Who wouldn’t want to spend the morning with a gorgeous supermodel, racks of Dolce & Gabbana ready-to-wear, and sweeping views of NYC from the roof deck of a $33 million townhouse in Greenwich Village? Beauty Blitz recently had a chance to do just that when our editors were invited by Dolce & Gabbana to a photo shoot with Bianca Balti, the Italian beauty who is currently the face of the brand’s limited-edition Light Blue Escape to Panarea scent. After watching Balti work her magic in front of the camera — she’s so good, she nailed the shot in a matter of minutes — we asked the 30-year-old mother of one for her take on what beauty looks like to her.

 

 

“In the States I guess there is this idea (carried by Italian-Americans on reality shows) that Italian women love to exceed in everything: makeup, sexy clothes, hair extensions. But I grew up in a very simple and plain environment.”

“My mother…barely wore moisturizer cream on her face after washing it with hand soap! She told me not to wear makeup every day, otherwise nobody would have noticed it when I would have done it.”

“I really admire Sofia Loren, a beautiful, successful, strong Italian actress. She is so naturally sexy. She has so much personality, and she didn’t rely completely on her beauty, proving her talent.”

“American habits tend to influence ours, in Italy. Through media, TV, movies and magazines, there is one international beauty ideal today. I’m sure that in a less globalized world, decades ago, Italian women did things differently than American ones. Now we do the same things in Italy, just later. Trends spread in the U.S. and months later reach Italy!”