Beauty Icon: Alessandra Ambrosio

I've decided to work on a series of occaisional postings concerning my Beauty Icons, the women who look so a..maz..ing that they inspire me to try and improve my own look.

I already do an occaisional series of posts titled 'Loving Her Style', which are all about celebrities where I really like the way they dress and want to try and emulate it (see my posts on Zooey Deschanel, Mollie King, Lana Del Rey and Millie Mackintosh). But that's about clothes, and styling. And there's a whole group of women who's looks I love, but whose dress sense doesn't quite set my world alight, so that's what these postings are about.

First up, the magnetising Victoria's Secret model, Alessandra Ambrosio. Now, this lady has been on my radar for a while, but I never found her the most beautiful VS girl. And I actually still think Candice Swanepoel is the most stunning Angel VS has. But just lately, something about Alessandra has been really captivating my attention. I don't love the way she dresses (let's face it, she's more known for wearing bikinis than actual clothes and the pics I can find of her 'off duty' style show she's very bohemian, which I hate. Anything that looks as if it could smell of incense and patchouli skeeves me out!). But I do love her looks and her makeup.

Specifically, it was this Daily Mail picture of her dressed up as a 'sexy dictator' for Halloween:

Wow, just wow. And then I found myself trying to find out her beauty secrets, using her picture as a motivation to get my butt out of bed for morning gym sessions and avoiding cake! I think what I like about her most is that we have similar colouring, so I'm figuring a lot of her tips and tricks will suit me (although I couldn't hope to look as good!). Also, her look is really sultry, even slightly 'bitch face' which seems to be the type of beauty I admire most!

The Elements of her Look

 

• Bronzed Skin - a key element of Alessandra's beauty style is her golden, sunkissed skin (which I guess is a must when you model undies for a living!). She has said that she prefers a natural tan and leads an outdoors life. But when you live in Blightly, where sunshine is rationed, you are going to need to fake it. I actually don't use fake tan, never have done, but I favour Garnier Summerbody Lotion in the winter to give a hint of a glow.
• Shimmer Skin Makeup - for all those shoots and appearances, Alessandra states they make her body up with a shimmer lotion to enhance her tan. I recommend Pretty Polly Love Legs, to give your skin a similar polished sheen.
• Shimmer Bronzer - Shimmery, bronzed cheeks are Alessandra's M.O. The best product for this is Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks, which allow you to blend different shades to get a multi-dimensional finish.
• Shimmery Brown Smoky Eyes - Alessandra is queen of a more subtle style of smoky eye, where she shies away from black and uses deep browns to really give her eyes a smoulder that's actually very wearable. The shimmering chocolate brown and bronze shades in the Au Naturel eye palette from Sleek will give you this look.

Other Tips from Alessandra:

• Drink coconut water to stay hydrated and promote a healthy complexion
• Preparation H cream under the eyes can help with severe bags
• The most important part of any beauty look is building the right foundation- this means regular exersize, staying hydrated and looking after your skin, nails and hair all the time. This will make anything you do on top look a 1000 times better! Attention to detail is everything!
• Body scrubs are your best friend for when you plan to have a lot of skin on show
• Get those big, flowing beachy waves by using a lightweight, volumising mousse on hair and then a large barelled curling wand. I just purchased the Diva Big Waves, a fabulous tool that either adds deep waves or lock the barrel together for a massive curl! I'll be doing a full posting on this soon.

There is this video where she explains her favourite products, courtesy of Modelinia.

This post from Talking Makeup shows a complete show look for Alessandra, done by make-up artist Polly Osmond, but using all VS products, here.

I love her hair colour-its a bit darker than my current colour, but still has a subtle golden sheen- how does she do that without her hair going lighter and lighter each time?

Who's beauty look do you love?