Helena Christensen Breaks Down Her Six-Minute “Sexy Island Makeup Look”

Hey, Vogue.

I m Helena Christensen,

and I m gonna take you through my skincare routine,

and also the way I put makeup up,

the beauty steps for an exotic, tropical beach night.

And first, I m gonna put little clips in my hair.

The first step is the Silk Life Silk Soothing spray.

It s infused with silk,

and it leaves your skin, basically, feeling extremely silky,

and it gives you a wonderful sheen.

[cap clicking]

Just kind of dab it on like this.

[fingers tapping]

[hands clapping]

And I always use the rest of what s on my hands

on neck, chest, and the hands,

shoulders, and elbows.

So the next step is Dr. Loretta s Essence.

I put a tiny bit in the palm of my hands,

and again,

basically, just press it on to my skin,

[ambient music]

and hands, and elbows.

I was a late bloomer in both skin products and makeup.

I had maybe one perfume,

and then frosty pink lips,

and one cobalt blue mascara.

Those frosty lips were basically hideous.

I m gonna put this Skin Science serum on my face.

I just like when your skin looks dewy

and shiny when your own skin sort of gets to be

the main feature of your makeup look.

So with the Skin Science,

I also like to massage my face

at the same time.

It s actually something I love doing

if I have a little extra time in the morning.

Make it a massage moment as well

where I stimulate my skin,

and, basically, do a little lymphatic drainage.

I started discovering products,

I guess, in my early twenties

when I moved to Paris,

and everything sort of just exploded,

all the catwalks, all the shoots.

And this was in the nineties.

It was heavy makeup,

four times fake eyelashes sometimes,

where you could barely keep your eyes open.

And, of course, wearing that much makeup every day

made your skin sometimes flare up,

or feel very sensitive.

So, yeah, I discovered skin products

out of necessity, basically.

My love for products has not stopped since then.

I m now gonna put on a brand I really love: Allies Of Skin.

This one is a brightening serum.

Doesn t matter how much I cover my face with sunscreen,

lots of freckles pop out,

I love freckles, but also sun spots.

So, you know, I just use a bit of the brightening serum

on parts of my face and the chest

absolutely where I get more brown spots.

I m gonna add a bit of moisturizer by Tata Harper.

The way you can smell something,

and you just, you know, dive right into memories

from your life.

Tata Harper s products have this beautiful,

[Helena inhaling]

it s almost calming and soothing

the smell of a product.

And so, when I put them on my face,

[Helena inhaling]

I just try to breathe it in at the same time.

Next, a little eye cream.

And this happens to be from a Danish brand

called Rudolph Care.

And I dab a little on as well.

It s always good to sort of

get a little movement in your face,

which has so many muscles.

If you re on Instagram,

there s a constant popping up of

how many exercises you can do with your face muscles.

And for some reason,

it looks so great when the person in the feed does it,

and I ll be in front of a mirror trying to, you know,

hold my mouth still,

and move certain little, tiny muscles around my face.

It looks ridiculous,

and I m not sure it does anything,

but, at the same time, it makes sense.

You train your body,

but you forget to train your face.

And so I m trying to do something about that.

This is one of my favorite face oils.

You know, women are very natural in Denmark,

and they love using pure, organic products.

And this one is from a company called SARD Copenhagen.

When I put the ingredients on,

I just really like pressing them in

rather than rubbing them in.

I feel that kind of helps with getting the blood to flow.

Actually, when I wake up in the morning,

I usually will lie

with my face hanging over the edge of the bed

to sort of, you know, get the blood going up to the face.

And then I do some neck exercises,

because, again, we sit way too much in front of computers

and with our phones.

The final moisturizer

which is very souffle-like,

this texture, and I love souffle.

So just the name alone made me wanna try it.

[Helena inhaling]

So clean smelling,

and it just glides on your skin beautifully.

So the final step in my skincare routine

is the Silk Life sunscreen.

I am trying to be very disciplined

about protecting my skin,

because I m a very outdoorsy person.

So yes, especially the nose,

cause it always gets very red.

I m going for a sort of very exotic, beachy look.

I like when your skin looks like

it s been kissed by the sun.

So [bottle rattling]

couldn t stop with this,

and shake it very well.

Westman Atelier, you just need so little

to give you that glow.

If I remember my first runway,

I believe it was Valentino.

I got an offer to go to Paris,

and from a very small agency,

I really was not that interested

in the whole fashion business at that point at all,

but into photography.

So I figured, If I go to Paris,

and this works out somehow,

then I can take photos at the same time,

and learn from the photographers.

So I said yes,

and went to Paris,

and booked the Valentino show.

I even think it was Valentino Couture,

which is pretty insane to think about now

that the first time I stepped on the runway was

in these unbelievably beautiful haute couture dresses

that had been fit on my body.

Coming from Denmark, you know,

being a very sort of,

well, almost like a hippie girl,

and then straight onto the catwalk in Paris.

Very surreal.

It started everything,

and I m very grateful for that.

I am gonna do a little bit of concealer.

[ambient music continues]

And this is the Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Wear.

I use my fingers

for almost all the makeup I add on.

I find it to be easier than using brushes.

[ambient music continues]

I will use a little,

a brush to, basically, smooth it out.

I love makeup,

like I love colors,

and I think it s so incredible that you can create

like a little painting in your face.

I m gonna put

this blush on, [tub clicking]

because, look, I mean,

this color is insane.

Fingers first.

Makeup artists always tell you to smile

when they put the blush on,

so they can see where your cheeks actually pop out.

That s where the sun hits you as well.

Before I do the rest of my face,

I m gonna take these,

and then I m gonna put this on my eyelids.

Just a beautiful burgundy color.

It s called Mood,

and I love putting something on my eyelids

that just enhances the natural shadow

that you already have,

and it really makes your eye color pop.

I am gonna use

the Hourglass shimmer.

And, now, that actually makes a big difference.

I am gonna use a brush at the end here

just to blend it in.

To do a little bit of an eyeliner,

that s the wrong side, the other side.

A little bit of a Kitten liner

in the corner of your eyes.

There s high heels,

and then there s kitten heels.

There s eyeliners,

there s Kitten liner.

I m just gonna use this side of the brush

to blend it in.

We are actually in The Bahamas.

I love being near the sea, and sand, and sun,

but it s very hot.

I m just gonna give myself a little tropical breeze.

And where are we?

Oh, lips.

I like natural lips,

but I love red lips.

I m on like a lifelong search

for finding the best red lip colors.

So this lipstick is

one of the very few perfect red colors

I have found in my life.

And this is actually Dries Van Noten,

and then this beautiful red.

Just dab it on first.

[ambient music continues]

Okay, the no-makeup makeup look just fell apart,

because, now, I definitely have makeup on,

and I actually use the other end of the MERIT brush.

At the end, I usually just take this brush

that I used to smooth out the concealer,

and just go over everything to blend it in.

I might put a little on my neck,

and I might just have some on my chest as well.

Fluff up the hair.

My hair just looks the best

when I haven t washed it for many days.

Let s just put it that way.

At the end, I m gonna add a little scent.

I actually make these scents as well

with a friend of mine, Elizabeth,

and designed this little necklace

which has, you can see, like it s a flower on top.

Basically, it hangs

right in between your bosom,

and the heat from your body sort of interacts

with the perfume oil,

and the scent is so, so magical.

[Helena inhaling]

And the rest, I will put into my hair.

So this is my sexy island look.

Thank you for hanging out with me,

and I hope you have a beautiful day.

Bye.

[ambient music continues]