#cycle24week13

While Shanice’s hair looks incredible here, her face doesn’t match that level. We have flared nostrils again, and her jawline looks awful here. This is not her best angle, and the tension in her lips doesn’t help. The tiny flash of teeth is just distracting. I have no clue how Shanice survived with this shot, as there is no justification for producing something this weak so late in the show.

As I said in Khrys’ ranking, differing these two was hard. Jeana’s shot doesn’t work as well as a Pantene ad, but I decided to not really let that affect my ranking since she had the hardest set. With such a wide shot, and an awful wig, there was no way to pay attention to the hair. But because of this I can totally understand someone not being a fan of this shot. But enough of the boring stuff, and more onto the gorgeousness of this photograph. I don’t get anything overtly sexual about this photoshoot. I love the crumpled body language. It plays into the whole rocker-princess-glam style this shoot has. Her face is stunning too; her skin-tone goes so well with the blonde wig, and there is a lightness. It doesn’t feel like a traditionally commercial shot, but instead like a modern representation. I will admit this feels far more like a fashion ad for a designer such as Philipp Plein, instead of a Pantene ad. If my rankings were purely based on that, this would most likely slip down to third, but a very close third.

After one week of well-deserved praise, she is back to being seriously over-hyped. It isn’t that this is bad (as it is honestly far superior to Shanice’s shot), but with her having the set with the most potential to succeed as a Pantene ad, she kind of flopped. I think Kyla’s face actually looks quite swollen from this angle, especially her nose and lips. I am honestly baffled by her face; sometimes it looks gorgeous, sometimes awful, but never consistent from the same angle. Her expression and hair do work for me however. There is a cuteness, and lightness in her eyes. If only her features looked as beautiful, this would actually be an incredible commercial shot.

Khrystyana produced the most ad-worthy photograph. Her hair looks immaculate and really sells the brand. There’s an alluring quality to her eyes, her expression is inviting even while looking off camera, and her face photographed beautifully. Her body looks amazing in that dress, but she looks very tense, especially in her shoulders and neck area. Khrystyana’s picture doesn’t really have that “wow” factor, but I think it’s the best of a flawed bunch.

Jeana was clearly set up to fail. Why else would they choose a full length shot for a hair product ad? Despite that I think that this is actually a strong picture. Jeana is giving me The Fame era Lady Gaga vibes here. She definitely looks short but I still love broken down body language. The hair looks pretty good for being a wig, and even though her expression is a bit on the vacant side she still looks absolutely gorgeous. I can’t for the life of me see the overt sexuality that the panel complained about. I understand why Jeana landed in the bottom 2 since this doesn’t really seem like a Pantene ad, but she shouldn’t have needed Philipp Plein’s special save to advance to the finale.

It’s been years since the episode aired, but I’m still in utter shock that Kyla’s shot got so much effusive praise at panel. The obvious redeeming factor is that the hair flip was executed extremely well, which is ideal for the brand and the product (plus she easily had the best set and styling). However, her face photographed terribly. The angle is totally wrong and her mouth/nose area looks very squished and almost somewhat swollen. While her eyes are actually quite strong here, I’m not sure if the mischievous look matches the mood of the shoot. I had a feeling that Kyla was our winner due to the over-the-top positive feedback she received on this shot for one of the cycle’s sponsors. 

The hair was supposed to be the star this week, but Shanice let that aspect completely take over her shot, and everything else is quite disastrous as well. She lifted her head way too high and the angle just makes her jaw much too square and heavy. Her eyes are devoid of any life and that slight snarl is unpleasant to look at. Shanice deserved to be eliminated over this shot; despite her progression, she’s slipped back dramatically in recent weeks.

None of the photo were perfect or blew me away this week, but I have to admit that Khrystyana was the closest. For once in the VH1 cycles, they didn’t fucked up the lighting, the framing, and the set and the styling are decents. All the elements for a great photo were reunited ! But it doesn’t look like itw as Khrys best picture from that shoot (she had moments on set when she truly blew me away). In this photo she is putting to much tension in her shoulders and in her neck, which happen to be shortened this way. Other than that, the photograph is gorgeous ; there is a glamourous classical modern vibe going on, and I like the fact that Khrystyana  is looking away from the camera rather than making direct eye contact. I’m frustrated, this photo was so close from being a hit !