripped, and Aspen caught her. I swear, there needs to be an award for how many coincidences create a plotline, and it needs to be handed directly to Kiera Cass. Like, there are so many things that happen on this novel just because of sheer coincidence. That's not how to craft a plot.

pg 313: Also, just another quick note, but isn't it just so convenient that the girls America is the most familiar with/ get mentioned the most are the ones who keep staying? Even her mortal enemy Celeste is still here, despite being completely awful. With the exception of Ashley at the beginning of the book, everyone America interacts with has stayed. Imagine that.

pg 325: Ah, the line I've heard so much about. "I'm not choosing him or you. I'm choosing me." Cliche, cringy, and overall... not the truth that she says it is. Sure, maybe she hasn't chosen either yet, but she's still making up her mind. That's not choosing herself. That's being wishy-washy.

So, that's it for my updates while reading The Selection. Here are my very brief opinions, if you haven't seen my little discussion at the end of my video: 

I think that this is the first time I will ever give 2/5 stars to a book that I really enjoyed reading. Let me clarify. This book was insanely fun to make fun of, despite the numerous problems I had with this book. That's probably incredibly evident from these updates. I thought that the writing wasn't that great, the dialogue was pretty cringey, the plot was a bit of a mess (and rather dependent on coincidence), the world-build was pretty flimsy, and that the problem with gender roles within this book was frustrating. At its root, this isn't the dystopian novel it purports itself to be-- it's a plain ol' contemporary. It's made to be fluffy and cute, and in some ways I was definitely pulled into that a bit. I enjoy fluff and cuteness in moderation, but this book was pretty much no substance and all fluff. One genuine, interesting moment would be followed immediately by more cliches, insufferable dialogue, and general cringing. So, overall, I didn't think that this was a very good book. However, I had a great time reading it and intend to continue the series, because I want to see this train-wreck keep on going.

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