by Layla Randle-Conde

Created on: January 13, 2009

Preparation starts the day before a shoot. I don't eat, I just drink fresh juice all day so I don't bloat. I rub sugar and olive oil into my knees, elbows and legs (great tip for exfoliation) and then rinse it all off. I cover myself in moisturising goo before I go to bed, and then again when I get up. If I'm a red-head that week I'll put a special rinse in my hair to make it look brighter.

When I get up the next morning I'll have more juice and perhaps a slice of wholemeal toast so I don't pass out in the middle of the shoot. I wear something loose and baggy so I don't get marks on my skin.

When I arrive at the shoot it takes me an hour to put my makeup on. From the primer that makes my skin look smoother to the carefully painted on highlighter and shadow, every inch of my face is carefully painted up. If you saw me walking down the street looking like a pantomime dame you'd definitely stare.

Huge, dark eyes (exaggerated with thick eyeliner, clever shadows and lots of mascara). Plump red lips (lip plumper containing cinnamon oil to irritate and puff up the lips, plus lipstick and then a gloop of gooey gloss on top). Perfect white skin. (Thanks to the layers of powder and highlighter).

Number of cosmetics used - about 20.

Hair - tousled and backcombed and sprayed and pinned. Another hour.

I do a lot of artistic nude, meaning I don't wear anything on the shoot. Every time the camera clicks this is what I do:

Suck my stomach in, tense my stomach muscles, make sure my feet aren't pointing in the same direction, stick my bottom and boobs out, drop my shoulders, bring my arms forward, look up into a bright light (like looking at the sun) and pull my sexy' face, which I secretly call my gormless face. I love modelling because it's so far removed from everyday life. It's art, and we do suffer for it! I'm often perched in very uncomfortable positions. If something feels incredibly uncomfortable and unnatural in real life, chances are it looks great in a photograph. I'd never sit or stand in a club or shop the way I would in a photograph, it would just look weird.

The lights are so bright that they bleach out all imperfections in the skin. That's why the makeup is so exaggerated. If I didn't have bright lippy and dark eyes I'd look like a peeled egg.

When the shoot is over it takes me about 20 minutes to get all the slap off. I look through the shoot with the photographer. He whizzes over any bruises, lumps and bumps with a Photoshop tool. He's downloaded this crazy program that somehow makes the skin look smooth and creamy in an instant. Close-up the pores in my nose look like the surface of the moon. But ten seconds later they are gone. Because I'm pale I don't have the camouflage that tanned girls have, and of course everyone has a few bruises, mottled areas, a broken vein or two. I've got 3 small tattoos that most photographers get rid of immediately. The photographer gets rid of all these things straight away.

I'm very skinny, but some poses make your belly stick out even if you haven't got much of one. While the photographer's getting a coffee I lean over and liquefy my belly a bit, taking a couple of inches off it. Perfect.

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