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"   Photo: Getty Images  Alec Baldwin once compared spending time with his Blue Jasmine co-star Cate Blanchett to being on cocaine, but we would argue that the Oscar-winning Australian actress gives off more of a perfectly-made-morning-coffee high. The global ambassador of SK-II is awake before most of Milan during an event in September to celebrate the launch of the brand&amp;#039;s limited editionSK-II Swarovski Elements Facial Treatment Essence, a glimmering crystal-cut update on the product&amp;#039;s original design. Dressed in a long-sleeved Gucci shift, Blanchett is a column of ladylike beauty, her famous complexion so luminous it&amp;#039;s practically light reflective. And this is the actress after a long-haul flight. Sigh. Unfazed by the early call time, Blanchett shares some of her skincare secrets. You&amp;#039;ve just landed in Milan, but I see no signs of jet lag. What&amp;#039;s the secret to looking alive after a long flight? Try to sleep. I actually quite enjoy getting on the plane because I don&amp;#039;t have to call anyone. I get on, I decant my SK-II Facial Treatment Essence, I put a mask on and I read a book. I do take a lot of vitamin C tablets because you can get those through security. Vitamin C, a thing of Essence, a couple of masks and [I&amp;#039;m] done. Public face mask: do or don&amp;#039;t? Do! I&amp;#039;ve been doing it for so long now. I go to a shoot and I&amp;#039;ll just take my clothes off and get on with it. Because as an actress you&amp;#039;re so used to backstage so you lose those inhibitions. I don&amp;#039;t even think it&amp;#039;s an odd thing. When you&amp;#039;re on the airplane and you press the call button to speak to a flight attendant and see this confused look in their eye, you realize you&amp;#039;re asking for a cup of tea with a mask on your face. At least I&amp;#039;m not yelling and throwing things.   Photo: Courtesy of SK-II  Do you have any secret uses for the SK-II Facial Treatment Essence? Maybe to wash your linens or as a drink? When I was first introduced to the Essence it was before they translated the instructions into English and I had no idea what to do with it. I got the whitening products and knew how to use those, but I did actually try to drink it. I thought it was a vitamin drink. But then I realized it was actually a vitamin drink for your skin. I use it on other parts of my body, but that&amp;#039;s not weird. There&amp;#039;s residue when you open the SK-II Facial Treatment Mask, I always put some on my lips, the backs of my hands and arms. What&amp;#039;s the best and worst beauty advice you&amp;#039;ve ever been given? The best was on the very first film I made. The makeup artist told me to never pluck my eyebrows and I think that&amp;#039;s a good piece of advice. The worst? Someone once suggested I get a perm. Fortunately I didn&amp;#039;t, but my sister did. Of all the female characters you&amp;#039;ve played, who has your favorite beauty look? I played Katharine Hepburn years ago and I loved it. I was quite freckly as a child from being out in the sun, but then I used the SK-II whitening products and all those freckles went away. The makeup artist had to painstakingly paint all these freckles on and I loved how different it was, being really freckly. It was also quite confronting for me looking at the last scene of Blue Jasmine. She&amp;#039;s lost everything\u2014she&amp;#039;s lost her marbles. I wanted to be utterly de-masked so I said let&amp;#039;s not do any makeup at all. Not a lick of foundation or anything. If you had to use just one beauty product for the rest of your life\u2014you can&amp;#039;t have anything else\u2014what would it be? It would be SK-II Facial Treatment Essence because it has so many purposes. I use it over makeup and under makeup. It&amp;#039;s a moisturizer, but the key ingredient, Pitera, also works on the clarity and the radiance and hydration of my skin. When I can only pack one thing, it&amp;#039;ll be that. If I had the choice between spending a lot of money on a foundation or buying a bottle of Essence, I&amp;#039;d get the Essence because if you use it over time you need less foundation anyway. How about food? You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life. We actually had a dinner party not too long ago where everyone had to bring a dish based around their favorite ingredient and mine was onions. I really love caramelized onions. But my favorite food would probably be goat&amp;#039;s cheese. I love having people over for dinner. Sunday lunches with people and kids running around the lawn, that&amp;#039;s heaven to me. What&amp;#039;s your favorite thing to cook for guests? I usually bake and then my husband does the rest. He&amp;#039;ll experiment with stuff. I&amp;#039;ll do dessert, I do a fantastic upside down banana cake with caramelized banana. It&amp;#039;s yummy if I say so myself! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a15298/cate-blanchett-sk-ii/>