I have my mother’s cheekbones. She didn’t make a big thing of them when I was younger, though. She was a working woman and didn’t concentrate on her looks. She wore a little pencil under her eyes, but that was it. She also used to make her own clothes. Remember: this was communist Russia, so you had no choice.
When the Soviet Union collapsed [in 1991; Poly was six], everyone was depressed. I have a memory of everything feeling dark and grey. We didn’t know what would happen – my grandmother lost all her savings. Even though we had more “options”, we were scared. We were used to dressing the same, to being equal; if you had more than someone else, it felt like you were showing off. I love that Russian fashion is in fashion now, and that Balenciaga is doing the whole 90s babushka thing – I want to buy it all. Maybe that is strange.
Before I became a model [she was scouted aged 15 in her home town of Perm, 1,200 miles east of Moscow], magazines felt like an untouchable world. Models were just images, they were not real people. To me, beauty, modelling ... it was not a real profession. Beauty and fashion took a long time to reach us, so I learned most of my tricks from a 50s book my grandmother gave me, based on conversations between two housewives. I once boiled up the brown skin of an onion and washed my hair with it to dye it strawberry orange. It worked. I also learned how to use water bottles as weights to stay in shape and how to make a hair mask from egg (and from beer, which smelled pretty bad). One thing that definitely works is putting fresh strawberries all over your face, like a mask. It’s great on sunburnt skin because of all the vitamin C.
My routine now is still quite simple and natural. I wake up with a puffy face, so every morning I massage it for 10 minutes, non-stop, with Laura Mercier rose oil. It’s not too boring – I walk around the house and do stuff like look for my charger, if I’ve lost it. If I am travelling, I pack with one hand while I pat my face with the other. I do the sides of my neck, too, which is good for lymphatic drainage. You don’t get cramp in your fingers like you think you would – it’s not like playing computer games. Then I have a large glass of warm water with lemon and I do a Tracy Anderson workout on a live stream. As a model, you have to have tiny, lean, toned muscles. Tracy knows how to lift your backside. She’s bossy, but she’s over there, on the screen, so it’s OK.
I don’t wear makeup every day. It’s good to rest. If I am wearing it, the things I always use are Laura Mercier’s secret concealer, which I put all over my face; Anastasia eyebrow pencil; then a bit of powder to finish. That’s it. I feel much more confident. If I am on the red carpet, I contour with Kevyn Aucoin’s kits. If I am in front of a flash, then it’s full-on contouring. I try not to bleach my hair too much any more. Modelling will destroy your hair. I used to go to my hotel after every show and wash my hair because it was so wrecked from ironing and back-combing. If I was doing five shows a day, that was five washes a day.
I wasn’t allowed to use proper makeup until I was 14 – and then it was just mascara. When my mum had gone to work, I would put on her blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick and go to school. You have to have a full look. None of my teachers said anything, which, looking back, was quite mean. Sometimes I would take a black pencil and draw on my eyelids. I looked like a panda.
I used to smoke. That is not good for your skin. I don’t know why I did it – it was never my thing and it made me feel so bad. Russians aren’t great with sunscreen, either. I know it’s important now, but when I was younger ...
I don’t drink coffee and alcohol if I can – they also destroy your skin – and right now I am doing a vegan diet for 10 days. I have to – if I don’t, I will pick, pick, pick at bad food. This way, I just drink juice for a bit. To start with, it feels as though you are dying, then it gets better. Being vegan isn’t so bad. Breakfast can be blueberries, gluten-free muesli with almond milk, a big salad for lunch and cooked vegetables for dinner. See? Not so bad.