Lara Worthington, Model & Entrepreneur

With a growing brood (she’s currently pregnant with her second child, sibling to Rocket Zot (1)), and husband Sam Worthington, Lara is now the latest model-turned entrepreneur to impress with a self-designed line. Her bronzing cosmetic range The Base by Lara Bingle, which consists of nine products including a self tanning oil and tinted moisturiser, has won over even the most critical of us – it really is a great line. We caught up with the stunning model in an equally stunning home in Sydney’s Paddington and asked her to divulge how exactly she has honed that effortless appeal.

I’m low maintenance when it comes to beauty.

I love products, but less is more. If I’m not working I won’t wear make up at all, just [The Base by Lara Bingle] LB cream. I wanted it to have coverage because sometimes if I have a spot, it covers it. And I like the Shu Uemura eyelash curler. Jaye Edwards from Edwards and Co does my hair and I use Evo shampoo and conditioner. I like the Bumble and bumble Salt Spray, or the Original Surf Bomb. If I get colour done it’s once a year. I just get out of the shower and I don’t brush it or blow-dry it.

I do my own make up…

most of the time, even for events. If I go to events and stuff, I do probably around three different beauty looks. First is just a very bronzed look, second an eyeliner and third a Nars red lip with no make up, maybe a little bit of concealer around the eye or something.

I’ve had perfect skin my whole life…

and then it became a little weird over the last year, the texture was a bit bumpy and then I would pick, and picking is no good. So over the last year I’ve tried lots and lots of products. I go to Melanie Grant at Double Bay Clinic and I just get a few different facials like a microdermabrasion or peels. But only when I come back here to Sydney. I don’t really trust too many people. I love hydrating masks like the SK-II and using a moisturiser at night.

I only cleanse my skin twice a week…

I am usually on shoots and they take my makeup off for me. When I do cleanse I use the Benefit Clean by CosMedix. I don’t do too much because I feel like it’s creating more for me. So I’ve stripped it all back. When I was young I just used to wear tinted moisturiser.

I use Good Genes by Sunday Riley…

three times a week. It’s like a mask, really hydrating, and plumps the skin. I don’t use a daily moisturiser, just the LB Cream. I’ll sometimes use something before bed, but I can’t travel with too many things. I’ll go with four or five products and that’s it.

On the plane I sometimes look like a freak…

I put the SK-II mask on and I just lay there. And Sam is like, “What are you doing?” He doesn’t even use moisturiser. Nothing. He carries his toothbrush, deodorant, and then that’s it. He’s a typical man.

I think sunscreen is the biggest thing…

I’m very wary of the sun now and I’d prefer to just put a tan on rather than spend hours out there, it’s not good. I start my tanning from head to toe and I always use a mitt, otherwise it just gets everywhere. I’m not really a spray tan girl. I like to be able to control my tan. If I do my face, I’ll sometimes use an ice cube to close the pores around my nose.

If I could spend every day in bed…

I would. I prefer just to stay at home, I don’t really go out much. I’ve gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. For me to go out to dinner with my friends is a massive thing. I could not go out of the house maybe for four or five days. I read, I spend a lot of time on my computer and I have a fitness regime that I can do in the house and in the hotel.

I train with Rodney…

he was Sam’s trainer. My routine is all mat work. Lots of sit-ups and leg lifts at high repetition. At low weight, no more than five kilos. Sometimes when I’m in hotels I just use the gym and that’s all I’d really use, just five kilos and a towel. I also have a leg routine, lots of dog lifts, kick backs, just all core and body work. I do it most days.

I run a lot…

but then I have breaks. On average, three times a week. I love going to Icebergs. It’s really full-on sometimes, but going there, doing a gym session, a sauna, and then the swim in the ocean is probably my favourite thing to do when I come to Sydney. And even just like walking Bondi to Bronte is nice.

I’m a pescatarian…

but I still eat peanut butter toast, vegemite with avocado, and that’s what I love coming back to Australia.  And I use butter and peanut butter, which not very many people do. They’re kind of my vices, and then I just cook mainly everything. I like to cook all different types of salads, with roast sweet potato, or fruit. I also always like coming home and doing a green juice cleanse with Orchard Street, but I can only last a few days, it’s really tedious.

I love everything in my own space…

which includes hotels. The Aman in Venice is like a dream and Reethi Rah, the One&Only in the Maldives is also quite good. In New York I stay at the Greenwich in Tribeca, it’s like a home. I always look for hotels across the world where it’s like not a hotel. And then in Paris I stay at the Four Seasons, that’s very nice. I’m very lucky. In Sydney I normally stay with my mum. That’s better than any hotel. I’ve been here for two weeks, and then we go back to Europe on Thursday until January and then we live in the US. [Lots of] houses and hotels, so it’s nice to be home for a little bit.

I don’t have very much stuff with me…

because I travel so much. I bought both my Cartier love bracelets myself and Sam bought me the Diorearrings. He got black and white, because he didn’t know which ones.

It took me just under 12 months…

to get my product out. I wanted to do it completely myself and with no manager so I just started from scratch. I first went to the Invisible Zinc lady, Andrea Horwood-Bux and then I sourced two women to help me create the product and it’s been good. It’s been very intense, I thought just doing nine products sounded really small, but it’s a lot. I think you’ve got to be across it if you really want it to be yours.

I like being my own boss…

and the business side of things. It can get really gnarly because it’s all on you. I like just learning what’s involved, every single dollar that’s coming in and out and just things I had no idea about. It’s been a massive learning curve and that’s the reason why I did it, to learn something different, just starting from scratch and seeing what it takes to create something. It’s been really, really interesting.

I checked out different avenues like sunscreen…

but I always kept coming back to the tanning and bronzing because I love the illuminators and the LB cream. I didn’t know how to create a range that also fitted into tanning as well, so I just made my own range. It’s kind of like cosmetic and tanning, and I think that’s what happens when you create a range – you want to get something different. So I mapped it all out and every product kind of goes back with every product. It’s like a wardrobe, you know you put all your things in. The way I dress is like the key pieces and then I just add things, so it’s a very similar scenario. The Base name just came to me in the car one day, just very randomly. I had lots of different names, but I just always kept coming back to that.

The highlighter and contouring is my favourite…

the matte bronzer and the shimmer, because you can put them together. You can put them with moisturiser and you can contour your face. I wear the LB cream every day, it’s real easy. I’ve learnt a lot from Victoria about contouring, it’s all underneath. Think of it like mountains. You’ll highlight the tops of the mountains and you contour the bottom, so it’s kind of like highlighting all the areas that you want to put forward, and then underneath contouring. That’s how I’ve taught myself and I’ve just learnt from being on set my whole life getting my make up done.

Interview by Sigourney Cantelo; Photography by Jake Terrey; Hair and Makeup by Victoria Baron; Styling by Marina Afonina; Still-life styling by Chrisanthi Kaliviotis; Arranged by Ally McManus.