For Helena Christensen, summer means going home. Every year, the Danish supermodel heads to her cottage on Denmark’s north coast, about 50 minutes outside of Copenhagen, where she was born and raised. Swimming in the ocean, cooking, reading, watching movies, and making the most of the long, light-filled days before Denmark turns cold and dark again are the only priorities. Ahead: her favorite places to eat, the horror movies she can’t get enough of, her minimal approach to makeup, and the skincare she relies on after hours spent in the sun and wind.
Dear ITG,
If you ever get the chance to spend a summer in Denmark, you have to do it. Summers here are incredibly magical; everything is so green and alive. Because Denmark is made up of islands surrounded by ocean, there’s always a lovely sea breeze and salt in the air. It’s brisk and windy but warm at the same time. I love New York City for so many reasons, but there’s something very special about returning to your birth country.
I’m lucky to have a wooden cottage up in the dunes on the north coast, about 50 minutes outside Copenhagen. It’s very simple and minimalist—everything looks like it washed up from the sea. If I’m in Denmark, you can usually find me there with Kuma, my Aussie Shepherd. I put my swimsuit on in the morning and spend the day going in and out of the ocean.
I also spend a lot of time reading and watching movies—usually one a night. I have a list of more than 200 movies to watch and love checking their Rotten Tomatoes ratings. I’ll watch something even if it’s rated poorly, but I find it interesting whether a movie has a 92 or a 39.
I just watched The Invite. Movies that stay in one space can get on my nerves because they’re usually so theatrically intense to keep things interesting, but when they’re done well, they’re great. I’m a harsh film critic, but The Invite was actually really funny. My mom watched it with me, and we both laughed a lot.
What I really love though are horror movies. As a teenager, I’d spend entire weekends with girlfriends watching Friday the 13th, all of the Halloween films, all of the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ones. We’d be delirious under our comforters with candy and ham and cheese toasts. Now there’s Girl Taken, The Girl in the Mirror, Evil, and Dark Horse, and Obsession is waiting for me in the States. Oh, and if you love horror, too, I highly recommend The Hunger with David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve. It’s an erotic horror movie that’s eerie and amazing.
I cook at home most of the time. Last night, I made salmon marinated with ginger, garlic, and capers, plus rice mixed into a cabbage, avocado, and arugula salad. But I also want to eat as much Danish food as possible while I’m here because I miss it the rest of the year. It’s very healthy and varied. There’s lots of modern, experimental food, but also a lot of old-fashioned dishes: delicious meatballs with potatoes and thick brown sauce, pork sandwiches, fried fish with homemade remoulade, pickled things, herring, sardines…
Café Wilder and Sankt Annæ are two of my favorites. They’re in Christian’s Harbor, a wonderful area of Copenhagen with old canals, beautiful houses, and water everywhere. You can sit outside at both and watch life pass by—and people in the water. Everyone is on paddle boards, in canoes and kayaks, on boats, or even swimming. Danish people really take advantage of the outdoors in summer because it gets dark and cold for a big part of the year.
As far as skincare goes, I don’t really cleanse my face in the morning. I only splash it with water and spray Violette_FR’s Boum-Boum Milk. Because I spend so much time outside in the wind and sun, I need to keep my skin thoroughly hydrated. Penny Frances Apothecary’s Love Rosa balm is a constant favorite. So is Angela Caglia’s goat milk Soufflé Moisturiser. Her Cell Forté serum is incredible, too, but it’s not cheap, so I use it sparingly.
I don’t wear much makeup when I’m in Denmark—I’m a minimalist through and through—but I want what I do use to enhance my face in a fresh, natural way. I prefer anything liquid or wet, as I say; I don’t love products that make me matte. I don’t want to fully cover my skin, either. I still want my blush to look like I’ve been kissed by the sun, my eyeshadow to glide on with my fingers, and I want to show my freckles.
I always have Saie’s Glowy Super gel serum in my makeup bag. Saie also makes a beautiful dusty rose lip gloss called Dip that I like to throw on for dinner. Recently, I’ve been loving their new SuperSuede eyeshadows, which were inspired by nineties minimalism. The colors are all earthy and natural, but Tiramisu works especially well with my green eyes, so it’s the one I use most. I actually got to be in Saie’s SuperSuede campaign, which felt very serendipitous because I was already using their products long before they reached out. I never, ever take for granted the work I do, but getting to work with the whole team felt especially inspiring. I just love being in the company of badass people doing badass things.
Much love,
Helena Christensen
—as told to Daise Bedolla
Photos courtesy of Helena Christensen