If you have a box of knowledge around sex you can play safely, and there are lots of ways to love each other. Walking around Paris the other day I noticed an Etam lingerie add where the model is flexing a crop. If you have a crop, it is a powerful tool. If you are striking someone’s body you better know how to strike or when to strike otherwise you are dangerous. You don’t go out and buy an appliance without instructions.

I’m not a creature of habit and neither is my skin; I’m always looking to find a perfect experience. I change with every season and I need to alternate my beauty routine as well. But I always love to start my day with handstands and inverted poses; they bring blood and fresh oxygen to my whole body. And even though it is considered a real ‘no no’ I like to take a hot bath. I always add something to the water either rose petals or bath salts and finish off with a cold rinse.

I’m a redhead so I have delicate skin. In the morning and evening I use my Clarisonic with Shu Uemura cleansing oil rather than soap. I love Bioderma tonic since it’s really gentle. I have issues with dry skin in the wintertime so I use organic face oils to combat dryness. I am a firm believer in going to the Hamam every week and exfoliating. It’s important to detoxify and shed your dead skin cells. I find the whole experience really centering and I love being washed by someone.

Eye makeup removal is a tricky thing, especially if you wear waterproof products. I’ve been using a solution from La Roche Posay and it is such an elegant effortless removal. In the evening I sleep in Weleda Wild Rose Night Cream a couple of times a week, I can feel it feeding my skin, otherwise I don’t sleep in any product. My skin needs to breathe at night.

In terms of makeup I am in love with the Mugler line. They make a pre-foundation that has a lot of blue in it. Being that I am a redhead, my skin has a lot of peach tones, not like my friend Dita, who is made of milk (laughs). This product really evens things out and the foundation is also amazing. That is my base ritual. During the day I don’t wear any mascara at all, I have quite fair eyelashes so if I do a bare eye and red lip it becomes an ethereal look. I love Shiseido lipsticks and of course Chanel nail polish.

I’m a natural redhead but I go slightly darker and a bit more graphic. I don’t take any color out I just enhance it. When I’m in New York, Michael Angelo at Wonderland does my color and in Paris I use Tanya Gandray. She worked with Mugler quite a bit and is my private hairdresser who comes to my home. I don’t like to go to the salon, except to see Michael Angelo of course, because he has a backroom. The whole concept of putting people in windows to hang out for three hours is not for me. In France my lady comes, she does my hair, my feet, she does everything and I adore her. I can hang out in my kimono during the whole process it’s perfect.

Everything is 360 degrees. If I wasn’t always working around the body and pleasure I think I’d go crazy. I have my jewelry work and my design work, which I’ve done forever. For the first time I am working in marble, which is incredible. I will eventually create some small pieces but at the moment I am working in a monumental scale. There is a version of my piece The Origin, which will be three meters high in the process of being finished. It is a monument to sex, and penetration and the origin of each and every one of us.”

Photos by Aimee Blaut in Paris

Tags: Betony Vernon, Bioderma, Books, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Michael Angelo, Mugler, Paris, The Boudoir Bible, Weleda, Wonderland Beauty Parlor

Favorite Brands: Clarins, Armani, Embryolisse, Avene, Bioderma, Shu Uemura, MAC

“ I got into being a fashion & culture writer in an unusual way. I had to take time off of school for back surgery and was terrified to waste a year of my life in recovery. It just so happened that at this time the parents of my friend were launching the fashion magazine DIVA. They asked if I wanted to be an assistant and see if I liked it. We had a lot of freedom and I was promoted to News Editor pretty quickly. It was a wonderful first job in the industry and helped me to develop my point of view.

When the magazine folded its Fashion Editor, Christine Lerche was moving on to become Deputy Fashion Editor at Marie Claire. She introduced me to Marie-Noëlle Demay, Marie Claire’s Fashion Editor-in-Chief. They hired me to create a fashion news page that I write for the magazine every month.”

“My idea of beauty is really fluid. Working for Marie Claire I am exposed to one side of the industry. I am good at keeping an open mind drawing my influences from not only fashion but renaissance painting and cinema as well. Over time I’ve come to learn what becomes me. I’m also very observant – I watch women, how they dress, how they walk, how they move, how they talk, how they do their make-up or not do their make-up… I get inspired by the people around me, and in turn create my own little style drawing from everything I see that I love.

I’m crazy about fair skinned red heads and am drawn to unusual cold beauties. I love a woman who can look great naturally, with hardly any make-up on and still turn heads. Jessica Chastain is my most recent beauty crush. I also love Cate Blanchett, not only has she got perfect skin and a beautiful face, but she has amazing style.”

“When I wake up I’ll spray some Avène Thermal Spring Water on my face. It gently wakes my skin and washes off night sweats. After breakfast I wash my face with Bioderma’s Cleansing Foam and put on my moisturizer of the moment. Next I’ll lightly dab on some of Decléor’s Flower-Dew Moisturizing Eye Gel-Crème to keep my eyes looking fresh. I like to wait a few minutes after this and let my skin rest before I get into my makeup.”

“I never really liked foundation… until I met Armani’s Face Fabric. It was love at first try. I never go without it. I wear it every time I go out and it makes my skin look naturally flawless and dewy. I am minimal with blush and will swipe on some of Guerlain’s Terracotta on my cheekbones. That is about all I do for color : as far as I am concerned, the fairer the better… In terms of my eyes I don’t wear mascara everyday. When I do, I apply Shu Uemura’s Lash Builder as a base to protect and nourish my lashes. It also makes applying mascara a lot easier. I never put anything on my lips (except plain treatments) but I do love to glam’ up my eyes for the evening. And for that, MAC is my best friend. I love their eye liner pens and eye shadows I probably have around twenty different colors.”

”Since summers in Paris aren’t as humid and hot as in they are in the US, the change isn’t too drastic between seasons here. But when I come to NY for the summer my entire regimen needs a revision. To ward off the strong sun I use the Bobbi Brown Protective Face Lotion SPF 15 during the day. I wash my face with Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser twice daily and go to sleep with the Clarins Multi-Active Night Crème on. This is my perfected summer in the city routine.”

“I think that every girl needs the best hairdresser they can find. I found mine at David Mallett. The first time I went there three years ago I felt like my hair had finally found heaven. The salon is hidden in a gorgeous apartment in the 2nd arrondissement. It’s more expensive if David cuts your hair, but the crew working with him is just as talented. They have one look at you and just know what to do. Every friend who listened to my recommendation has become as devoted.”

photos by: THE FORMULA

Tags: Armani, Avene, Bioderma, Bobbi Brown, Cats, Clarins, David Mallett, Decléor, DIVA, Embryolisse, France, Guerlain, Jessica Chastain, Jessica Hausman, MAC, Marie Claire, Nuxe, Shu Uemura