5 Beauty Minutes With Virna Gambini: My Beauty Routine Between Art and Japan

HELLO, IT’S ME: Virna Gambini.

LOCATION: Milan.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: A Beauty Routine inspired by Art.

IDENTITY

I was talking about it just recently with some friends. Actually, it was a long journey of rediscovering myself: when I started posting photos on Instagram and on the blog, I couldn’t find the right fit. Being born as a photographer the problem was not the technique or the instrumentation, something was missing, and that was the acceptance of myself and my identity: I couldn’t feel completely at ease nor accept the idea that maybe I could be perceived differently from how I perceived myself. So, I was looking for a compromise between what I wanted to do and what an influencer is expected to do, but I was neither, I couldn’t even define a style, either make-up or fashion. Then I gradually decided to leave the various stereotypes alone and to accept my own idea of myself as it was.

In middle school, for example, I had a total refusal for my hair because it’s not very common where I live, they would often make fun of me and I went through moments when I said to myself, “Why don’t I iron it like everyone else?” and I indeed did it a few times, but it wasn’t me. I accepted the fact that I have this hair, this face, and now I try to value who I am. I could always be something else because one can always work on oneself, but you cannot expect to become something totally different from scratch. It is useless to change what cannot be changed.

“Actually, it was a long journey of rediscovering myself.”

BLOG

At the beginning it was quite difficult, I knew what I wanted to do but I couldn’t find the right name, because I wanted to conform to the classic idea of the blog “fashion and something.” Except that all the nice ideas were already taken, all it was left were names that were borderline. So, out of desperation, I chose the first name within reach: “Ogni riccio un capriccio” (literally “Every curl a whim”) because of the hair; I hated it all the time (laughs). Then, a couple of years ago, I started from scratch and opened my current blog, “Veevidly,” changing the spelling of the English adverb “vividly:” I changed the first syllable because on a sound level it is more similar to my name.

PHOTOGRAPHY

It was inspired by art because it is the natural evolution of painting through technology, that or the digital illustration, another passion of mine, but the most immediate thing is photography. Even when the first photos came out, the painting immediately suffered because they were going to affect the visual environment of the arts: no one would paint a portrait, they would simply take a photo portrait. I try to interpret a photo like the evolution of a painting.

I first got interested starting from there, but I still remember when I saw for the first time the photos of Tim Walker with the lantern dresses in the woods: it was love at first sight, I started looking for all his works, he is one of my favorite photographers; the imagery that he manages to create in each photo is incredible, everyone communicates something. Even the choice of models is never taken for granted: I love the series of portraits he did with Tilda Swinton, they always gave me the idea of something pictorial; as a subject she is simply unique, I associate her with Blake or the “Divine Comedy” because she is a kind of demonic and angelic beauty at the same time.

“I try to interpret a photo like the evolution of a painting.”

POST

I rarely publish photos of outfits, I’d rather link my posts to other subjects. Sharing outfits is a more immediate thing, while I think of the blog as a reasoned thing: my favorite posts are those with a historical/artistic theme, always with reference to fashion. For example, the post about the imagery of the 1800 picnic: while I was in Tokyo I was in a beautiful cafe, small and cozy, timeless, with a few tables inside and outside a wall of bikes and parasols for rent, because if it was booked up they allowed you to go to the park right in front and have a picnic for a fixed amount of time with the rental equipment. You could just lay down and live a day out of time, we did it two days in a row. At that moment I imagined Monet‘s painting with the girl sitting on the grass and other works, which I then inserted into the post, representing the imaginary of the picnic.

IN HISTORY

There is no age that has fully satisfied me. For the adaptability to my body I would say either the 50s or the 80s, because I have a Mediterranean body and therefore the clothes of the late 40s and early 50s, tight at the waist and with large skirts, are better for me than those from the 60s that look terrible on me, they make me look like a candy (laughs).

In terms of artistic taste, instead, impressionists and pre-Raphaelites hold a special place in my heart, especially Monet and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

THE REPRESENTATION OF BEAUTY

I think I saw beauty, understood as a Hyperuranion idea, as such, in Canova’s works: some of his sculptures are pure beauty, without genre or form, they are simply splendid. The idea they convey is of something perfect. Then maybe if you analyze them, you notice a physical form that is no longer fashionable, or a cut eye no longer considered beautiful, but for me they are beauty.

Beauty is certainly very subjective, and for me, it is something that conveys a feeling. To be beautiful you don’t have to be perfect, tall, blonde, blue eyes, the classic stereotype: I don’t think this is the unambiguous definition of beauty; it is something that gives you a strong but pleasant sensation, deriving from the contrast also, not only from harmony. If you take Vivaldi’s “Follia” as an example, strong contrasts are transmitted by the chords but the overall feeling that comes out of is pleasant: I believe that the same must be sought also in people, in art, in food, in fashion. Nothing shall be perfect, sometimes there may also be that crack which completely eliminates the idea of perfection but that nevertheless leaves certain freedom.

“Nothing shall be perfect, sometimes there may also be that crack which completely eliminates the idea of perfection but that nevertheless leaves certain freedom.”

JAPANESE BEAUTY

The last trip to Japan overturned the cards for me: we are used, as Westerners, to use so many moisturizers all over our body, while I saw 2/3 types of them all over Japan; they never use them, they go on with masks, they don’t smear anything (laughs). They also have a kind of climate that requires it, my skin was very dry while I was in Japan, I binged on masks (laughs). I believe that Japan has rules about how much active ingredient should be included in the products, they are very effective, but not as much as those in Korea.

DREAM TRIP

I would like to see every Country. But there are two that inspire me a lot for different reasons: the first one is Australia because most of the emerging designers that I like are Australian, so I could shop without paying import taxes, which are very high (laughs). The second one that I’ve been dreaming to visit since I was a kid, is Rapa Nui, Easter Island. I don’t know why, I’d just like to see it.

MY FAVORITE ON-SCREEN BEAUTY AND FASHION LOOK

Difficult question, ideally, I have various categories of reference. “Blade Runner” maybe, for the make-up, the hairstyle, everything. Then the French noir films where women always have a cut eye, light skin in contrast with black hair and clothing that oscillates between extremely feminine and extremely masculine, is an imaginary that I really like.

EVERYDAY MAKEUP LOOK

I am in love with the Vogue cover from the 1950s where you can only see the eye and the mouth on a white background. I’m missing the mole, but other than that I absolutely go with red lipstick and kajal eyeliner: the lipstick is also a strategic choice from a photographic point of view because it is the easiest color to change in post-production. If I take photos in sequence, and the lipstick doesn’t look great with one of the chosen looks, I can always edit it later (laughs).

THE GLAM SQUAD:

– Curél Makeup Cleansing Gel

– Laqa Dew Me Right Face Cream

– Pro Filt’r Fenty Beauty n.150 Foundation

– Coffee Bronzer in Mocha by Winky Lux

– BECCA – Shimmering Skin Perfector® Liquid Highlighter Opal

– Smashbox Color Correcting Stick

– Winky Lux Eyeliner

– Winky Lux Uni-Brow

– Mascara Neve Cosmetics Lash Academy

– Huda Beauty Liquid Matte in Sugar Mama

– Kat Von D Everlasting glimmer veil in Dazzle

– Kat Von D in Outlaw Lip Pencil

THIS IS HOW I ROLL:

CLEANSER

I bought it in Japan, it’s a pharmacy product that can gently remove anything. For example, the Everlasting by Kat Von D is excellent but I have a problem with chapped lips and if it ends up in the cracks it does not go away with anything except with this product. The other advantage is that, by being not very delicate when I wash my face, often the cleanser ends up in my eyes and this is the only one that does not burn. Once, as an experiment, I passed it over my closed eyes and then I opened it and it was as if I hadn’t done it, I can’t wait to go back to Japan to restock!

FOUNDATION

I am surprisingly happy, I didn’t have great expectations but I finally found my color, something that until a few years ago was unthinkable, because I’m very pale and if I can’t find the perfect foundation, I risk ending up with an orange face and a white neck (laughs). I stopped by a Sephora store in a train station in Rome and there she was, the person in charge of Fenty who was very informed about the compositions and the uses. Since she was pale too, she told me that with Fenty she had finally found her color. I must admit that the staying power is excellent and not at all heavy.

These are the products that I use every day and which I find myself more comfortable with after a careful selection: I have oily and dry skin, and therefore the choice of the product is fundamental for me; when possible I prefer to choose natural, eco-friendly products that are also not tested on animals.

“When possible I prefer to choose natural, eco-friendly products that are also not tested on animals.”

CONTOURING

I’m not a fan of exaggerated contouring in real life, whereas I really like it on photos because it gives a dramatic effect, but if I see brown lines on a face on the street, I can’t really do it (laughs). So, I use this bronzer (which tastes like coffee) and the highlighter by Becca, my favorite: I also have the liquid one, but I only use it when I’m in a hurry and I touch it up with my fingers, while I stretch it with the brush also to control the intensity of the highlighter.

CONCEALER

I can sleep for 15 hours straight but unfortunately my dark circles won’t go away (laughs), this is my only salvation; the others, instead, leave me with the classic orange lines that weigh you down and you see them.

EYELINER

Always.

EYEBROW

I rarely use the eyebrow pencil because I tend to rub my eyebrows very hard with my fingers and I risk spreading the color all over my face, but I like the effect, only if it’s a light one.

MASCARA

The packaging and the fact that the graphics recall the art nouveau style won me over. It is excellent as a product: when applying mascara, I often find my eyelashes stuck to it while this one untangles them, extends them, thickens them and lets them light, which is fundamental for me because I spend so much time on the computer and I stain my eyes a lot, so if the mascara is not light I find myself after a few hours with an unbearable heaviness.

LIPS

I have three lip solutions: nude, for when I have little desire to wear makeup, a metallic effect lipstick, always red because it is the most versatile color, or matte red, which I only put with the lip pencil, while the other two I wear without.

Photos by Johnny Carrano.

Follow Virna Gambini and Veevidly.