In New Zealand to judge the Specsavers’ Spectacle Wearer of the Year competition, Kelly McAuliffe sat down with Eva Longoria and asked her to spill all her fitness and beauty secrets.
We haven’t seen her face on our television screens since the Desperate Housewives of Wisteria Lane closed their front doors on us for good in 2012. But American actress Eva Longoria is still never far from a red carpet or a best dressed list, thanks to her age-defying beauty and eye for a good outfit (and with a BFF like Victoria Beckham giving her style advice, we imagine it would be difficult to put a foot wrong).
Most recently, a jump shot of the petite star, captured on board a boat while holidaying in Capri and posted to her Instagram account, became a talking point in media publications around the world – “probably because I was in a bikini, not because I was in Capri,” she laughingly admits – but there’s no denying that the 40-year-old is looking happy, healthy and fit.
So what’s her secret to looking fabulous at 40?
Longoria swears by Pilates to keep her in shape – only this isn’t your regular run-of-your-mill Pilates. “Pilates in LA is not like your normal Pilates, it’s like Pilates on steroids,” she says. “It’s with the mega reformer and it’s just super intense and so hard, it’s like I can never get used to it. It’s an hour of hell, it’s just so hard! And I’m also a runner, I run a lot.”
Diet, too, plays a part, with Longoria admitting that she switches it up between being disciplined and letting loose here and there (while in Auckland, she’s even been spotted getting a late night treat at local takeaway joint, the White Lady). And this self-confessed wine-addict will always make room for a glass or two of the good stuff. “My guilty pleasure is wine, for sure. I drink my calories, I don’t eat them! Every time I’m running and I see how many calories I burned I’m like ‘I just burned off two glasses of wine… And I haven’t even got to the food!’”
Her flawless complexion also belies her age and she puts this down to two things: regular facials and sunblock.
“Facials to me aren’t about a “spa day” where we’re just going to relax – facials for me are like work. They’re painful… And it’s a chemical peel and a light treatment and ughh… every time I come out of one, I’m thinking ‘that wasn’t at all relaxing!’,” she says. “And the earlier you can wear sunblock [the better] – as a kid I was always running around without wearing sunblock and now I douse myself in it.”
With a rigorous travel schedule that has seen her take in four countries in the last 3 weeks, Longoria’s best beauty tip for keeping yourself looking refreshed after travelling, is to keep skin extremely nourished: “I load my purse up with my eyecreams, my moisturisers, my serums and I reapply them probably about 3 or 4 times throughout the flight. I just like to stay moisturised because I feel like flying is so dehydrating.”
With only two days in New Zealand, it is a whirlwind working trip without much down time. But she is hopeful she can sneak in a quick shopping trip for some more New Zealand fashion – she already owned several Deadly Ponies bags without realising they were from a New Zealand designer – and before we leave, asks FQ to give her the rundown on where to get her retail therapy fix while in Auckland.
See Eva’s responses to our ‘this or that’ quickfire questions:
