Salon has a really beautiful, thoughtful piece on her:
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/200...9/anna_nicole/
I think the writer hit the nail on the head by describing her not as a candle in the wind but as a "bonfire in a hailstorm."
And the article also says what BuffyM said- when she wasn't overdone to cartoonishness, she was really mind-bogglingly beautiful. I still remember those Guess ads - she was just lovely.