Real Housewives Get a New Look

Lauri Waring, 47

Recently married ("For the third time!"), Lauri now oversees a family of her own three children and the four that her new husband, George, brought into the marriage. Still, she makes time for her daily beauty routine. She arrives at the shoot wearing no makeup ("Well, except for false eyelashes; I feel so bare!"), but she typically wears foundation, mascara, eyeliner, and lip gloss. All her life, she says, she has struggled with her flat hair; once she figured out a way to wear it ("about 40 years ago"), she stuck with it. "I'm such a blondaholic," she says.

The hair: "I want to keep the bombshell look that Lauri likes; it suits her," says Paves. "But instead of set, untouchable hair, I'm giving her a looser, fuller style." Paves uses hairpieces to give Lauri an underlayer of darker color ("It makes thin hair look a lot bulkier") and shorten it by 8 to 10 inches. Then he wraps sections of her hair around a wide-barrel hot iron to give her big, soft waves. "Lauri still looks sexy, and now her hair is thick and full of dimension," says Paves. All-one-color hair tends to look flat; adding highlights or lowlights can add dimension instantly.

The makeup: For her urban look, Lauri wears a sheer foundation, sand shadow on her lids, with chocolate brown in the crease and brown liner on the outer lashline, a sweep of taupe shadow under her eyes, and a couple of coats of black mascara. She likes to wear a lot of shine with shadow and gloss, but a matte makeup palette gives a classic feeling to her all-American beauty.

The clothes: Lauri still dresses the way she did when she was 20, says Adam. She chooses tops with little if any support in bright "look at me!" colors. It's easy to give her a more sophisticated look simply by shifting her color palette to neutrals. In a base of winter whites—from turtleneck to wide-leg trousers—and a casual caramel coat, Lauri looks more polished. Because the neutral theme is carried through from top to bottom, her long, lean silhouette is even more striking. As for her transformation: "I was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it was fun to experiment," she says.

Coat, AK Anne Klein. Turtleneck, The Limited. Pants, Alice + Olivia. Scarf, Vera. Gloves, Kate Spade. Clutch, Ralph Lauren Collection. Belt, Modus Rio by Basically Brazil. Shoes, Christian Louboutin.