Natalie Imbruglia wanders through the hotel lobby looking every bit like the international star that she is. Wearing a black Balmain blazer with Current Elliot skinny jeans, a loose grey t-shirt with Prada black suede pointy heels, she is the epitome of casual chic.
Immediately friendly, she orders sushi from an over-enthusiastic waiter, then settles back to answer my questions.
Natalie recently visited Sydney to as Ambassador to Kailis Jewellery – a pearl company based in Perth. For our interview today, she’s customized their pearl solitaire by wearing two of the rings on the same finger. It looks, quite simply, amazing, and makes me immediately want to go out and copy her.
“It punks it up a bit right? Double whammy, I love it,” she says, “It almost works better with a casual look, to go further with it.” For someone who says she had to be dragged into fashion, she certainly has an innate feel for it.
“I didn’t wear pearls before I saw Kailis jewellery,” she admits, “and even if they were on trend like they are now, I didn’t know how to wear them. It’s about the design. It’s so modern.”
Pearls are certainly having a moment, with everyone from Chanel to TopShop cashing in on the trend this year, but Natalie was ahead of the curve, having been an ambassador for the brand for three years, and last year even collaborated on a collection.
“I would love to do another one, speak to the GM, tell him there’s a demand for it!” Natalie laughs. She co-designed the collection and incorporated her signature, a four-leaf clover (she shows me her four-leaf clover tattoo on the inside of her wrist), into the design. But for right now she is happy fronting the campaign.
“They approached me to do a campaign three years ago and I remember saying, get them to send me the designs because I’m not sure about pearls. But once I saw their jewellery I loved it. I thought it was really funky. I went to Bali to do the shoot and met the family which was so sweet, it’s a family business and it was lovely hearing how passionate they were.”
What’s her favourite bit about the jewellery?
“I love how there’s a black diamond on the inside of each piece, it’s like, just for you to know. It’s so decadent! Just so you know it’s there.”
Kailis isn’t the only reason she’s back in Australia. Natalie has been working on her own skincare line, Iluka, for two years and it’s finally launched into 1000 Priceline stores across the country.
“I have always wanted my own skincare line but I don’t think I would ever have gone out and done it myself. Being able to develop my own skincare from scratch has been amazing.”
When I ask her what the philosophy behind the line is she is very aware and focused in her response.
“It’s about being aware of what you’re putting on your skin. Your skin is the biggest organ on your body and it was about reeducating myself and learning what to put on it. It was something I never used to think about but as I’ve gotten older it’s become more important to me. It’s not an organic range, that wasn’t the biggest thing for me, I just don’t want harmful things like sulphates or parabens on my skin. I’m not pretending to be completely chemical free, I’m sure if you came into my house you’d find things with chemicals in them, but you’ve got to start somewhere. With this skincare I wanted to make sure I’m not putting something out there into the universe that’s harmful to people.”
You can tell she had a lot to do with the development and didn’t just put her face to the range by the kind of detail she goes into when I ask her about the products she’s launching.
“There are 10 products in the range. I use the foaming cleanser, though there’s a cream one as well, I have oily skin and prefer foaming so that’s why we have two. The toning spray is beautiful – the essential oil blend throughout the line has lemon myrtle, eucalyptus oil and peppermint, so it’s fresh and citrusy. I love it when I’m travelling. We have a pearl illuminator – crushed pearls are actually good for problem skin I found out. So you can use it as a highlighter but it’s also good for you. All of the products are active and have ingredients that are anti-aging and moisturising and we have the manuka honey which holds the hydration in your skin. The night cream is extra luxe but not heavy because I don’t like heavy creams. That was something I worked on a lot – the absorbency of products. And an SPF day cream that’s light and won’t give me pimples.”
While she’s looking forward to the success of the range, she also loves that it allows her to travel to Sydney more often to see her family. She’ll be back at Christmas to spend quality time with them.
“I come whenever I can because we all fly up to mum and dad’s house in Helensvale, Queensland. It’s between Coolangatta and Brisbane so it’s like a holiday. Why would I stay in London? Why would I not go there for Christmas? It’s double whammy, you can go stand up paddleboarding, I get to see my nieces and nephew and it’s really lovely.”
When she brings up children I ask her if she’s ready for some of her own.
“I haven’t joined the mother’s club yet. It’s one of those things that you can’t imagine what it’s like to be a part of, but you know that you’ll love your children more than anything else on the planet. I would love to have kids but I’m single, so if I meet the right person then yes. Until then, I quite like focusing on the positives, and I try and remind myself that my friends with kids can’t travel. And they have to go on those horrible family holiday places where everyone else has got their kids. I get to go to the places where they say kids can’t come to the pool! So I try and focus on things like that and not on the fact that I don’t have children.”
Open and honest, Natalie is not afraid to tell me she’s ready for a boyfriend.
“I’m single at the moment, and it sucks, it has been too long. I would love to be in a relationship. I’m ready. I’ve had dates so it’s not been all bad, but it’s been a while since I’ve been in a relationship. I don’t know if guys are too scared to approach me. People tell me that that’s probably why they don’t. Men have said to me that they wouldn’t approach me. But I don’t bite.”
Image courtesy of Instagram
My style uniform: is a blazer, jeans and heels. What’s the terminology for that? Smart casual? Easy chic?
My fashion journey began: In ’97 when I started doing music and had to do photo shoots all the time. I was dragged kicking and screaming into fashion because I was wearing army pants and covering up and they were trying to put me in dresses and I was like, I don’t want to wear dresses! But slowly, eventually, I got older and learned about fashion, who I liked, who I didn’t. I began to appreciate it. It’s like anything, the more you learn about it, the more you grow to love it. As much as it’s not the most important thing to me, I still appreciate it.
Favourite designers: Helmut Lang, Phillip Lim, Balmain, so nice, clean cut lines. It depends on where I’m going though. A lot of my summer dresses are vintage or Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony, I really like her vibe. Australian designers I love Yeojin Bae, Dion Lee, Josh Goot, Ginger & Smart.
Most fabulous fashion moment: I once wore a beautiful Chanel dress that I loved on the red carpet, it had a sheer panel across the chest with coloured beads which was really fun.
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