Fairest of them all

If there were an Oscar for Best Skin, we all know who would win. Cate Blanchett on staying camera ready, choosing the right dress, and why she hasn't had a facial in years. By Maggie Bullock.

From: Elle Magazine, 2008-03-01
Date added: 2008-03-08

back

As a beauty writer, I thought I had seen it all when it came to good skin. Then I met Cate Blanchett. With only three hours of sleep and a serious case of jet lag, the actress boasted a complexion so creamy, so maddeningly even that I was reduced - and still am, evidently - to stammering about it like a crazed stalker (sorry, Cate).

At press time, Blanchett was up for Golden Globes for two radically different roles, a fearsome royal in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and a fluffy-headed Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. For the moment, though, she was staying close to home, awaiting the birth of her third child and overseeing her passion project, Australia's prestigious Sydney Theatre Company. Her brief pit stop in New York was a chance to reveal her beauty secret - SK-II, a line she relied on long before becoming the face of its ad campaign last month. "My first pregnancy, six years ago, was the first time in my life that my skin went a bit bonkers. It was dry, out of balance, with a trace of melasma," Blanchett says. The Japanese company's sake-based whitening products got things back in order, she says, and she's been "quite evangelical" about them ever since. "You might say I was their unofficial ambassador for years," she jokes.

Your skin is like a walking ad for SPF! How do you do it?
I've always been kind of skin-aware. Because the sun in Australia was so harsh, and I'm so fair, my mum was really sensible and kept me out of it. Now I wear a hat and walk on the shady side of the street. Mum was big on moisturizing, too - she got me into that before I was 10 and always made me do the backs of my hands. Now I douse my two sons in cream after their bath.

Fair skin seems to be an unlikely recipe for success Down Under.
Ha. Yes, you've got me and Nicole Kidman. Maybe it's because we reflect the light? I do think it gave me an outsider's perspective. At school all the cool girls who got the guys were very tan. I was definitely not cool.

How do you handle the constant scrutiny that comes with fame?
I enjoy the dressing up thing for work and for my private life, but 10 or 15 years ago, getting photographed was not something I felt comfortable with. The relationship with a live audience has always felt more natural to me - you're onstage, doing your job, telling a story... I understand that. On-screen, it took me much longer to learn to communicate with the camera, where you don't really know who your audience is.

Do you have a coping mechanism?
Actually, I have this gift of being completely able to convince myself that what I'm working on will never come out. No one will ever see it. Sometimes it's true!

What about the camera that are watching you in real life?
You mean the red carpet? That whole exchange is so bizarre. In the 10 years I've been working in this business, it's gotten worse - the number of cameras has grown at an exponential rate. You know that they're looking for every single flaw. [Stages whispers] But I don't care what they think! I'm dressing for myself and my husband. For the designer, as well.

No wonder you're such a designer darling.
I'm a great lover of sculpture, which is why I love Galliano, Ghesquiere, Gaultier... The silhouettes are so unusual. And with fewer and fewer houses able to afford to produce couture, if someone's willing to let you borrow these things - er, squeeze yourself into them - you really have to.

Do you take fewer risks with hair and makeup than with fashion?
Sometimes you work in opposition to what you're wearing; sometimes you work with it. But events are different from playing a character - I want to feel comfortable as me. And I'm not really a handbag girl, so makeup has to be something I can touch up with lipstick and a little pat of water.

What's your normal at-home beauty routine?
I can do stage makeup easily, maybe because I feel like I'm not making up my own face. Bt in real life I'm a complete spaz when it comes to putting on makeup. I just mix a bit of Stila tinted moisturizer with their bronzing gel. And the SK-II Air Touch spray foundation is so easy, even I can't fuck it up.

Are there any other problem-solvers up your sleeve?
The shorter you can make your makeup time in the morning, the better. So, when I can get around to it, I have my eyelashes tinted, that makes everything easier. You can't do that anymore in this country, though, can you? It's so litigous here!

What about pre-event prep? That must be more involved.
Aside from sleep and vodka? The only thing I do is pop on SK-II masks for three or four days beforehand and the whitening mask the day of. The masks are absolutely brilliant and scare the room-service guys' socks off.

So we're to believe this complexion is professionally unassisted?
I don't really have facials. When do you have time? At 26, I went to this faaaamous facialist in Sydney, who said, "How old are you?! You've got far too many wrinkles for a girl your age! How about some gentle Botox?" Then she told me a whole list of people who had gotten it. Very naively, I said, "But I'm an actress. I need my face to move!" I don't want to go into a facial and be told that stuff, so I just do it at home.

What's your take on fitness?
Chasing two kids? I wish I could say I excersized, but since the birth of my second child, who now is three and a half, I've probably done Pilates about 10 times. I need to get fit, actually!

How did you lose all that weight to play Bob Dylan in I'm Not There, then?
I just stopped eating carbs. Also, I had just finished The Golden Age; it sounds stupid, but the costumes are really heavy, the hours are really long, the responsibilities are really high - so I've lost weight both times I played Elizabeth.

Do you enlist help with your hair, at least?
I have forgotten what my so-called natural color is, and I keep intending to put a mask on it, but forgetting. Perhaps your question has reminded me to do so! I use [trichologist and hair-care expert-to-the-stars] Philip Kingsley's personalized range of shampoos and tonics. A trip to his place in New York is worth its weight in gold.

Care to leave us with a final tip?
Learn to not overpluck one's eyebrows. I had to.

back