Jourdan Dunn On Chicken Wings, Beyoncé And Oprah.

A Dunn deal

In this edition of Beauty Bytes, Jourdan Dunn - the British model and brand partner for smartwater in the UK - chatted to me about her love of hot chicken wings, Oprah and Hollyoaks. Three things I never thought would appear in the same sentence as each other.

KT: WHAT’S THE WORST BEAUTY TREND YOU’VE EVER ATTEMPTED?

JD: Ooh worst beauty trend, I mean I didn't try it personally but there was a trend for a while in fashion where they were bleaching eyebrows. I never understood it, plus when you bleach my eyebrows they look like orange. That's not a good look for anyone unless you’re gonna have orange or red hair and I don’t know it was very weird, alien like, so I never got the whole bleaching your eyebrow thing.

KT: BUT YOU NEVER TRIED IT YOURSELF.

JD: Hell no.

KT: GOOD SHOUT. WHAT IS THE BEST BEAUTY ADVICE YOU’VE EVER BEEN GIVEN?

JD: I was reading something from this Korean beauty guru and she said, 'however much time you spend getting ready, like putting makeup on etc, that’s the same amount of time you should take taking it off.' So like if you spend like half an hour then should spend half an hour taking it off. I despise face wipes, I think that’s just disgusting and I feel like you really need to like you know cleanse your face properly and get rid of every bit of dirt and makeup grime.

KT: EXACTLY, AND TAKING CARE OF YOUR SKIN.

JD: Yes, so basically, making sure you take your makeup off before you go to bed is important.

KT: WHAT’S THE BEST BEAUTY PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?

JD: Sunday Riley Good Genes. You can use it as a mask, but I actually use it as a serum, because it helps get rid of dark pigmentation. It helps get rid of dark spots. Genuinely. I had two dark spots, then I used it for a month and they completely disappeared. It's amazing.

KT: IF THE HOUSE WAS ON FIRE, WHAT ONE THING WOULD YOU GRAB?

JD: Oh my Yeezys!

KT: OH REALLY?! WHAT IS YOUR BEAUTY SECRET? IF YOU’VE GOT ONE?

JD: My beauty secret would be, see these secret questions really throw me off guard.

KT: IT IS QUITE A LOADED ONE, SHALL I MOVE ON AND GO BACK TO SECRET AT THE END?

JD: It’s supposed to be a secret! But I use coconut oil for everything from cooking and taking off my makeup, to moisturising my skin and hydrating my hair.

KT: SO YOU LIVE IN COCONUT.

JD: I just live and breathe in it. Oh and I sleep on a silk pillowcase. I’m obsessed with it. I even take it with me on the plane, to hotels, everywhere. Because it’s silk, it’s not harsh like cotton on your skin and your hair. And drink loads of smartwater. You have to stay hydrated.

KT: WHAT ARE YOUR TOP THREE BEAUTY BRANDS?

JD: Ooh okay NeoStrata, because I use basically their whole range on my skin, Sunday Riley, and DCL.

KT: BRILLIANT. IF I TOOK A PEEK IN YOUR MAKEUP BAG RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD I FIND?

JD: Ooh okay so right now there's the Nars Luminous Weightless Foundation, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Gel and Brow Wiz. I really love to look after my brows.

Oh and I actually got sent some of Karl Lagerfeld’s collaboration with Model Co and the lip gloss is amazing - it lights up and has a mirror.

KT: I’VE WRITTEN ABOUT THAT!

JD: It's so good, yeah like I just thought it was going to be a gimmick and actually rubbish, but the lip glosses are really good and it’s super cute packaging. Plus when you take it out and everyone sees the light, everyone’s like oooh.

KT: WHAT ARE YOUR MORNING AND EVENING SKINCARE ROUTINES LIKE?

JD: I’m a skincare freak, so I devote a lot of time to it. I used to follow a 14-step skincare regime in the evening, but I’ve like narrowed that down now I just keep things simple make sure that I use the right products. If I’m wearing makeup during the day, especially from a shoot, I’ll do a double cleanse, I’ll use an oil cleanser and then I’ll use a cream or a foam cleanser and then I use a rose water and aloe vera spritz, which I’ll just make up myself.

KT: YOU MAKE IT YOURSELF?

JD: Yeah.

KT: THAT’S A BEAUTY SECRET.

JD: Oh yeah, that is a beauty secret as well! Yeah, so I spritz that on, put on a serum, then a moisturiser. Then in the morning it’s pretty much the same thing except for the serum and I make sure that I put on sunscreen, which is super important, especially women of colour. People think that women of colour don’t need to put on sunscreen, but that's a myth we actually really do, so I would advise that everyone put sunscreen on.

KT: THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS WELL?

JD: Throughout the day, yeah, yeah.

KT: BEST MAKEUP TIP A PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP ARTIST HAS EVER GIVEN YOU?

JD: I remember when I first started doing shows, this makeup artist, Renee Garnes, who I still work with, got her credit card and put it behind my eyelashes. She then got the mascara and started to apply it against the card. It made such a difference, it looked like I had falsies on.

KT: SO YOU JUST PUT A CARD BEHIND YOUR LASHES, ON YOUR EYELID AND BRUSH IT UP TO IT?

JD: Yeah.

KT: DO YOU DO THE SAME UNDERNEATH OR NO?

JD: You can do.

KT: I’M GOING TO TRY THAT THIS EVENING.

JD: Honestly, so good.

KT: UM HOW OFTEN DO YOU WORK OUT AND WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE FORMS OF EXERCISE?

JD: So the thing with me, I’m not typically consistent. This week I’ve worked out three times, next week will probably be once or twice. I love doing Kobox and training with my brother. And I’ve just discovered this class called Define London.

KT: IS THAT BARRE?

JD: Yeah, I’m obsessed with barre. It’s small movements, but they’re so effective and you’re using muscles that you didn’t even know existed. It’s intense, but effective and afterwards you feel like fucking Super Woman; you feel like you can take on the world.

KT: I AGREE, I DID DEFINE LIKE A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO.

JD: Did you like it?

KT: YEAH I LOVED IT BUT I DIDN’T FEEL LIKE I WAS DOING MUCH AT THE TIME AND THEN THE NEXT DAY I LITERALLY COULDN’T PICK UP MY PHONE, I WAS JUST LIKE URRRRGH.

JD: Yeah, exactly.

KT: UM DO YOU HAVE A SIGNATURE FRAGRANCE?

JD: Yes, Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium. I use it daytime, evening, holiday, Summer, Autumn, Winter; every time. That’s my scent.

KT: HAS IT BEEN LIKE YOU SCENT FOREVER?

JD: Yeah, for like a good four years. Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna change, I’m a loyal, I’m loyal.

KT: ALRIGHT GEORGIA.

JD: Yeah, I’m loyal babe.

KT: WHAT ARE YOUR THREE MOST USED EMOJIS?

JD: Let me check my Whatsapp actually. Ok the smirk, the rolling the eyes and the shrug.

KT: WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK?

JD: Ooh my favourite book. I mean the one that I continuously go back to is Oprah Winfrey's The Wisdom of Sundays - Life-Changing Insights and Inspirational Conversations. You can go to any page and it will have a chapter on gratitude, on love, on forgiveness, it’s just needed throughout your life. That’s my go to.

KT: WHAT’S YOUR CHEAT MEAL?

JD: Hot wings. Actually yesterday I was so annoyed and I wanted to order 10 hot wings from KFC. And then I was like no I’ll regret it, so I just had mushrooms, noodles and asparagus, which was quite fulfilling.

KT: THAT’S STILL NICE.

JD: It was quite nice, I felt good about myself after having it, but I really was craving hot wings.

KT: YEAH IT’S NO HOT WINGS.

JD: Yeah, I do love hot wings.

KT: YOU SAID YOU REALLY LIKE SPICY FOOD, DIDN’T YOU?

JD: Yeah, spicy things.

KT: WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST PICK UP LINE YOU’VE EVER HEARD OR RECEIVED?

JD: I haven’t had any original picks ups to be fair, which is a shame.

KT: YOU’D LIKE SOME.

JD: Yeah I would.

KT: WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE SHOW TO BINGE WATCH?

JD: Hollyoaks, which every time I say that, everyone’s like ‘you still watch Hollyoaks?!’ I’m like yes don’t judge me, that’s the one thing when I’ve been away and I go home and watch three hours worth.

KT: LOADS OF OMNIBUSES.

JD: Yeah, and then Love Island.

KT: JACK AND DANI FOR THE WIN.

JD: I liked Jack and Dani, but then I wouldn’t have minded if Kaz and Josh had won.

KT: WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT TO STALK?

JD: It’s a really bad one. It’s called the ‘The Shade Room’, it’s really really bad. I only go on it to look at the comments, because people are crazy, but yeah I try not to go on it because it’s actually really, really bad.

KT: IN WHAT WAY?

JD: It’s just drama and people shading people, that’s why it’s called The Shade Room.

KT: BUT YOU JUST READ THE COMMENTS.

JD: Yeah I just read the comments.

KT: WHO WERE YOU MOST STAR STRUCK MEETING?

JD: My mum’s always said to me ‘Jourdan, they're just people. They shit just like you, it comes out the same way.’ Which is true, but I feel like Beyonce shits differently to everybody else. So when I first met her, I got really star struck. She came over to me and I lost my shit.

KT: I THINK THAT'S FAIR ENOUGH.

JD: Yeah exactly.

KT: THANK YOU SO MUCH!

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Katie Thomas is the Senior Beauty Editor at Marie Claire UK. With over 10 years of experience on women's luxury lifestyle titles, she covers everything from the best beauty looks from the red carpet and stand out trends from the catwalk, to colonic irrigation and to the best mascaras on the market.