Harry Brant

Harry Brant
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Harry Brant
Harry Brant

“I’ve had my own bathroom since [my brother] Peter left for college. He still comes and messes everything up when he’s home for the holidays—or actually almost every single weekend. So, it’s not really my own bathroom, but I like to consider it that.

I’m very particular with my skin—I don’t really take one person’s advice because everyone’s skin is different. So, someone can be like, ‘I swear by this,’ but maybe you’ve never had acne! People who’ve had cystic acne, I will typically take their advice on how to get it down. My mom [Stephanie Seymour] has been a big help—she knows a lot about what to do and she knows all the tricks. She’s always like, ‘Don’t touch it. Whatever you do, don’t touch it!’ My skin is so bad right now, like the worst it’s been in forever. I’m sixteen; I guess that’s what happens. [Laughs] I’m a freak about it. I use everything.

I do the Clarisonic every day. I love it because it makes me wash my face for two minutes—it makes you take the time instead of just quickly scrubbing. Whenever I get a new pimple, I'm like, ‘It’s because I’m not doing the Clarisonic enough!’ For breakouts, all of Dr. Orentreich’s products are fantastic. When I go to his office, my mom makes me buy her the overnight pimple treatment in huge bulk, and Kate Somerville has a similar thing, EradiKate, that works, too. You put it on and after one day—especially if you have cystic acne—it disappears. I first met Dr. Orentreich through my mom, who sees him. It’s nearly impossible to get an appointment, but I’m obsessed with what he makes, and you can only get the line at his office. I use his oil-free moisturizer because I just went on Claravis again, which is basically Accutane, and I’m not allowed to use moisturizers with oil in them.

In terms of scrubs, I go between Sisley’s Buff & Wash Facial Gel or Kate Somerville’s ExfoliKate. They’re both intense—with cleansers, I definitely do have a little bit of me that’s like, ‘If it’s not hurting, is it working?’ If it’s not stinging, nothing’s happening. [Laughs] At one point, I was exfoliating too much with this exfoliator that was made of, like, crushed rocks, and it messed up my skin so bad. But I got over that. Now, I wash my face in the shower—I take two showers a day, and I never stand in the shower; I’m too tired. I just put a towel on the floor and zone out—it’s relaxing. I’ve even brought my computer in and placed it on the bench in the shower, to listen to audio books. It’s far enough away so it doesn’t get wet. But one time, I did break my computer because it fell off, so I stopped bringing the whole thing in and now I have little speakers that connect, which are so loud that I can hear it in the shower... I spend so much time in my shower that I may or may not have recently Googled ‘waterproof pillow.’ [Laughs] What I found is not something you’d want to buy.

I’m super into a beauty ritual. Like, occasionally I’ll put on Clé de Peau Body Cream, Lubriderm, or Vaseline and Saran Wrap myself. Here’s what you do: you put it all over your arms, hands and feet, put on a pair of socks and then you wrap your arms and your elbows, and then…you go on a jog… [Laughs] Seriously, it just makes your skin so freaking soft, like you wouldn’t believe. The acne medication dries out my skin, so I’m always trying to put moisture back in.

My skin can go to shit so fast—if I’m not on top of it for a week, the downward spiral starts. But about a year ago, I worked really hard to get my skin to perfection, to the point where there wasn’t a blemish, and when that happened, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t have to cover up acne or anything. Now I can have fun with all the beauty stuff that’s out there.’ So, I started to look into all the different things you can do with makeup and beauty products, and it became an obsession that’s kind of just festered since then. Pat McGrath played a really big part, as well. I went backstage with her at the Versace show a few seasons ago and I saw Karlie [Kloss]’s face with her makeup done perfectly and skin that was so dewy… Which got me into trying to achieve the whole dewy thing.

Actually, today is the best that I’ve been able to achieve that dewy look in, like, months. After washing my face and exfoliating and all of that, my routine only takes two seconds every morning—barely any time. I do it in the car on my way to school. I just use Amore Pacific Tinted Moisturizer—oh my god, it’s amazing. The key is you have to apply it with one of these Beauty Blender sponges. I never would have used one in a million years—I thought it would completely defeat the purpose of using your hands to heat the product up—but now I bring one in my backpack. [Laughs] I have a North Face. It’s very Connecticut. All I do is wet the sponge slightly and add some of the tinted moisturizer, and dab it on. It covers up anything you want. It won’t do the same thing as concealer would, but it just makes you more…even-toned and luminous, I think. I love luminous. But that’s only for school when I’m not putting on makeup; otherwise, I would never go out in just that. But wait, is tinted moisturizer ‘makeup’? I actually don’t even know; I’m starting to realize that it’s just diet foundation.

I don’t know a lot of guys outside of fashion that wear makeup, but I know hundreds of girls who complain about guys that don’t. I’ve never met one girl who’s not like, ‘Why wouldn’t he just put on a little concealer?’ Like, if you have bad skin, why would you want to let it hang out? I don’t think it’s a big deal to wear makeup, especially in fashion; I don’t know one person who doesn’t wear something. For school, it’s just Amore Pacific and the Beauty Blender. But if I’m going out, I have a little foundation group, and I mix two of them: Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in #2 and #5. Pat McGrath developed those, I think. And if I’m on vacation and I can’t prevent my skin from getting tan—I can wear 100 SPF and I will still get dark—I have the Dolce & Gabbana The Foundation in Caramel #110. I also love their Creamy Foundation more than anything, but the jar is messy and you need to use a brush. At first, I didn’t know how to do it and I was literally caking it on—like, cake-ation station—but then I lost the jar. Oh well.

I just began to understand that you have to change your foundation with the seasons, because your skin changes color. I didn’t really get that concept and I remember I went to a Chanel dinner a few months ago and my friend showed me the pictures from the event the next day—and it literally looks like I put a mask of makeup on. I hadn’t gone out in three weeks, and I had been using the same foundation I’d been using during the summer. So, for like two weeks after that, I stocked up on different colors and finishes and just played with them—that’s when I got this range of shades. I also realized I was using a super-dry foundation, and I was like, ‘Why isn’t my face luminous anymore?’ I was really mad. [Laughs] It was not a good night.

I don’t wear blush as much anymore when I go out—I’m really into the bare look with just the perfect bronzer and a little contour. Lorac TANtalizer is good, but it’s really solid, so you have to be super careful when you apply it. And with any matte bronzer, I have to use some highlighter after because I am not finishing with a matte look; it’s not how I fly. Usually, I like to use an Hourglass brush for bronzer—I’m very cautious about being heavy-handed and it prevents me from doing that. For some reason, when I use angled brushes, I never really get it right... I’m not the smartest on brushes because I always use my hands. I didn’t realize you needed to use a brush for concealer until two months ago. If it’s a weekend, and I’m going out to lunch or to see people or something like that, it becomes much less about bronzers. I’ll use the Armani Light Master Makeup Primer and some Armani foundation—but you have to be good at blending, because natural daylight is no one’s friend. I also love Burberry Fresh Glow and MAC's Prep & Prime as highlighters, and I’ll mix those with foundation sometimes if I’m on vacation—it’s good ‘vacation makeup.’ Armani Fluid Sheer #2 is also great for the top of my cheekbones, for highlights.

Then, I always do nude eyeliner in the inside of my waterline. I like Dolce’s #9 eye pencil. A lot of them come off as clumpy but this one is absolutely insane—it’s so smooth and you can also use it in the inner corner and the crease above your eye to define the lid. Sometimes, I do it on the whole eyelid and then cover everything in concealer. It makes your eyes look much bigger… much bigger. And it also makes them look a lot more open and bright. I never do ‘guyliner.’ I don’t understand why people put black in their waterline—it makes my eyes look beady. I also curl the tips of my top and bottom eyelashes—I just turn the curler upside down. It took a while [to learn]. My eyes get super irritated from makeup, and I don’t want to put on mascara, so I just curl my lashes and then, after I’m done putting on makeup, I take these little pre-soaked Q-Tips— Andrea Eye Q’s Eye Makeup Correctors—and go over each lash to get the foundation off.

My bottom lashes are really long—I actually think they’re one of my favorite things on my face, my ‘Twiggy lashes.’ [Laughs] But they’re almost blond and don’t really show up unless I get them tinted. I don’t use mascara, though, because it can become very drag queen-y—I think using mascara is when you cross the line from man-makeup that’s good to man-makeup that’s womanly. That can also happen if you start playing around with shadows—or if you get a little too crazy with the Tom Ford Shade & Illuminate palette. I’m not going to lie: there are times when I have to start over because I end up looking like a drag queen. It’s because I love playing with makeup. It’s so fun for me, but I have to remind myself that I’m not doing my little sister’s makeup. And when I’m really done with everything, I do a mist with Vichy Thermal Water.

For lips, I sometimes use the Givenchy Lip Liner #3 for some color. It’s a tiny bit darker than my natural lip color, but my lips are very fair. My brothers Dylan and Peter’s lips are blood red— blood red. It’s crazy. It depends for me. Sometimes mine get blood red when I exfoliate them, which I try to do every day. I have a special toothbrush I use, and I just put Vaseline on my lips and scrub, usually when I’m in the shower... When I’m alone, that’s when I experiment with makeup—I’ll just practice putting it on and then wash my face and do it over. Because I don’t want to have a big pancake face, where people are like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s makeup he’s wearing.’ The whole point is that it’s supposed to go on perfectly with your face. Personally, I think that men shouldn’t wear it if they can’t do it properly. Same thing goes for women—but I guess no girl is not going to wear makeup just because they can’t do it correctly.”

—as told to ITG

Harry Brant photographed by Emily Weiss in Greenwich, CT on December 2nd, 2012.