Eva Mendes Covers Allure, Talks Beauty Tips and Being a Sex Symbol - StyleList

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Eva Mendes Covers Allure, Talks Beauty Tips and Being a Sex Symbol

by Katie Hintz-Zambrano (Subscribe to Katie Hintz-Zambrano's posts), Posted Jul 13th 2010 at 11:15AM
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Filed under: Fashion, Celebrity, News, Celebrity Style
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Eva Mendes Allure Magazine August 2010 cover

Eva Mendes goes retro for Allure's August cover. Photo: Michael Thompson

Magazine readers will get to see two sides of Eva Mendes on newsstands this summer.

First, as a cleavage-baring seductress on the July cover of W magazine and now as a relatively innocent-looking '60s stunner -- note the pale pink lips and cat eyes -- on Allure's August issue.

Naturally, inside the magazine the 36-year-old actress smolders in an all-Dolce & Gabbana wardrobe comprised of animal prints, bustiers, high-waisted skirts, and more body-hugging pieces.

In the accompanying article, Mendes tells the beauty magazine that, while it comes natural to her, being scorching hot isn't the only thing she wants to be known for.

"I'm definitely responsible for the image that I put out there," she says. "But it does become frustrating, because I don't want 'sexy' to be my defining characteristic. I'd love for my ambition and will and intellect and sense of humor to define me as well."

Although, with her role selling Calvin Klein Underwear in uber-provocative campaigns, disassociating herself with "sexy" might not be that easy.

"I'm not going to be like, 'No, it's not sexy [during the shoot],'" Mendes says of her on-set experience with the CK ad campaign. "There are moments...but then your knee slips and your elbow goes into him, and you laugh and the moment is completely broken."

Luckily, she and model Jamie Dornan became fast friends.

"This was the first photo Jamie and I ever took together," she recalls. "I met him for coffee just before the shoot and he happened to have a copy of one of my favorite books of all time with him, "The Fountainhead" [by Ayn Rand]. I was like, 'Are you kidding?!' Then we went and got greased up."

As for keeping her composure during that oiled bodies session and many others like it, Mendes says it's all about positive thinking.

"If a negative thought pops into my head," she says, "I talk to the voice within me and say, 'I know you want to tell me that I'm less than desirable, but not now. You can come back in a couple days and cut me down when I'm done with this shoot. I promise to let you in then.'"

Allure's piece on Mendes also includes tips on her simple beauty routine, which includes Perricone's No Foundation Foundation and Perricone's Cold Plasma on her face, a little red Benefit Benetint on her cheeks, Dr. Hauschka Lip Balm, and a spritz of Estée Lauder Knowing. ("I've been wearing the same perfume since seventh grade," she says. "I wanted to smell like a woman," she reveals)

"And if I have allergies and I have to go to an event, I'll throw on an eye," she says. "A really dark cat eye with heavy, smudged liner and mascara. That is insta-sexy."

As for her hair routine, she says she's "not into slick, sleek-looking hair. I like more of a '70s vibe, where it seems a little drier."

To achieve that effect she relies on Psssssst Dry Shampoo and the "old Cuban trick" of applying baby powder to her roots.

Eva Mendes Allure Magazine August 2010 leopard print bustier

Mendes seduces the camera in a leopard-print bustier. Photo: Michael Thompson

To get that enviable body, Mendes says she works out four times a week with a yoga instructor and trainer, while also doing cardio on her own.

"I absolutely only work out aggressively because I'm an actress," she says. "If I weren't, I'd be pleasantly plump in the south of Italy."

Which very well could be the case, given her relaxed diet philosophy.

"It's more how much I eat than what I eat," she says. "I allow myself to have whatever I crave, but I really shouldn't finish the whole thing. I was raised in a household where I was told, 'Finish your plate.'"

To read more of Mendes's interview, pick up the August issue of Allure, on newsstands July 20th, and check out this behind-the-scenes clip of Mendes' shoot over at allure.com.

For another steamy August photo shoot, see Drew Barrymore on Elle.
Filed under: Fashion, Celebrity, News, Celebrity Style
Tags: 60s, Allure, Calvin Klein, Celebrity Photo Shoots, diet, Eva Mendes, Jamie Dornan, Magazine Covers, Magazines, Michael Thompson, Sex symbols
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