Jessica Hart
In the canon of low-maintenance beauties, Jessica Hart has earned a place at the top. When the Australian model isn’t gracing the pages of international editions of Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and LOVE, her off-duty routine revolves around creating a sheer, sun-kissed luminosity. Credit for that outer glow goes to LUMA, her collection of pearl-infused makeup and skin care—and as for her inner radiance, she’s got that in abundance, too. Quick to laugh and utterly unpretentious, Jess is a sweet, bold, and funny girl's girl. We love her for it. You will, too.
Here, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley catches up with her longtime friend (and, perhaps, future neighbor) via phone.
Hi, Jess!
How's it going?
Good, babe. How are you?
I’m so good. I’m actually in Los Angeles. I just got back from Australia and I was popping through, so I thought I’d stop for a minute. Tomorrow I’m back to New York to get back to my little dog. It’s gonna be cold.
It's going to be freezing, so stay in LA as long as you can.
I know. Maybe I’ll just go to New York, get my dog, and come back. I’ve got to make the move eventually.
Oh, good! Last time I saw you, you were saying you were going to move to LA.
I’ve been saying it for years, but I think I’m getting closer and closer. That’s how I roll in life. If I want something to happen, I kinda slowly start planting the seed, and then it eventually happens.
I’ll be glad to have you in LA. And I won’t keep you too long because you need to get back out in the sunshine. So first thing, you and I have both been models for, well, a minute or two, let’s say.
A minute.
It's been a while. What's the most valuable thing you've learned over your career?
Learning to hold your identity through it all is really hard. It’s easy to get confused as to who you are. We get caught up in the way that we dress or beautify ourselves. Are we doing it for ourselves? Are we doing it for what we think people want to see from us? In the long haul, I’ve learned to just stay true to who you are, and do things because you want to do it, and dress the way you want to dress. Try not to take in everyone’s opinions and try to be independent.
Yeah, I know the feeling.
I think we all fight who we are to try and fit into a box, but then we’re so foreign in that box—it’s not us. Then you finally come back to your roots.
For sure. And I think it’s probably safe to say that you and I have a similar philosophy on beauty. To me, it’s always best when makeup enhances one’s unique features rather than trying to fix something that isn’t broken.
I agree. That’s one of the tricks I’ve learned in the makeup chair: Always work with what you have and highlight your natural features instead of trying to conceal them. If you have bushy eyebrows, roll with it. If you have rosy cheeks, work with it. Learn the colors that work for you. It’s so much easier once you know yourself.
Speaking about what we have, can we talk about your smile? I think the gap in your teeth is one of the most beautiful things about you. It makes you stand out in such a good way.
It’s such a funny thing because I’ve never known any other way. If I step outside of myself and look back, I’m like, “Oh, it’s a crazy thing. I have a gap in my teeth!” It’s one of those things that’s just so normal to me. I’ve never felt like it’s something to feel ashamed of or to have “fixed.”
That’s so cool, because I often see women in the industry pressured to change things that make them unique—like Cindy Crawford’s mole.
When I first signed on as modeling, my contract said that I couldn’t have the gap in my teeth closed.
I love that. And I love your confidence. When do you feel you're most confident? I like to ask women that.
These days, I get a lot of comfort in being around my family. Whenever I’m around my sister, I feel so confident. It’s the only time I’m probably not thinking about what other people think.
Well, they say your family's the closest link to who you are.
Yeah. I’ve just been home with all my friends and family that know me so well, and it’s really nice to have their affirmation that I haven’t changed and I’m still the original me. That makes me feel so confident about everything else now. It’s really easy to get caught up in everything, and then you go home and it’s like, “No, I am who I am—and I’m happy with who I am.”
That’s so great. Do you consider yourself to be low-maintenance when it comes to beauty or are you more of a beauty maximalist?
I’m extremely low-maintenance. I could actually use a little more maintenance! I always do something, but it never takes more than five minutes unless I’m going out for dinner. It’s always “less is more.” I don’t mean to sound like, “Oh, I don’t need anything,” but more in terms of no fuss. Brows, eyelash curler, moisturizer, tinted beauty balm, highlighter, and you’re off.
I've learned to just stay true to who you are, and do things because you want to do it.
Tell me about what your skincare regime consists of. What products you use? What treatments do you love?
One thing I’ve struggled with, probably being Australian and making mistakes in the sun, is the sun damage. That drives me crazy. I have to be really careful these days. I’m always trying different sunscreens—what works, what doesn’t, what works under makeup—so I’m playing with a few of them. But I love [Weleda] Skin Food. I’m loving hyaluronic acid; anything with that goes straight onto my skin. And then usually a tinted moisturizer.
Do you know a facialist called Melanie Grant in your neck of the woods?
No! Melanie Grant? Who's she?
She's an Australian esthetician and I know a lot of my Australian girlfriends see her. She's moving to LA and I'm excited to go see her when she gets into her space.
The name actually rings a bell. I didn't know she was Australian.
Well, that answers that question. We can both go and see her for the first time together.
Year, 100 percent! I'd love that.
Okay, done. So when you're not working, what does your daily makeup look like?
My daily routine is basically just my Luma range, starting with the bronzing primer, followed by tinted beauty balm, highlighter, and occasionally a little bronzer. Or I’ll just go slightly darker in my tinted moisturizer if I need a little color. Eyelash curler—I rarely wear mascara, but when I do, it’s Dior or Kevyn Aucoin—and so much lip balm. I have 85 lip balms at any one point. I was born with dry lips.
What about your hair? What do you do to take care of it?
I love Kevin Murphy’s Angel Wash and Angel Rinse as my shampoo and conditioner. My hair gets really silky as soon as it’s clean, but if I put any sort of texturizing spray, it gives it good texture. There’s this Davines OI All In One Milk—it’s insane. I spray it all on the ends so they stay hydrated, but it’s not oily at all and it smells incredible. It’s a combination of those two products. And I wash it as little as possible to keep it from drying out.
Yeah. I used to wash my hair every day, and since becoming a mum I don't have the time. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Wash less! Your hair will love you for it.
Wash less! Your hair will love you for it.
I would say that now I have a choice: Do I choose to do my hair or my makeup before I leave the house? And I always do a little bit of makeup, and my hair just goes straight back in a bun. But let me shift gears for a second because I want to know all about Luma. Every time I get my makeup done, I see at least one Luma product in the makeup artist’s kit.
That’s so nice to hear. I re-launched the brand about a year ago because I wasn’t happy with the original packaging. So I changed it, and that was a huge triumph because it was a huge risk in the first place to even take everything off the shelf. We had downtime of a year—no products on shelves!—and it’s hard to come out with a 2.0 version. But I took the risk of doing it and it’s been so well-received. I couldn’t be happier. The next step is getting it to the States. That’ll be my next triumphant moment.
This is my last question, and I know it’s a little early to start talking about 2019, but are there any personal goals that you can share?
Well, definitely having my line in the States is my main focus. I don’t know what that looks like yet, but that’s the personal goal. I’m not much of a pre-planner, which is probably something I should put in my New Year’s resolutions: maybe plan ahead a bit more.
But earlier, you said you have this idea of moving to LA. It sounds a little bit like, although you might not think you’re planning, things can happen once we start thinking about them. I believe any success that we have as individuals is usually down to seeing what we want in our future.
One hundred percent. You’re so right. There are so many things I’ve thought about and then they become true, but I never viewed them as goals. Still, I knew what I wanted. My main one right now—the one I want to voice and put into the universe—is just planning the right fit for LUMA in the States. And, yeah, maybe I’m moving to LA!
Well, those are good place, and I'm excited. On that note, Jess, I'm gonna let you go.
Okay, big kiss, babe. Bye!
Photographed by Ford at The Standard in Hollywood.
