This skin is camera ready! Is yours?

Despite height and inches and measurements, it has been my skin that has helped me work as a model over the years, and my skin has been my best asset. I’ve worked with many brands and magazines as a body parts model, I’ve even gone in the complete buff on The Stacy London Show, was topless for a shoot with Time Magazine, and being comfortable with my body is part of the job. My hands were in a Macy’s commercial and also in editorials for Bon Appétit magazine many times, my feet and legs have appeared in campaigns for Marshalls, Easy Spirit Shoes, and I modeled the FitFlop for Victoria’s Secret, and I’ve been booked for many other body jobs despite being the shortest model out there, by knowing my assets, taking care of them and marketing what I’ve got, -may it be a hand, leg, foot, booty, or torso, I’ve got it ready!

Here are some of my tips from keeping my body head-to-toe camera ready.

Hand and nails: When I get my manicures and pedicures done I bring my own nail polish to salons, because if I get a chip or my nails need a touch up I can quickly fix that because I own the color and it is in my bag. And you can make your manicure last longer this way too. To keep my nails looking good and healthy and strong nails I drink milk , and moisturize of course, and my favorite lotion products for my hands are LUSH’s Lemony Flutter cuticle cream, L'Occitane Shea Butter hand cream. I always carry with me travel size lotions, currently in my bag I also have Caswell-Massey Newport Mariner’s hand cream, and I also like Ives Hydrating Vitamin E Lotion. Also at the salons, I only use fan-dryers not the UV dryers, which can damage your skin! Or, I don’t use a hand dryer at all and just air dry my nails.

Face and torso: For keeping my face and neck youthful looking I drink a lot of water and moisturize my neck and collarbone area daily. Also I give attention to under my eyes, my forehead, and my chin each night. I also give some love to my stomach, belly button (yes I moisturize it!) and my breasts, shoulders, upper back, lower back, and also as far as I can reach around my back and up my spine. On my face I am rotating right now between Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel, Clinique’s Moisture Surge, and LUSH’s Ultralight moisturizer and Kiehl’s creamy eye treatment with avocado.

Feet and toes: I love foot scrubs. I love making my own handmade coffee foot scrubs; I save my coffee grinds from the morning and put them in a sealed container in the fridge, then use them during my evening shower by mixing the grinds with a body wash or lotion for a fantastic coffee scrub. (My coffee scrub video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=984V4unM84g ) it’s also good for hands. Also I like scooping up a nice amount of St. Ives Apricot Scrub and rubbing it all over my feet, my heel, and in-between my toes, the bottoms of my feet. Another good one is The Body Shop’s Olive Body Scrub. I even like using my cold face-masks on my feet, and sometimes I do put lotion on my feet and then put socks on overnight to wake up with extra soft feet.

Whole body: Weekly, I give my whole body some loving by rubbing a nice layer of LUSH’s Turkish Delight on my skin, from my neck to my toes, everywhere, then I jump in the shower and wash it off, my skin is super, duper soft and silky. Also I love really hot showers, but I try to cool the water down a bit, hot water can dehydrate the skin.

Legs: One night I used my man’s Gillette Aftershave Gel for sensitive skin on my legs and became addicted! Now I shop for it for both of us, it makes my legs feel and look even smoother after shaving.

Skin fix: For covering up scars or to make skin look more soft and smooth, I mix together in my hands a liquid facial foundation and a body lotion. I then rub the mixture wherever is needed. The lotion mixed with the foundation gives the skin a natural glow which looks great on camera.

Model-must-have’s: Travel size teeny-weeny Noxzema Bikini Shaver’s, I have these in my bag, just in case. Travel size toothbrush and toothpaste, if you have a casting after lunch or something. Q-tips, these are some of the handiest modeling tools ever, you can clean up your face, nail polish, and a million other things with a Q-tip. Travel size nail polish remover. Nude pantyhose, shoe models use these often. Thongs, models need to have their own black, nude colored and white thongs. Panty-liners, to put in the undergarment for lingerie and swimwear or body jobs. Band-Aids, just in case.

Daily go-to beauty products: Fresh’s Magic Wands Mini Mascara Duo, Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 15 powder, Revlon’s ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipsticks, Revlon’s Extra Curl Eyelash Curler and Fresh SUGAR ROSÉ tinted lip treatment SPF 15.

Also eating veggies and fruit keeps my skin looking nice as well. I try to stay away from BBQ and grease but I really love cheese.

I know it can be time consuming to take care of the skin, but once you start overtime it becomes a normal way of life, and by doing so I’ve been able to put what I have to use as a model and prove the little guy can get the job done!

~Isobella Jade

Check out Short Stuff: on the job with an x-small on Amazon and BN.com and in Barnes and Noble store, read about these on-the-job experiences and keeping my body camera ready. :) A sample excerpt of the book is on my website here as well: http://www.isobelladreams.com/

Above body parts portfolio photos: Larry Baglio, Robert Milazzo, Michael McCabe

Isobella Jade TM.