A Face You'll Remember

As we draw to a close in 2011, we've seen the ebb and flow of Playmate quality in its most exemplary form. The first months of the year were wallowing in mediocrity, with some of the poorest Playmate performances we've seen in years. Fortunately, things have picked up for the close of the year, and that's quite an understatement.

Miss November 2011, Ciara

Tiffany Toth led the charge by lending her Cyber Girl experience to good use, creating a polished, gorgeous Playmate persona. Amanda Cerny followed that up with her unique look and spectacular size. To continue that upward trend, we now find the breathtaking Ciara Price as Miss November.

Ciara is a Maine native whose understated and humble personality can be immediately endearing to Playboy's audience. On top of that, she is just a beautifully radiant girl - one who is amazingly well-suited to a passive posing style due to her spectacular features. To sum her up, it's ok to just look at her being Ciara, and nothing else. No frills and no embellishments are needed with Miss Price, and when photographed well, she flourishes as one of the top models we've seen this year.

Really, Playboy had the right idea going in. Her girl-next-door, unpretentious charms are displayed in full force in her move-in photos, where she steals the scene in a low-key setting. Ciara is nothing if not commanding by just being herself, just flashing a smile here and there. And throughout her photos, the most amazingly striking detail is her face - simply put, Ciara has one of the most beautiful smiles you've seen in forever. Couple that with a twinkle from those small, squinty, cute eyes, and you have a girl who can melt the camera with just one look.

With a face like that and a nice, petite body to boot, you can't think it could go wrong, right? It did. And you can blame the editors for it. Ciara is a model who should be passively displayed, but instead she's worked into poses that don't work for her. The main problem, though, is the lack of any sexual sensation in the entire spread. Most of it is unbelievably prude, with strategically hidden vagina shots in otherwise gorgeous photos. It all just cheapens the experience that Ciara could potentially provide, and that's just a very sad reality.

• Face: A+
  Ciara doesn't just have the most beautiful face this year (surpassing Jaclyn), but easily has the best since Laura Croft back in 2008. She has a unique sparkle to her congenial smile that instantly attracts and centers herself as the subject. With squinty but distinctive eyes and a beautiful tendency to lay her blond bangs over her face, this feature makes her simply irresistible and establishes her as a serious model in 2011.
• Body: A-
  While her body doesn't add much to her overall allure, it is solid and sexy, and certainly doesn't take away from her performance. Her breasts are natural, nicely sleek lines and a slim profile with  curves in all the right places, creating a great silhouette when photographed right. With that head on her shoulders, it's hard to concentrate on anything else, but her naturally glowing look is without many flaws.
• Talent: B+
  Ciara never really takes it to the next level in terms of her posing. She is rather passive, which may be a byproduct of an unimaginative pictorial. However, she doesn't ever need to do a whole lot, and doesn't. With her face and appearance being well suited to a passive girl-next-door stance, she does it well, and respectably.
• Pictorial: B
  It's sad when a gorgeous girl like Ciara has her reputation dragged down by poor material, but this is a textbook case. While her pictorial isn't ugly by any stretch, it's prude and holds back so much that it makes you yearn for a little more exposure here and there. Ciara always looks willing, but always holds back just enough to frustrate the audience. Although the model makes up for some of the poor production and lack of imagination, it leaves you with an unpleasant taste.
• Centerfold: B
  Miss Price's centerfold isn't much to shout about, taking from her black lingerie motif. If it came from her "move-in" series, it might have been a home run. However, it does a good job of accentuating her legs, albeit a relatively small 5' 4" frame.
• Overall: A-
  It goes without saying that Ciara is a classic case of Playboy not taking advantage of a great model when they have one. Ciara could easily take the cake as one of the finest Playmates we've seen since last year, but instead she stays at the muddled front third of the pack. In a year where we've seen some definite lows give way to some awesome highs lately, we can safely conclude that Ciara will place near the top of most Playmate polls. With her polished, understated look and naturally breathtaking face, she should easily be in the PMOY race. While she does carry herself wonderfully, she still lacks much of the experience and zeal of a Toth or even her predecessor Cerny. This year's PMOY race will come down to a sheer moment of personal preference by the editors and fans, and whatever sticks will pull one girl through. With the mediocrity of Ciara's pictorial, she can only hope that audiences look beyond to her stunning visuals.