Model Sophia Lie swears by a healthy, fresh and beautiful skin, meditation and balance, but she will not throw herself on the “peeling train” again immediately. We talked to the model about skincare routines, favorite products and the beauty ideal in the fashion industry.

What do you put in beauty?

Beauty for me is complex. Some of the most beautiful things I know are energy, vitality and motivation. Beauty can be purely physical, but also how one chooses to live life. I find a lot of beauty in meditation. When I meditate regularly, my experience of reality changes and negative thinking is replaced by inspiration. Everything becomes clearer, more beautiful and I get a better goal-scoring ability which in turn makes everyday life much more fun.

You have five minutes in front of the mirror before you have to run in the morning. What are you doing?

I focus on healthy, glowing skin. Cleanse, tone and moisturizer followed by an oil for extra glow. I bend my lashes, fill in eyebrows and apply them with a gel. I do not like too much makeup: a thin layer of concealer under the eyes and around the nose (a trick is to moisten a beauty blender and apply the concealer with it - then the consistency is absolutely fantastic, and it almost melts into the skin), a little transparent powder for make-up, sun powder (it is important that it is cold so that you do not turn orange!) and highlighters on the back of the nose, cheekbones and upper lip edge and in the corner of the eye for an open look.

What products are part of your skincare routine?

RMS Beauty Oil, Dermalogica's cleanser and moisturizer and Elixir Niactil.

Which five makeup products do you love the most and why?

The seesaw from Shiseido. I have so-called Asian lashes that go straight forward without much bending, but with this lashing pliers you get a nice bend - and with good grip. Bend in three steps; innermost, in the middle, and outermost.

I love all RMS products because they are organic and work incredibly well. The makeup artist behind the brand, Rosemary Swift, really knows what good makeup is; both the textures and the pigments are super fine and easy to work with. The favorites are their “Un” Cover-Up, Living Luminizor and the powders.

What are your top tips for keeping your skin young and fresh?

Drink plenty of water and avoid sugar (it's the most boring tip in the world, but it's true!) Detox twice a year, trend regularly and varied and get plenty of sleep. Get plenty of healthy and varied organically clean food, proteins and healthy fats as well as any vitamin supplements if you need them. Take the full-spectrum infrared sauna. Full spectrum consists of the traditional far-infrared rays but also near and mid-infrared rays. Infrared sauna heats you up from the core, and should be able to penetrate up to seven times deeper than a regular sauna that only heats the outer layers of skin. Moderate alcohol intake. Too much alcohol both makes you puffy and makes you look older, but it also makes you stress over appearance, so it is important to find a balance and have fun. I travel a lot, love to have a drink too much and rarely say no to a party, but I have become good at just that with the balance such as weighing up with effective detox routines. And finally; cleanse your face both morning and evening and give your skin plenty of moisture with good moisturizers.

What is your signature perfume and what do you like about it?

Byredos Gypsy Water. It is not too strong, and the scent adapts to those who use it in a unique way.

What is your "holy grail" product that EVERYONE should get?

Beauty blender!

What's the weirdest thing you've ever done when it comes to looks?

Last year, when I turned 30, I decided it was time to get on the peeling train. I'm a little scared of Botox, so thought that peeling was a great way to introduce a more preventative skin care routine. My skin is a bit sensitive, but in my ten years as a model, I have never had skin reactions to either products or treatments. After half a year with this routine, I got hypersensitive skin and had to stop peeling completely. I think we can learn a lot from Korean skin philosophy that focuses on strengthening the skin barrier in the long run by using effective but gentle products, instead of creating inflammation that will then lead to skin renewal as we do in the West.

How do you relate to today's beauty ideal?

I think it's a shame that there is still no healthy slim ideal in high fashion. It's better than it was before, but on the runway, the sample size is the same as before. There is a lot of talk about plus size during the day, especially in the US, but it is still a fact that you are either extremely thin, or you are plus size on the runway during fashion weeks - there is still no healthy ideal for slim girls. The designers are the ones who can start this change by adding two centimeters extra on sample sizes so that the models who are 180 centimeters on the plinth do not have to starve all the way down to the bones to be narrow enough to be able to participate in fashion weeks.