Image Credit: L’Oreal Paris

One of the highlights of LMFF for me was the interview with Barbara Palvin. The 4 L’Oreal Paris Official Bloggers (Style Hunter, Drop Dead Gorgeous Daily, Breakfast with Audrey and Sassybella) and I had the chance to do a brief interview with her at Sofitel Hotel on Collins St a few days ago.

Barbara is the youngest ambassador to be signed on by L’Oreal Paris. She’s 19 years old and have been on the cover of Vogue Russia, walked on the runway of Prada, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Vivienne Westwood and so on. She sure has one packed CV for a girl of 19.

As Barbara was running on a very tight schedule, we could only do a group interview with her. A lot of the dictation below are verbatim, hence the sporadic discontinuity of sentences. I thought it would be nice to read the interview in Barbara’s voice. She’s young, she’s friendly, she’s cheeky and overall a lovely person to interview.

Do you consider yourself a role model?
Err no? Am I a role model? Hahaha I see my followers on Twitter and Instagram writing that I inspire them and that I’m their role model and I’m very happy when I see that. I want to give them positive energy and share with them that self confidence is the most important thing. In a way, I am. For some people I am.

What advice do you have for young women who wants to get into the industry?
It was International Women’s Day not long ago, and all the L’Oreal spokespeople have to do a letter interview. My message was “I was dreaming about this before and now I’m living the dream so never give up and push hard“. Never give up.

Did you always wanted to be a model when you were young?
No. I mean, I was 13 so I didn’t really know what modeling was about. I was more into singing and sports (I was playing soccer) but now that I’ve gotten into this modeling business, it was like, yeah, I wanna be huge. I wanna make my name big! I want to make my dad proud. I never wanted to look like someone. I wanted to look like, yeah that’s Barbara.

With so many things you’ve done, what would you considered your most adventurous one? What’s your most fantastic experience?
Well, there are three highlights in my career I can name. When it comes to just picking one, I always say that picking my favourite job or favourite designer is like a mother picking her favourite child, y’know? It’s always different experience with different people. The 3 highlights are 1) my first fashion show with Prada and Louis Vuitton, 2) signing with L’oreal and 3) the Victoria’s Secret show. These are the 3 highlights. After these, my life changed a little bit and then a little more and now I have fans waiting for me at the hotel! It’s crazy! [laughs]

Image Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Who’s your favourite L’Oreal ambassador?
Erm, my favourite? There’s a model called Barbara? She’s like so cute? [laughs] I don’t have a favourite. I just want to be myself and I don’t want to look like anyone else. People like Kate Moss or the older L’Oreal ambassadors inspire me somehow and they give me energy. Still, I want to be myself.

What does being part of the L’Oreal Dream Team mean to you?
Right now, it means everything to me. Whenever I go out on the street, I have to remember that I’m the face of L’Oreal Paris. It’s my life right now.

As you’re always on the go, how do you keep yourself looking fresh?
It’s L’Oreal, it’s all L’Oreal [laughs]. Well, I’m quite young, so that’s the first thing. I started traveling when I was like 13, so my body kinda got used to it. I don’t really feel the time differences or jetlag.

What sort of long term goals do you have? Five year plan? One year plan?
One day plan! [laughs] I can imagine myself in 2 different ways in 10 years. 1) Being busy, be an actress or a singer and 2) finish university. On the other side, it would be to have a family; have 2 kids. One girl, one boy. The girl should be older. Four years in between. I already have the names planned out.

What are their names?
It’s a secret! You know how you plan your kids’ names? It’s like that for me!

We know you’re extremely talented but what’s your hidden talent? Is there something you’re really good at that nobody knows about?
Well, I’m kinda telling everything to everyone! [laughs] I’m really good in math. I’m a perfectionist; I want to do everything perfectly. Like before, I couldn’t do rope-climbing. So I stayed in school one night and I have to learn it. Since then, I’m the fastest in school. If I don’t get it perfectly, I don’t stop. I also have a good ear. I’m good with languages.

Did your mum teach you any beauty tricks growing up?
Wash my face twice a day with cold water. When I shower, turn the water to cold so that the pores tighten up. When I was younger, I had to drink a lot of milk. That’s good for the skin. I’m still drinking lots of it now. It’s very old tradition. My great-grandmother told me about it.

Being a L’Oreal ambassador, what’s your favourite L’Oreal product?
It’s the BB cream. I’m young, so I’m not really using morning or night cream. The BB cream is a moisturiser and foundation altogether so it’s easy. I’m not spending a lot of time in the mirror. I’m just putting it in my hand, apply and done! Oh and all the lipsticks.

If you could have breakfast with anyone, alive or dead, who would that be and why?
A family member of mine, whom I couldn’t meet. It would be my great-grandpa. My great grandmother’s been telling me so many stories about it and what they went through during the world war. I really want to meet him.

If you could wear whatever you want for an entire day and noone ever questioning you or looking at your funny, what would you wear?
Y’know, I’m kinda dressing like that back home. I have all the crazy stuff with me. I wear my dad’s jumpsuit sometimes. It’s blue and huge, and looks like someone who comes to fix your toilet!

If we could look into your makeup case right now, what would be in there?
Lip balm. Can’t live without lip balm.

What are you looking forward to most about LMFF?
I thought you said LMFEO! [laughs]. To be honest, I don’t really know about Australian Fashion Weeks so I’ll decide when it’s over.

Have you got a favourite city in the world?
Home. It’s not Budapest (the capital), it’s in a little town where I grew up. I love being with my chickens.

We ended up chatting more about her family, her home and her dog. She showed us a picture of her dog on her phone. It’s a very cute white Bichon Frise. He has a very long European name which I couldn’t catch, not even on the voice recorder. Barbara calls him Mano for short. 😛

Thanks very much for being on Beautyholics Anonymous, Barbara! It was such a pleasure meeting you! 😀