"I'm like a science experiment,"says veteran supermodel Paulina Porizkova when we meet at the launch
of skincare collection, RXGenesys. As
the face of the four-step system, a regimen that promises noticeable fine
linereduction in
two months, the self-professed "product whore" says she's graduated to something commitment-worthy. Porizkova started to experiment with
beauty products in her early 20s when she landed a
coveted Estée Lauder contract. "Obviously I was obliged to quit
being a moron and actually take care of my skin. When you're young, you take off your makeup with, like, shaving foam." For Porizkova, being less of a moron meant adopting a strict sunblock-everyday policy: "SPF is the secret. Long before anyone discovered it, I was using La Roche Posay Anthelios."

Here, the cover star of ELLE's October 1986 issue tells us about '80s makeup, Cindy Crawford, and how exercise helped her quit antidepressants.

On injectables:

I'm curious about
all of it because I haven't done any of it. I think Botox looks awful. My
girlfriends will do it and they'll walk in, and all of a sudden their foreheads
are frozen, and I'm like, 'Now you look like you just had Botox!' I have an
issue with telling what people are thinking so if they don't give me visual
cues I'm really lost. My mother is a prime example. She Botoxed herself up the
wazoo. She's 69 and she looks fantastic, but I can't tell how she feels at all.
I'm always wondering, like, 'Is she mad at me. Is she happy?' I really can't
tell. And it's very disturbing to me that my children would feel the same way
about me. That they'd look at me and not know what mom wants. I'd go the filler
way, but then with fillers you have these giant cheekbones and you have to even
it out with something else.

On her '80s glam squad:

You had the
masters of the world doing it on your face every day so you'd have to be a
moron to not learn something. Kevin Aucoin, Francois Nars, Bobbi Brown—so many
wonderful, fantastic makeup artists. I think Kevin Aucoin and Francois Nars are
the masters though; they could do anything with makeup. Kevin was amazing—I
was probably his first job on a shitty catalog. He was so adorable. He was the
sweetest, long, lanky, adorable kid. He knew who I was and I wasn't used to
being recognized and he was like, 'Paulina Poriskova… I am so excited!' We
became friends right there. After the shoot in the most hideous clothes
possible, he asked me if I would stay and let him do his kind of makeup and the
photographer would do test shoots for him. He did this wild, crazy '80s makeup
and as soon as I saw it I was like, 'Wow, this kid is really talented.' You
could tell right away.

On her new makeup rules:

The older you get,
the less makeup you should wear. It just starts looking shittier and shittier.
And I love makeup so much, so it's such a shame. One of my favorite foundations
right now is super sheer cream with
SPF 50. I like lashes. I use mascara and fake
lashes. The individual ones are the easiest. What's important is
getting these extra long tweezers for lashes and it makes it a lot easier. You
start from the outside of your eye and see how you like it.

On finding fitness:

I started
exercising when I was 40. I never did anything before that.
Just cigarettes and poor nutrition. I could eat whatever I wanted because
I smoked. Cindy [Crawford] would be
there sweating and working out, and she had a fabulous body that she worked for
and I was just like, 'Oh, that's stupid.' I had a good time being unhealthy for
a while, but then you pay for it. When I did Dancing with the Stars is
when I realized that exercise does actually change your body. I was just
turning 40 and I was like, 'Wow, this is cool. I can actually have an
effect on my body. It doesn't have to go to hell.' I started so
late that my body had no previous knowledge of muscle. I always do everything
the hard way. It takes me 20 years longer than everyone else. I started
exercising to help with my panic attacks and to get off antidepressants. I found out if I worked out
every day my anxiety was kept a lot at bay. And I felt better. So how great is
that? I still dance. I've done boxing. I've done rowing. You name it,
I've done it. Except for running. I don't like running. It doesn't feel good to
me. It feels bad on my knees. I'd rather do Zumba. And Bollywood dancing is a
great way to get the aerobic part done. I do some really hard rowing classes.
It's become something that's like brushing my teeth. It's something I have
to do.

On her minimalist
approach to hair:

Brian Magallones, who does my hair, is one of my best friends, so obviously I'll want to have him do it whenever possible. I'm capable of doing makeup myself, but it's fun having someone else do it because then you can relax. I do little of this stuff these days so when they ask me who I want for hair and makeup and I give them a makeup artist's name, they'll be like, 'I think they've been out of business for 15 years.' I wash my hair as
little as possible. Back in the day my hairdresser told me when I'm not
working, don't wash my hair. So I kept to that. I use dry shampoo if it gets
sticky in between because I work out. I actually started using Wen. I saw it on an infomercial and was like, 'That's stupid.' But then I saw it at Sephora and I got
some and it's really, really good. Brian, who's known my hair for 20 years,
keeps going, 'Your hair is really healthy.'