“I was obsessed with aesthetics in high school, and I drove everyone crazy. [Laughs] Mostly my parents, though. I grew up in a really small town in Utah, so I had to work really hard to make, or find, something unique and special to wear. I was always going to thrift and vintage stores—and that’s when I started making clothes. I’d drive two or three hours outside of Utah to buy some turquoise jewelry or something. Fashion wasn’t really a cool thing; it wasn’t, like, a lingo where I grew up. To get a magazine, you would have to go to the big town. So I would go to the catalogue stores for patterns, or fabric stores, where they had Vogue patterns and little stools where you could sit. They never had the pattern you wanted, so you always had to order it and it would take a while. Or, I’d go get vintage clothes and take apart the fabric, because it was so much better and more interesting than anything you could buy. And more affordable, too.

I was also always into mixing my own fragrances. I think the fist scent I ever wore was a weird musky oil that I bought in some kind of hippie store in Utah. It was one of those stores where they press their own flowers, you know? I would buy all kinds of oils in little vials. To me, it wasn’t weird—it was really exotic and amazing! [Laughs] Then when I started to travel, I got into more exciting things. But I think my first perfume memory was a French perfume—I was seventeen in Paris and I remember smelling this perfume called Apres L'ondee by Guerlain. It smelled powdery; it was kind of a Marie Antoinette moment for me. I never liked truly strong perfumes, like the very powerful ones that were in fashion for a while, like Dior Poison. Literally, because I’m so scent-sensitive, I would be in an elevator and my eyes would start watering. It’s like cutting onions for me—I just can’t stand overpowering scents. So, when I started to develop my perfume with Barneys, it was really based on things I had in mind. I knew how I wanted it to behave: I didn’t want it to be hyper-feminine, I wanted it to be a bit masculine… I also wanted my perfume to be something that doesn’t wear you. I don’t wear scent the way most people put it on their skin—I spray it all over after I’m dressed, because I like how it sits on your clothes. That way, it never feels overpowering… You should just barely notice it.

My beauty routine: I have sort of oily and dry skin, so that’s been problematic. I start with my Clarisonic—I love that thing, and I notice when I don’t use it, my skin isn’t as good as it could be. I don’t have great skin; I have to work really hard to have ‘good skin.’ I use it with my cleanser, Dr. Brandt Lineless Foaming Cleanser. It takes all your makeup and anything else off; I really love it. Sometimes, I’ll use Serge Lutens dry-oil Makeup Remover Pads, or Colbert MD Intensify Facial Disks, which are really good to scrub off all the dead skin, too. But before I put my makeup on, I always use the Clarisonic Opal. It works! Especially if you’re wearing makeup and you’re my age…it helps so the makeup doesn’t get all craggy in your eyes. You put a drop of the serum in the little tip, and move it around. I just use it under my eyes—I call it my ‘eyebrator.’ [Laughs]

My new obsession is Colbert MD Illumino Face Oil. It’s super light and you can wear it under makeup. I also go to Colbert for Triads—it’s a type of facial. What I like about it is that my patience level for beauty treatments is really limited, and this one takes about thirty minutes, so it’s perfect for me. [Laughs] I also love Olio Lusso, which I buy at Barneys and wear on the plane and at night when it’s winter. Like here in New York, because of the heat, I cover myself face in it before I go to bed. And, if you have puffy under-eyes, the Natura Bisse Diamond Ice-Lift Mask is incredible. You squeeze it out of a tube, you put on a thick layer—I just do it under my eyes, but you can probably do it on your whole face—and leave it on for forty minutes and peel it off. The whole puff around your eyes goes away. It forms a pretty thick, glossy layer while it’s on, so if you’re having breakfast with someone, like your significant other, they might think it’s not so attractive. But, if you’re in a rush… I mean, sometimes if I have to go to an event and I’m really tired in my office, I’ll just put it on. It’s my time-saving device. I don’t sleep much, and if you don’t get much sleep, puffiness is bound to happen. I’ve used all sorts of eye creams, but I like David Colbert’s Nourish Eye Cream the most. It’s good, it’s gold. And it does help with the puffiness. My favorite body cream is one I buy in London: Boots No 7 Protect & Perfect Intensely Moisturizing Body Serum. I would say I’m based in London, but when I'm in in New York, I always need much more lip balm and more hydration because the heating is so dry here. I try to always have humidifiers in my room—people say they save so much: your voice, your skin, your eyes, everything.

In terms of makeup, I always put one thing on. It could be lipstick, it could be mascara. Otherwise, I use ByTerry Serum Terrybly Sunbooster—it’s like a thin liquid foundation that you put on like a moisturizer. It makes your skin all glowy and nice. Also, I learned a trick with the Givenchy Light Corrective Pen, which is a Touche Éclat thing. I get the No. 2 and the No. 4 and mix them—it looks like you have nothing on. For mascara, since I tend to lose makeup a lot, or I’ll forget to bring it on a trip with me, I usually rely on Duty Free. I like DiorShow, YSL, especially their new Shocking Mascara that makes your eyelashes super long and black—it’s amazing, but it does get dry. That’s kind of the bummer about it. The Dior Best in Show set is also pretty good for making long lashes. And then my favorite kohl is by Prescriptives because it’s super black. When I’m on holiday, that’ my favorite thing to have—I use black kohl pencil and mascara at night, and that’s it. I don’t wear anything else. I love dark eyes when you’re in a sunny climate. And then my lipstick is probably a Bordeaux from my Lancôme holiday collab—it’s still my favorite Bordeaux.

I only wash my hair once a week. [Laughs] So, no, I don’t run out with wet hair often. Because I have really dry hair, I don’t need to wash it all the time. I go to Serge Normant for cuts, and his products are amazing. Actually, his Dry Shampoo is perfect—if my hair gets dirty for any reason, I just get my spray on. I mean, I don’t have a lot of beauty time, and it takes a really long time to wash and blow dry your hair. I have to think, ‘What are my best time-saving devices in the beauty world?’ My hair is naturally this color, except for the gray. [Laughs] I have streaks in there, since my twenties. There was a moment that I thought I should just go with it, and then I thought I really shouldn’t...with my height [6'3], it could be a little scary.”

—as told to ITG

L'Wren Scott photographed by Emily Weiss at the Carlyle Hotel in New York on December 11th, 2012.