While others may be born with it, Josephine Skriver isn’t afraid to tell you she’s not. The newly-announced face of Maybelline and Victoria’s Secret Angel undoubtedly has blessed genes, yes, but she won’t pretend she doesn’t put effort into looking the way she does.

“Being a model everybody’s like, ‘Oh, are you skinny by nature? Or do you starve yourself?’ No. We work hard for this. It doesn’t come naturally. Yes we’re born a certain way, but we still work hard in the gym, we work hard to get to our goals,” the 25-year-old told me over the phone. Similar to her approach to her body, the way she approaches beauty is no “just sunscreen” routine—she loves makeup and has plenty of hacks in her back pocket.

“You want your face to be a canvas, but you don’t want makeup to be a mask,” says Skriver. “You want makeup to be a beauty enhancer and to make you feel better or make you feel powerful.” Ahead, more other tips and secrets from the Danish model.

She can’t leave the house without brows on.

“If I could only do one thing to my face, I would do my brows. I can go with no foundation or no mascara, but my brows—I always have a big ‘ole pencil on me! I’ve really fallen in love with Maybelline Total Temptation Brow Definer. It’s such an easy pencil and doesn’t smudge through the day.”

She likes to hunt for local beauty products when she travels.

“They have the best face masks in Korea and China. I was in Shanghai and the face masks are so funny—they have little prints that make you look like a panda or a princess. I really like that, because you can’t necessarily find that as much over here [in the U.S.] where everything looks more classic.”

She grew up thinking less is more.

“It’s always been my approach to a lot of things in life—from how I do my clothing, to interior design in my house, to my makeup. I’ll keep my face pretty clean when I wear a lip because I want to focus on just one thing. It comes down to skin, health, and having a good base: Taking off your makeup before you go to bed, drinking a ton of water, working out, eating healthy. It comes back to taking care of yourself and my country’s big on that.”

Activating her face is part of her skincare routine.

“I love a jade roller. Sometimes if I forget it or don’t have it with me, even just running an ice cube over your face helps to de-puff in the morning. I like to “activate” my face by working out, massaging, or running a jade roller over it—it just helps get the blood [going].”

She regrets not shaving her face.

“I did a facial the other day where they recommended that us girls should actually shave our faces. I started researching about it because I was like no, no no do not shave my face! Now I want to go back and do it because it helps you rejuvenate skin cells. Men rarely have any wrinkles around the mouth because they constantly renew their skin from shaving. There’s never buildup. My friend has done it for six months and her skin cleared up so much more. She says it feels so much tighter and fresher!”

Baby oil is her go-to moisturizer.

“It’s great for applying right before you get out of the shower. I’ve never been able to feel anything as moisturizing all over as baby oil. I add my creams on after, but baby oil just locks it in. I don’t know what it is—[fellow Victoria’s Secret Angel] Jasmine Tookes recommended me to try it out and I haven’t stopped since!”

Jasmine Tookes taught her how to do her makeup.

“I was a tomboy and my mom was a tomboy, so I got introduced to the makeup world through the industry. Jasmine was patient enough to sit me down and was like, ‘Hey, do you need to know how to do your own thing on a daily basis.'” We would go to her place and try on different products.

She told me to mix a little bit of oil into my foundation and massage it into my face and down the neck so you don’t have that line. Her encouragement was like, “Let’s just go home and play. It’s like cooking. Sometimes it’s really boring and tastes horrible and other times you made a masterpiece.” Sometimes I’ll nail a look and I’m like “Oh my god, we’ve got to go out!”

She believes there’s power in makeup.

“You just feel like, “Look at me. Come here.” You made an effort, you did something for you. I love that makeup can transform. My mom doesn’t really wear makeup and I took her to a red carpet and had her makeup and hair done. She felt so much more comfortable going on the red carpet because she’s like “Oh my god, I can actually look girly. I can look feminine. And she’s never really felt that before and that was like a very big moment.” The next day we walked out and just bought her a bunch of makeup. I sat down and I pretty much taught her what Jasmine taught me. Seeing that transformation, that power, in makeup has been just really cool.”