'When I'm going out, I swear, it’s like a hurricane came through—there are shoes everywhere. I try on at least four per outfit, and I lay them all out in front of me before I pick, so I can see what I’m working with. I never work with a stylist. When I go out at night, I really play with my instinct. I like clothes to be sexy but not showing too much. I like it to be empowering. A couple of years ago, I went to the Met Gala with Eddie Borgo, and I had the choice of choosing a design for a dress with my friend, the designer Anthony Vaccarello. Back then, Anthony would only do black, so I said, ‘Anthony, you want to do my dress? It can’t be black.’ I remember the fear in his eyes. He was like, ‘Shit! What should it be?’ White. I had this vision of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct—and that was that. He designed the dress. Luckily, he was like, ‘White’s the only color I like apart from black.’

PERFECT NIGHT OUT

It’s hard to decide where I like to go out more, but it’s a tie between New York and Paris. I live here, so I guess there’s more people I know, which makes it easy to go up and down the city and stop by their homes. But Paris? Paris has Le Montana, the baron of all nightclubs. A good night for me is one that involves dancing. I went to this Dom Perignon event a few months ago, and we just went from one club to another, and it was so much fun—but it has to be the right group of people. I like electronic music combined with hip hop—specifically remixes, or it gets boring. Put some Tyga, like “ Faded,” when I want to dance or some “ Coco.”

I just always want to be like Bianca Jagger or Anjelica Huston from their Studio 54 days. Or Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface! I actually cut my hair like that once, and she was the inspiration. The theory behind my look is that I just want to look cool—it has to look cool. I did have my moments where I look back and I'm like, ‘Shit, I was trying too hard.’ I’ve learned to step back and see if maybe I’ve gone too far. If you’re getting ready to go out and are already thinking of creating ‘a look,’ it can be a bit much.

FOOD

So before I even do my makeup, I like to eat something. I eat proper after an event, but before—if the dress is incredibly tight, and I really want to stay slim with no belly—I eat peanut butter. It's my secret snack. It's not like if you have a meal with vegetables and water and dairy, and you get quite bloated. Peanut butter is good because it has a lot of calories and fills you up, so if you do have champagne the moment you walk into a party, you're not going to get drunk.

PRE-NIGHT-OUT SKINCARE

After I eat, I'll put on a mask. It depends on how much time I have, but I have a few favorites. If I'm making a big thing out of getting ready, I'll put a honey mask on—but it's really sticky and yucky, and you'll need to wash your hair after, so that's why you need a lot of time. You can’t do a peeling one before you go out because you’ll get red. Then there's the SK-II Facial Treatment Masks, which are really good for making you look radiant. But there is this one eye mask that is fucking amazing—it's a company called Yonelle, and you can only get it in Poland, pretty much. If you're tired, like I am now, the Yonelle H20 Infusion SOS Eye Patch is an amazing, quick eye mask to use. It just tightens your skin, and you feel really fresh after.

MAKEUP

Then on to my makeup—I’ll only really do it if I’m in the mood, with the exception of some nonnegotiable steps like eyeliner. The thing is, I do enjoy it, but I don't have enough patience to spend hours doing it. I know a few girls like Joan Smalls—or Natasha Poly! She can do her makeup for hours and hours, and she loves it. For me it has to be 15-minutes max. If it's more than 15 minutes, I go crazy and have a nervous breakdown. So when I do my makeup, it’ll usually be a red lip with something on the eyes. I really like using lip liner, to be honest. Tonight I'm mixing MAC’s Oak and some Burberry Lip Definer Pencil in Rosewood. I also do like the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat. It's really good, but I ran out of it. I also love drawing on freckles with pencils. I’ll do that a lot for events—it’s like a youth thing. But the main thing I really need is black eyeliner, and my favorite is AMC Eyeliner by Inglot in 101. It stays on all night but comes off easily at night and doesn’t smudge if I don’t want it to. The way I tightline is I go inside my lash line, and I close my eye and rub the pencil so it goes up, under, and a little bit out. Then, I’ll go over my eye with Burberry Wet & Dry Eyeshadow in No. 103 Almond, just to shade my eye. If I want the makeup to be stronger—which I don't normally do—but if I do, because I'm in Cannes or going a gala, then I'll put more black eyeliner on the lash line and smudge, smudge, smudge. Most of the time I never use mascara because it gets too glamorous for me—I like the sadder look. But, I keep MAC's Haute and Naughty Too Black Lash Mascara in my kit because it’s not clunky. I like mascara to go on thin.

HAIR

My hair always looks messy. I flip it upside down and blow-dry. If it's not looking so great, I'll do a slicked-back bun on top. With that, I feel like I have to be wear a lot of makeup or at least a red lip. I use Bumble and bumble Surf Spray then L’Oréal Paris Elnett Satin Hairspray or Moroccanoil’s Luminous Hairspray Medium before I blow-dry. I like Moroccanoil because it's not too strong. I had this amazing Shu Uemura Texture Wave that I used when I could find it. It's easier when you have long hair. When I had short hair, it required major grooming. I've been on holiday and gotten bored of it and cut it myself with kitchen scissors. I'm not precious about my hair at all. Actually, the first time I cut my hair short, my hair stylist rolled some of my hair up into a little ball, and I still have it! It’s so freaky, but I don’t have the heart to throw it out.

FRAGRANCE

When I was creating my perfume, Original, we had three formulas at the end to pick from. To pick which one I liked, I'd spray it on different clothing, and I'd write down—‘This sweater I sprayed with number one, this with number two, this was number three,' and when I wore them, I would see which scent I related to the best. That's usually how I wear fragrance during the day. But at night, I don’t put it on my clothes. I just apply it on certain spots—my wrists, inside my armpits, behind my knees, and behind my ears. That makes it more personal. Because with perfume, it can be hard to find your own self. To me, wearing Original feels very unisex...We live in times where gender is really mixed. Nowadays, a woman who is strong has that love of unisex in her.

END OF THE NIGHT

Ideally, if the night's been a good one, I get home really late. But no matter how late, I never go to sleep with my makeup on. That’s my number one rule! It has happened a few times, but it totally ruins your skin. I would rather go to sleep without brushing my teeth than wake up with makeup on if I have to sacrifice something.”

—as told to ITG

Anja Rubik photographed by Tom Newton at her home in New York.

Read Crystal Renn's After Dark as she gets ready for Save Venice's Masked Ball right here.