'What does "Pleasing" mean?', Bianca Balti opens our interview with, referring to the Harry Styles beauty line merch stuck haphazardly on the back of my laptop. Nestled in the corner bedroom of a Capri villa teetering high on the side of the island, and dressed in an understated white cardigan co-ord, the supermodel, mum of two and face of Dolce & Gabbana's iconic Light Blue fragrance is at ease, chatty, and not afraid to share that she's entirely unaware of Styles' foray into beauty.

In fact, her real time response to this information is endearingly one of surprise and delight, although the name, she admits, inspires a feeling in her that all mothers can, understandably, relate to. 'The word "Pleasing" for me just reminds me of trying to please everyone else in my life,' the 38-year-old Italian native shares. At the suggestion that the singer was actually aiming for the opposite; a free love call to arms to 'Find your Pleasing', Balti still isn't convinced. 'I can't remember the last time I pleased myself!'

Below, the multi-hyphenate discusses her low-key self-care routine, learning beauty tips from her 14-year-old daughter and saving her perfume for special occasions....

bianca balti beauty interview
Dolce & Gabbana

Talk us through your beauty routine...

'I don't have much of a beauty routine right now. If I wasn't a model I'd probably do more for myself, but because I take pleasure in beauty through my job, when I'm at home I'll do more of a massage than a face of make-up.

'Even perfume for me is a special occasion thing, it's not an everyday thing. I like to be very natural in my day to day life, so when I get dressed up in lipstick and heels, I'll wear perfume to feel really special. Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Italian Love is such an energetic scent, it's so summery and punchy which is great for me because I'm such a pyjamas around the house person so I need a perfume like this for when I'm going out. When I spray it I immediately feel more energised, like let's go out and rock.'

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What other scents do you love?

'I love the smell of jasmine because it reminds me of my parent's house. Now my neighbour in LA has it as well, it makes me feel at home. I also love the smell of babies! My friends are having babies and it's giving me baby fever again. When I hold them, that smell makes me feel nostalgic for when I had my daughters and makes me crave another one. It's the most powerful smell. I think Mother Nature did it on purpose so we would keep reproducing!'

What's the best beauty tip you've received?

'My mum was like me, very simple. As a child I wished she would wear dresses and things but she was always in jeans and a white shirt and no make-up. Then, one time on holiday, I remember seeing her wearing this amazing red lipstick. I'd never seen her wearing red lipstick before in my entire life and I thought she just looked incredible.

'When I said this to her she told me, 'But if I wore it everyday you wouldn't notice.' And it's true. Since then that's the approach to beauty I've adopted. Now I won't wear much make-up and then suddenly I'll work an ombre eye look and people are like, 'Woah, you look amazing!'

bianca balti beauty interview
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis

What beauty tips have you learnt from your daughter?

'My daughter lives with her father, and every six weeks she comes to stay with me. Of course when she visits she wants me to buy her beauty products so I say, "I won't buy it for you, you've got to earn it". She creates TikTok videos for my account to earn her pocket money. For the first one, she told me make-up tutorials are really popular so we did one of those together and she said, "Mum, we went viral!" It's so funny.

'I don't give her any beauty advice, I actually look to her for it. She started wearing acrylic nails so I started wearing them too. I got these transparent pink nails and I loved them. I really look to her for make-up and styling because with social media her generation have access to so much creativity. I have zero clue compared to her!'

Who do you look to as beauty icons?

'It's tricky, because I see beauty icons as women that can't be replicated. When you take someone like Sophia Loren I could never replicate her beauty and the dedication she had to looking a certain way. I love it, because I see it as the women from that time's form of self love, taking the time for themselves. Or maybe I'm wrong and it was just slavery. It's not my type of self love!'

Shop Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Italian Love here