I was hanging out for New Zealand’s Next Top Model all weekend, avoiding and spoilers until I could finally get a moment to catch up.  This week was the inevitable makeup week, who was going to get their hair cut off?

Poor Lauren was appalled at her new sharp bob, while Courtenay loved her Twiggy style hair cut. I thought they both looked fantastic.

More interesting then the girls actual makeovers, was a small fiasco over poor photoshopping of the girls makeover photos. Two of the girls on the show, Amelia and Lara who are constantly referred to as ‘bigger girls’, had noticeable work done to their photos. This photo surfaced of Lara’s leg:

I know that there’s a lot of retouching involved, but just doesn’t at right with me for some reason. I am happy the the girls aren’t retouched to look unnaturally thin, but still can’t see how Lara could be considered a ‘bigger girl’ in the first place. At any rate - perhaps a new re-toucher is needed. Issac Likes has more on this topic.

Back to the show… The girls face a networking challenge, where there task was to meet, great & mingle with industry people. Some of the girls were more successful than others.

Watching Dakota attempt to mingle and network was nothing short of painful, unfortunately she missed the point and rather than engage with the the industry players at the event she scalped business cards and embarrassed herself. Quote, “Some of the girls have got to understand that they’re dealing with corporate professionals and there is some behavior that is acceptable and some that isn’t. Unfortunately Dakota crossed the line a little.”

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In this weeks photoshoot, with photographer Fiona Quinn, the girls were photographing jewelery and working with a bird live bird. Some of the girls got along with the bird more than other.

Here’s my favourite shots from this weeks shoot:

Danielle - Even though Danielle demonstrated that she can’t walk on the runway, walking slow and wobbling, she took a stunning photograph looking straight down the barrel of the camera.

The twins, Elza and Nellie - The twins are being put under pressure. Gifted with identical makeovers, and identical clothes the show is pitting them against one another to see who is the better model. Elza has a panic attack as she figured it out. Oh no, we’re in a competition.

Eva - Eva looked stunning, I love those eyes!

Lauren - Lauren looked amazing following her makeover, the new hair cut looks incredible. I was glad to hear that she came around and started to like it by the end of the episode.

Poor Sara was a bit stick, which led to this wee Colin gem:

When Sara said she had laryngitis we thought it was a European designer.

I was surprised that Dakota didn’t end up in the bottom 2 after her generally poor behavior in the challenge and the shoot. It was Afreen who was sent home after a previously solid performance (although she’s already represented by a modelling agency, so life goes on).