Transformation

During her sis-boom-bah high school days and from 1990 to 2002 on All My Children, Kelly Ripa let her hair and makeup do all the talking (or in some cases, the shouting). "There was no subtlety in soap-opera makeup then. It was dramatic, like the plots," says makeup artist Kristofer Buckle, who has worked with her. Today her baby blond locks "complement Kelly's face without overpowering it," her usual hairstylist, Oscar Blandi says. Ditto for her makeup. "She's cultivated a refined beauty that highlights her bone structure," Buckle says. "It can't get in the way of her effervescent personality." What could?

"I had tanorexia," Ripa has said of her days as a Voorhees, N.J. cheerleader, along with "hair as big as it could possibly get."