'I’m an architect—studied and graduated from the New York Institute of Technology. After I graduated, I moved back to where I'm originally from—Italy—and started working at Fendi doing retail design. It was in that environment where I realized I wanted to design my own shoe line. I did my first collection in 2012, and lately I've started exploring more feminine silhouettes. I got married last year, so I started improving my femininity and working more on that...I’m joking! But it’s half-true—I’m not a very girly girl, so I’m working on it.

Mascara is the only thing I wear all the time. I like Lancôme Hypnôse in Black. With my nails and lips, I have one general rule—I only wear red. I love the Chanel lipsticks and OPI Nail Lacquer in Big Apple Red. Sometimes I'll venture out into a nude lip, and for that I'll go to Nars Lipstick in Honolulu Honey, but otherwise I just go natural and don't wear anything.

I have freckles naturally, but in the winter they sort of fade. If I look too pale, I'll just wear some blush, like Guerlain's Rose Aux Joues Blush Duo in Pink Punk— it's really pink, but I think it looks good the color isn't overdone. And even though I like my freckles to come out, I make sure to use sunscreen when I go somewhere sunny. I use Vichy Capital Soleil Face and Body Spray for Children because it’s transparent—so you don’t have the white effect—and it’s fresh. I hate when you go out in the sun and you have cream on that feels so heavy. I also like using La Roche-Posay Anthelios Face 45 Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid and then there's also Posthelios, which is a moisturizer I use the after sun.

I'm not a big tan fan, but I do think everyone looks better in the summer, so I try to preserve whatever color I get. My mom used to always tell me to go in the bathtub with tea bags to maintain a tan. Six black tea bags, and your skin takes it all in. I'm not quite sure how it does it, but it works. I do it two or three times after I get back from holiday. It just helps me look healthier.

I just started with anti-aging. I went to this skin expert, and he was like, ‘You have to start getting vitamins for your skin because you have expression lines’—not wrinkles—so he gave me the Skinceuticals A.G.E. Interrupter. It's kind expensive in Italy with Euros and the import taxes, so I try to buy it when I'm in America. I think it's really good. And one thing I do every night that might sound a little weird but I can't get over is that I wash my face with chilled water seven times—just out of the tap. The shock of the cold water on skin tones it. I do this after I cleanse. I don't know why seven, but I heard it should be seven, and I've been doing it day and night ever since.”

—as told to ITG

Charline De Luca photographed by Tom Newton. For more of The Face, click here.