Natalia Vodianova Quotes

I wear fragrance when I feel that just makeup is not enough. I'm not someone who uses it daily, but when I do, I feel so proud that I remembered and almost like I treated myself because I work really hard.

If you never know hardship, you can't really support people around you.

When I was a teenager, I remember I wanted to put so much makeup on - it was just a natural thing over there. Why they do it, I guess, is because historically, there were twice as many women as there were men after the World War II.

It's better to be skinny than to be fat.

Russian women are very friendly with makeup, almost too friendly sometimes.

I missed quite a lot of school because I was working from the age of 11.

The big contracts go to the girls who are healthy - they need to have a sparkle in their eyes and you can't fake that if you're unhealthy.

Finding out I was pretty was a very nice realisation.

I live a very different life now, with incredible privileges, but looking back I realise that growing up in Russia gave me tools that other people don't necessarily have - such as the will to push that bit further, to make things happen, to succeed.

The best part of work is always working with people and getting to know them and having the sense that you're not actually working.

I love Yves Saint Laurent and Giambattista Valli and Givenchy, and I get given quite a lot, but perhaps nothing is as wonderful as the white fake leather trench coat I got when I was 15.

Before I left Russia in 1999, I was living in a very poor factory town with my family and friends, and nothing was ever going to change.

You cannot leave the house to take the garbage out without full-on makeup and your hair done. You have to fight for your man out there.

When I remember my life in Russia it is in totally dark colours.

When you become a mother, you think less about yourself and care more about the world.

Moscow is a huge inspiration for me. I love what I find here, I love being here.

We all have our own purpose in life and I feel very strongly that I have a bigger purpose than giving to just my immediate family and friends.

When you are at the bottom, you find beauty in such little things, and goodness in such little gestures. When I compare any struggle today to ones that I may have had in my childhood, there is nothing that can bring me down.

As a child I really didn't like men at all, in fact.

When I work as a model, it feels like holiday. Doing a shoot is so light in a way that it's really a good break from being a mother or running a charitable organization and other philanthropic projects that I'm really passionate about.

But when my grandmother saw me plucking [my eyebrows] she said: 'Don't. You will regret it. One day you will wake up with no eyebrows and think how stupid you were. Your eyebrows are the most beautiful thing about you.'

I think protecting your family and giving to them is so important. It's the most important achievement.

I raised my sister. I was six when she was born. My mother had to make a living for herself and it was very hard, so I was looking after my sister, cooking and cleaning, and she had four jobs.

The people that live in my hometown do not walk along the street with smiles on their faces. It is a desperate place, but I got out.

When I really treat myself, I go to incredible Leonor Greyl in Paris for a head massage.

I completely admire my mother for raising a child with cerebral palsy at home.

I don't mind being called 'Supernova.' If one nickname is going to stick, that's not a bad one!

I learnt early to have little expectation so I protected myself from ever feeling greatly disappointed.