March 29, 2024

Bianca Balti is a name synonymous with sun-drenched Italian beauty. Little wonder then that the catwalk veteran has spent the best part of a decade fronting one of fashion’s most iconic summer fragrances, Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue.

Below, the 38-year-old mother of two opens up about what she really thinks of the famous Italian beauty aesthetic, her desert island must-haves, and why she’s not worried that her teenage daughter is far more proficient than her when it comes to make-up…

On “extra” Italian beauty

When you think of Italy, the image of a winged eyeliner, red lip and tumbling dark hair comes to mind almost as easily as pasta and pizza; high glamour and femininity are front and centre. But that’s not always been the case for Balti. “When you’re from a place, you don’t always see it from that perspective” she says. “But since I’ve lived in Los Angeles, I’ve come to really love my heritage, and there’s lots of be proud of.”

Vittorio Zunino CelottoGetty Images

Americans, she says, see Italian beauty as “very extra!”, but to her, it’s a balance. “My mum was a bit extra in some ways – tanning with the reflective screen out, even in the winter. But it’s also effortless. It’s so engrained in us, that it doesn’t need to be over the top.” Immaculate but effortless, is how she sees it.

“I also think Italian beauty is always seen as summery,” she adds. “You never associate Italy with the winter. It’s sunshine.”

On inherited beauty regimes (and how they can “skip generations”)

“I’m a self-confessed lazy girl” says Balti when asked if she has inherited any “extra” beauty genes herself, “I don’t like to wear a lot of make-up.” In a recent TikTok video in fact, Balti’s 14-year-old daughter Matilde chooses and applies her make-up for her. She admits to us that, despite having a lack of interest in it herself, she loves how her daughter uses make-up to express herself. “It’s amazing! I don’t want her to hold back at all with it.” she says, “It’s so her. It’s her way of expressing herself.”

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Balti with her daughter Mia McRae in Venice in 2017

Ernesto Ruscio

It seems as though her daughter’s interest was likely inherited from Balti’s grandmother, who the model says was “so glamorous – always wearing lipstick in the house, going to the hairdressers once a week”. Her own interest levels, however, are more akin to her mother’s. “I remember as a child my mother wore this orange-red lipstick once evening, and I remember saying, ‘Wow you look amazing. Why don’t you wear it every day?’. She told me, ‘If wore it every day you wouldn’t have this reaction.’.” The words stuck with her, and Balti now takes a similar approach, opting for a bare and beautiful face day-to-day, and statement-making moments when the occasion calls for it.

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On the time-travelling power of perfume

Despite being the face of such a famous fragrance, for such a significant length of time, Balti treats her perfume like her make-up. “I’m not an everyday scent girl”, she says, “for me it’s a special thing. I put on my heels, my make-up, my perfume. It’s part of the dress up.”

Fragrance also, like for so many of us, takes her on a journey to the past, and her partnership with Dolce & Gabbana is particularly special to her because of it. “The brand didn’t know before I started working with them, but Light Blue was my first ever perfume,” she tells us. “I had that one aunt – doesn’t everybody? – who was so on point with presents, and she gave it to my for my 14th or 15th birthday.” The scent, which was “so trendy” at the time, reminds her of those teenage years still. “The memories are, like for everyone, both happy and complicated. But I love to think of those years, going back in my head. It gives me all the feelings.”

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Courtesy

Her “lazy girl” Desert Island must-haves

Balti’s number one must-have today is sunscreen, but she admits that wasn’t always the case (“I wasn’t a sunscreen girl, but now I am”). If decamping to a desert island, she’d also take her nostalgic scent with her – to brighten her mood but also “just in case there’s anyone else out there on the island. The scent alone would attract them”.

Her third pick would be a hat, as an added layer of sun protection. “My dream day is just laying down under the sun,” she says. “I’m impatient when it comes to lots of things, but at the beach I fully relax. I could do it forever.” It seems sunshine really is the key to Italian beauty.

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