In between dropping her new capsule collection for Adidas and putting the final touches on her new album, Rita Ora has made quite the mark on the fashion and beauty worlds. Ora, who is the face of DKNY’s new fragrance MYNY, shared with Elle a few secrets behind her signature look.

Starting with her platinum blond locks, the natural brunette said she keeps her strands in top shape by using a deep conditioning mask during the week. “I have a shower, then I leave [a Kérastase hair mask] in overnight, then I will shower again in the morning. Then every other day I use a toner because my blond starts to go—anyone who’s blond knows that once you wash it too many times it starts to go yellow. If I ever use conditioner I mix it with the toner. Kérastase and Bed Head have really good products.”

The songstress, who has a role in the upcoming 50 Shades of Grey movie, is also known for taking risks when it comes to her hairstyles. Case in point: the braided high-pony with hand-sewn pearls strewn throughout for her V Festival appearance recently, which took three hours to create.
“My hairdresser, Chris Appleton, and I don’t care how long it takes, we love creating moments—we just vibe off each other and work so well together. He is always, always, always looking for inspiration. We go to art galleries, we just walk down the street—I love looking at people—we buy loads of books, and we just never stop researching.”
One thing that remains a constant for the star are her fiery red lips (her favorite mix is a crimson lip liner from her own Rimmel London collection and M.A.C. Ruby Woo lipstick), which she says she “never” gets sick of and rocks “as many [days of the week] as I can.”

If you’re hoping to emulate Ora’s fantastically toned abs, she spilled the beans on that, too. “Well I used to do ballet all the time and I do this ballet workout, it is an amazing thing called Barrecore. It is like pulsing. It turns your legs into like jelly and you feel like a Bambi, you lose so much control over your body because you’re pulsing so much.”

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 (Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for DKNY)