Rosie Green met with fashion editor and style blogger Laura Fantacci to find out what beauty secrets lay within her beauty stash
Mixing Italian flair with London edge Laura Fantacci’s Wearing It Today blog is the ultimate fash-piration. Rosie Green gets an access all areas pass on her beauty haul and finds she likes products. A LOT.
What are your can’t-survive-without skincare products?
I’m obsessed with my skin feeling 100% clean. I like to wash my face in the shower using either Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel , £27, or Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish , £13.25. Both are brilliantly non-drying and remove my eye make-up easily too. Then I use a couple of drops of SkinCeuticals Hydrating B5 serum , £59, to give my skin plumpness. It’s expensive, but my last bottle went from June to September. I also use their Daily Sun Defense, SPF 20, £27.
I love using a face oil in the evening. It feels like a warm, nurturing hug after a long day. My favourite is Vaishaly Night Nourisher , £75. For facemasks I love Dermalogica Skin Hydrating Masque , £31.90, which is brilliantly cooling in the summer (I keep it in the fridge). In the winter I love Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Mask , £32.90. I’ll use Dermalogica Skin Resurfacing Cleanser , £35.60, about once every two weeks, really massaging it in. You’re a little red straight afterwards, but the next day you really glow.
How do you keep your body photo-ready?
I love a body scrub, but it has to be really tough one! I don’t like the oil-based products, so I love Clinique’s Sparkle Skin Body Exfoliator, £18.50, or Bliss Super Minty Soap n Scrub , £23.50. I like oils in the bath; the most blissful is REN Moroccan Rose Otto Bath Oil , £30. I prefer a body oil to a body moisturiser and load on Weleda’s Lavender Relaxing Body Oil, £11.95.
Every day make-up essentials?
I always start with the same base, either Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer SFP 20 by Laura Mercier, £33, or Embryolisse BB Cream Secret De Maquilleurs (available from French pharmacies). Its pigment changes to work with your skin tone and it gives the perfect matte texture. I like bronzers too, but not the shimmery ones; Armani bronzers are perfect. For blusher I like NARS Orgasm Blush , £21.50. And I always use Benefit’s Sun Beam , £19.50, on my cheekbones, down my nose to slim it and sometimes on my décolletage.
Talk us through your favourite make-up looks?
My make-up has changed since I’ve had a baby. I need looks that are quick to apply.
For a more rock ‘n’ roll look I use Armani Eyes to Kill Intense Eye Shadow , £21.86 in No 15, which I rub on with my fingers. It’s black/gold, almost wet looking, and gives a Gwyneth Paltrow-type glossy smokey eye. I like it to look a little messy. Then I just do one coat of mascara. You don’t need a full on lash.
If I’m going to focus on my lips I’ll choose either a winter colour or a summer colour. In the summer I like an orange-y coral. FACE Stockholm’s Chili Flake (only available in the US at J Crew) or Lady Danger by MAC , £15. For winter I’m loving a berry lip. Currently I’m using a NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella , £17.50. And I’ve just discovered the Extreme Sheen Lip Gloss from Hourglass , £21.50, which stays on all day. Again I’ll just do a teeny bit of mascara.
When I do eyeliner I use Bobbi Brown Ink Liner, £20. Or the MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot , £15, with a brush. I’ve tried cheaper ones but I think you get what you pay for.
And give us the lowdown on your hair?
I had super long hair, but after I had my daughter I felt ready for a change. I discovered George and Sally Northwood at Josh Wood Atelier, who now cut and lighten it. I sit there for six hours and I faint every time I get the bill but it is worth it. I’m not fussy about shampoo. I use one called Mustela Baby Shampoo, £7.50, which I buy from a French pharmacy for my daughter. I don’t use conditioner, but rough dry it with salt spray - the Lavett & Chin Sea Salt Texturizing Mist , £25. It looks better if I sleep on it damp.
Team Me
Make-Up: Dani Guinsberg did the make-up for my wedding and has taught me lots of great tricks.
Brows: Adriana at Spitalfields Benefit . Amazing and pain free.
Manis and pedis: Bliss on Sloane Avenue. These are the ultimate treat.
Hair: George and Sally Northwood at Josh Wood Atelier.
Credits
Editor: Rosie Green
Photographer: Kirstin Sinclair
Hair: Jay Zhang at Era Management