"I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, but I’ve been in LA for more than eight years now. Melbourne’s a really big city, and it’s quite spread out, but I still felt like there was a real sense of community. I like the kind of self-deprecating sense of humor that’s very inherent to Australian culture. I got into acting after my mom died—it was a safe space to have feelings, honestly. I did this thing called Johnny Young Talent School, which was hilarious. I started doing drama when I was 12, and I just sort of fell in love with it and kept going. After drama school, I was told I was a finalist for this thing called the Heath Ledger Scholarship from the Australians in Film Awards, and they paid for my flight to LA. I didn’t know I’d won, so I basically moved to LA with just an airline ticket, hoping I’d get it. Ryan Kwanten and Chris Hemsworth got the breakthrough awards, and I got the scholarship. Ryan took me to a barbeque that weekend where I met Teresa Palmer, and she just took me totally under her wing. She was like, ‘I remember how lonely my first couple years in LA were, I’m going to introduce you to all my friends.’ Those friends are still my friends. Thank God for her, because I have no idea what my time here would’ve looked like had it not been for that event.

Growing up in Melbourne, I’m not sure if I had been conscious of taking care of my skin. It’s funny, because I want to say my beauty philosophy is 'to eat well, drink water and exercise,' but in some ways I’m probably just lucky. I don’t know if I really eat that well. [Laughs] The only supplements I take consistently are probiotics and digestive enzymes—everything else I just cycle in and out, or I just don’t really bother with. I’m not the kind of girl who loves going into pharmacies and browsing. I just do everything my facialist tells me to do, and that’s it. I swear by Terri Lawton in LA—I won’t see anyone else. I remember mentioning her to a friend once, and they were like, ‘Oh Terri, the skin whisperer.’ She’s totally saved my face. I think she’s just really good at giving a general facial, and I really like the products she uses. She found the right regimen that works on my skin, and she won’t try and sell me the most expensive products. There are periods of times where I haven’t had the money for things like Biologique, and she’s been like, ‘OK, we’ll strip it down to the essentials.’ She’ll work with you—she’s not completely out of touch, like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to give you a $3,000 skincare routine,’ which other people have done, or tried to do. She also does a bit of energy work which, whatever. Whether you believe it or not, I always feel better when I leave there than when I walk in the door.

When I wake up, I’ll probably just put sunscreen on and go do some sort of exercise. Fitness stuff I cycle in and out of. Mostly boxing, hiking, and yoga. [Hiking] is one of the great things about living in LA, so I try and do that a few times a week. There are great places you can drive to in like 40 minutes with mountains, and waterfall hikes. Whenever I do that I’ll come home and have a shower, and that’s when I do my routine. I like the Cosmedix Benefit Clean Cleanser, which is actually quite reasonable [in price]. I’ve got an eye cream that I don’t know how to pronounce, goddammit, but I use eye cream morning and night. It’s Retrouvé, the Revitalizing Eye Concentrate. Terri does a customized serum that I use, [along with] the Osmosis Rescue Serum. Then I use the Biologique Recherche Lait VIP 02. I also have no idea how to pronounce the Biologique brand—I’ve come up with like 10 different ways to pronounce it. I use Cosmedix sunscreen, and that’s my morning daytime face. At night, I’ll do the same cleanser and serums but I’ll alternate different face creams. My skin tends to be dry, so I just load up on moisture. One night I’ll do the La Crème Glow moisturizer, and then the other night I’ll do the Dr. Schrammek Skin Elixier. Once a week I will do the whole cleanser, serum routine and then I’ll put on a combination of two Biologique face masks—the Masque Biosensible and the Masque Vernix. I sleep in that, and my skin just drinks it up—I definitely feel the difference. I’ll use a toner to wipe off the excess in the morning if I’m heading out, or I’ll do the whole cleansing routine again. I’m so full of shit—I’m like, ‘Yeah, I just keep it simple,’ but then I use like 45 products. [Laughs] I’ve stuck with these face products for at least the past three years, though. The night creams I’ll alternate, but that’s about as much switching out as I do.

I use Tarte concealer. Chanel foundation for when I use foundation. It’s got SPF and it blends in well—it’s a really lightweight one. Cream blush—always cream. I think I’ve got an old Tarte cream one, actually, it’s a pink-y color. I feel like I can never do the eyebrow pencil right, but I have a Tarte one too. I really like Glossier Boy Brow. I’ve got a highlighter that my friend gave me recently from Luma, which is a cosmetics line started by Jessica Hart. I really like her products. She’s got a dry body oil that I like, too. I’ll do that highlighter, and then mascara. Kevyn Aucoin mascara is what I’ve been using for a while, and I have a Chanel eyeshadow quad that I use sometimes, where I kind of blend all four of them together. It’s browns and golds, which is what I tend to go for. Basically I’ve got one look that I can do and it’s a gold-y smoky eye situation and a shit ton of mascara, and blush. No lipstick, usually—I’ve got quite colored lips, so when I put lipstick on I feel like kind of a clown. And I feel really weird with lip gloss on—I don’t like the texture of it. I just use Papaw on my lips, or those Eos lip balms.

I use that Kevin Murphy Blonde Angel Wash, and then it’s just dry shampoo or Oribe Texturizing Spray. I don’t know how to use any other products, or do anything else with my hair. I just let it dry naturally—I can’t deal with hair maintenance. In the past I tend to just try and work my haircuts into when I’m getting ready for an event. I do dry brushing, I have a loofah—body wash is just whatever’s at Whole Foods. I put all my money into my skincare, and everything else is just, ‘Whatever!’"

—as told to ITG

Bella Heathcote photographed by David Cortes in Los Angeles on August 11, 2018.