Angela Mollard's top secrets to getting great skin.

During my two-year tenure as a beauty editor, I went to numerous launches for numerous products. After a while, the launches and products blurred into one – but my fascination with knowing what women put on their faces never went away.

I can be shameless when it comes to finding out other people’s fashion and beauty secrets. If I see a lipstick I like on someone’s lips that I think will suit me, I’ll hunt down the name and brand and probably go and buy it. I’m all for sharing these things.

This week in my Natural Instinct series I find out what author, social commentator and journalist Angela Mollard’s does with her face on a day-to-day basis….

Q: Angela, you have beautiful, shiny, glowy skin. Tell me what you do to it morning, noon and night. Don’t hold back on the details….

A: I try to limit the number of products I use, particularly on days when I work from home. I cleanse and moisturise, use a serum occasionally, add sunscreen then leave my skin to breathe. I might put on lip gloss if I nip out to the shops but the older I get the less I worry what I look like. My skin is best when I sleep well and eat well so I’d rather resort to that than some amazing $150 bottle of foundation. That philosophy comes unstuck when I appear on TV. To look half decent you need to pile on the make up but thankfully they have experts to do it for me! In the evenings I cleanse, use eye cream and rosehip oil. I’ve been a fan for a couple of years and have tried plenty of brands.

Q: What about exercise and health – how do you look after your body?

I know it’s a bigger cliché than Kate Moss‘s stupid “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” but sleep and water are nature’s elixirs. I can age 10 years after a poor night’s sleep which means a bout of insomnia can have me looking 140. I’m a huge believer in moderation in all forms of life – tech, food, alcohol, exercise, work – and so I exercise most days. Sometimes it’s a gym class, sometimes a swim. The best change I’ve made in the past few years is to walk with a girlfriend instead of having coffee. It’s dual purpose – chatting and exercising – and it prevents coffee breath.

Q: As a writer, a lot of your time would be spent inside (I know mine is). How do you make sure you get your daily dose of nature each day? And what do you do to get it?

A: My body and brain crave nature. My shoulders loosen simply by walking into the garden. I swim in the ocean a couple of days a week, long into autumn, then I start again come spring. Rather than running on footpaths, I jog on nature trails and as a family we often go bushwalking. I also train with a group called Wild Women On Top which involves walking at night with a pack and head torch. It’s exhilarating. Every year I try to do something new – this year I walked the Routeburn Track in New Zealand and I’m keen to try canyoning.

Q: You’re originally from New Zealand – then you lived in the UK for seven years. Has your skin regime changed since moving to Australia – and if so, why?

In a word: sunscreen. Mine is the generation that realised too late the horrors of frying our skin. I’m fair-skinned so I slather on SPF50 even if I’m just hanging out the washing. Earlier this year I had a dermatological treatment that revealed the extent of my sun damage. It was fascinating seeing how much worse the right side of my face is, simply because that’s the side that’s exposed to sun while driving. Scary stuff.

Q: As a mother what products do you allow your children to use?

A: My girls are 11 and 14 and use simple natural cleansers on their skin (the youngest has pinched my cleanser). The eldest has had trouble with acne but fortunately a good cleansing routine, exercise and cutting back on sugar seem to have done wonders.

Q: Are you concerned about strong chemicals on their skin?

A: Yes. My eldest has very sensitive skin and you can see instantly if she uses anything that’s too strong or invasive. Her generation are really keen on BB and CC creams but I’m not keen on anything that professes to do 100 different things. I prefer a single product that does one thing well.

Q: What’s your favourite thing to do outdoors?

A: Go boogie boarding with my kids. We all love it.

Q: How have the products you use on your skin changed in the past 10 years?

A: I now use eye cream and a night cream – and I slather moisturiser on my body. I use an eyelash curler religiously because it I love a good lash curl.

Q: What is your go-to skincare product at the moment? Why?

A: Natural Instinct’s Rejuvenating Rosehip Oil. It smells amazing and I love how it makes my skin look plumped up in the morning. I’ve started using it on my décolletage after noticing that that’s the area women often age first.

Q: If you could recommend one thing to your younger self about skincare what would it be?

A: Use sunscreen and try every day to see something about your face that you like. You’re going to be walking round with it for the best part of a century so cut it some slack.

How do you take care of your skin?

Here’s the glowing skin of some of our favourite celebs…