Jaimie Hilfiger: More to the Story

Taylor Harrington 8/19/2021 12:47pm EST

Jaimie Hilfiger is a talented model, fashionista, actor, and skincare expert. Having been in entertainment since the age of seven, Jaimie has found a way to navigate the ins and outs of the industry while being a voice and beacon for self-love and loving the skin that you’re in. Hilfiger’s signature line, the Jaimie Hilfiger Collection, is available through La Curcio now!

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We are here with the wonderful Jaimie Hilfiger today. Thank you so much for being here today, Jaimie!

Thank you so much for having me, Taylor. I’m really happy to have a little chat with you.

Absolutely. This will be fun. Jaimie, we know that you have this amazing beauty line, and we will get into that, but first, we want to know about your beginnings. How did you first get into this world of modeling, fashion, beauty, and really becoming an advocate for being comfortable in your own skin?

Well, I grew up outside of New York City, about 40 minutes outside of the city. When I started to express an interest in modeling and acting, I told my mom and she was like, ‘Alright, well, I could take you into the city since we live close enough and we could do some casting calls and stuff.’ So I started to go on casting calls around age seven in the city and my first big modeling contract came from the Sears department store. It’s kind of like a throwback, there’s aren’t many Sears that are still up and running nowadays. So I started modeling at an early age and then I kind of just did it casually, like through high school and college, and then once I graduated from college in Florida, I said, ‘You know what? I think I’m gonna go back to the city because there are more opportunities career-wise for me there.’ Once I got into the city, I was like, ‘You know what? I want to go out to Hollywood.’ I was in New York for a couple of months but I my dream really was to be out in California, so I packed up and I took the plunge, and moved out to Hollywood, California. Once I got out there my modeling and spokes-modeling really picked up because there was a big market for me, and the type of look that I had and for my personality. So I just really was on a rollout there and I did numerous television appearances. Then I was kind of just ready to not settle down, but just really get back to my roots from college. I had so many like girlfriends in Florida, so I decided I wanted to move to Florida. I could still do like my career there, but once I got to Miami, I got a huge slap in the face. My skin went crazy, and I had no idea what happened. I always had, I don’t want to say problematic skin, because if anyone saw me, they would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s exaggerating’, but to tell you the truth, I did have problematic skin. I was always diligent about keeping it really under control, but when I got to Miami there was nothing I could do. I didn’t even know where to turn. I woke up every day with red bumps and whatnot, and they weren’t acne. I went to a couple of skin doctors, skin specialists, and facialists and a few people really were at a loss. I found a dermatologist that was a specialist in skin care conditions and she diagnosed me with type two rosacea, so that’s kind of how I started to get into the skincare line. I found myself like, ‘I cannot go to photoshoots looking like this. They’re gonna be mad, right?’ Even though photos are retouched and everything, you’ve still got to look like yourself, you know?

That has got to be such a hard thing to go through with having already garnered success in the modeling world and then you think you’re making the right move, literally, only to be faced with a hard skin condition. Emotionally, how did you navigate through this time? Did you have a good support system around you?

You know what? Emotionally it was rough because I had some people around me that were not really taking into consideration the seriousness of the issue and were saying, ‘Don’t stress, you look fine’ and stuff like that, but I’ll never forget going to a cover shoot for a very popular South Florida magazine, and I got on set and I could tell they were like, ‘Whoa’, because my skin was red and bumpy. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t really know what happened’. That really took a toll on me because I was really at a loss. I started visiting facialists and like skincare, centers to try to get light treatments and all that stuff. I had to turn to dermatology to get prescriptions and I was given every prescription under the sun, like sulfur face washes that smelled like rotten eggs and literally, Taylor, nothing was correcting my issue.

From those experiences, you have created the Jaimie Hilfiger Collection of skincare with La Curcio. You made something out of the struggle. What can you tell us about your line and how it can help people that maybe have problematic skin?

I’ve never been one to just sit and wait for problems to correct themselves. Some people have to sit with a problem, but that’s just not me. Luckily, in my travels and my career, I was introduced to the founder of La Curcio Skincare collections and we just formed a bond. She wanted to send me her line, and one time we were just speaking on the phone because I was raving about her products, they were phenomenal, and I was telling her about my concerns and her and I like tackled the problems head-on. We got talking more and I said, ‘My background is in fashion, clearly, but I’ve always been more into beauty, makeup, and skincare.’ That’s when the Jamie Hilfiger Collection came to life. The line is natural, vegan, and cruelty-free, so it’s very gentle, but it works. Our packaging is also recyclable and made in the USA. All the ingredients are clean. It’s safe for women who are pregnant. I needed something that calmed my skin first. There are many times in life where you’re asked, ‘Okay, what type of skin do you have? Are you dry? Are you oily? Are you combination?’, and I never really knew what to mark for myself. Now I know, I mark sensitive, and then I write-in highly sensitive. All of those harsh ingredients in the prescription that I was given are even in lines like Proactiv and stuff. They were just aggressors, and they were aggravating my condition even more, so I had to find what works for me. Thankfully, the La Curcio collection did wonders for me, and then my line is complimentary toward the signature line. Of course, the signature line will include the cleanser, the toner, the face cream, and the eye cream, so my line comes in and provides the masks and all of the refining parts of skincare.

I was just thinking about this the other day, that I don’t have a good skincare routine. Sometimes it really feels good to take care of yourself, and people need to do it more. How can our readers find and access your line?

They can find it at www.LaCurcio.com, and then they can also find it on my website as well. If you go to the shop tab on my website it will take you to the La Curcio website so that you can purchase it from there. Everyone that I have turned on this collection to has fallen in love with it from my mom to my grandmother. My grandmother is a stubborn, stuck-in-her-ways type of woman, and very strong-willed. She had been using Clinique and Lancome for decades, and then she finally started asking my Mom what she was using because her skin looked amazing. Mom told her that she was using La Curcio, and she was like, “Oh, could you get me some for Christmas this year?” It’s good for all ages because it’s a gentle formula that really confines to everyone’s specific needs and wants in their skincare.

I love that so much. So Jaimie, what advice would you give to another person that is looking to become an entrepreneur or dig into their deeper self and share it with the world?

I’m asked this question a lot and I love to give my thoughts about it because I think if it’s something that you truly want to do, and you really sit back and you can’t do anything else in life, then you should totally start your own thing and go after your dreams. I remember I was speaking with my Uncle Tommy Hilfiger once, and I was telling him, I just want to advance career-wise. This was about 10 years ago, and I was sitting down with him and I said, ‘I just really want to take off and advanced career-wise‘, and he said, ‘You know, the industry that you are in and that you want to continue to be in, it’s very hard. So if this is the only thing you want to do, then you should pursue it, but if there’s anything else you want to do, you should probably do that.’ So I really sat and thought about it. I could not picture myself being a nurse or teacher, even though those careers and professions are so well respected and amazing, I just couldn’t see myself doing anything else. If you cannot see yourself doing anything else, you have to go for it. Nowadays, I feel that it’s more accessible to start on your own. Whether it be your own business or your store, your shop, anything, I just feel that it’s easier nowadays, because there are so many more resources.

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A post shared by Jaimie Lynn Hilfiger (@jaimiehilfiger)

It’s exciting and it’s nice to look around see people doing what they’re meant to be doing and going after their dreams.

Right? I can’t even tell you how happy it makes me to see small business owners flourishing. Whether it be a specialty food shop, I love pastries and sweets, so whether it be a cupcake shop or even a clothing boutique, I love to see small businesses succeeding. I love people’s ideas, like ‘Wow, he has an idea for a smoothie shop but only smoothies made with such and such.’ Do you know what I mean? Everything is so cool.

I can’t wait for our readers to get to learn your story and follow your line because you have such a great heart and a great vision for letting people feel the best that they can in their own skin.

I remember feeling like, ‘Oh my god, I have to leave my house now to go to the grocery store, and I don’t want to wear makeup, but if someone sees me they’re gonna ask me what happened to my face.’ That’s how bad it was, you know? It’s just like that song, “I woke up like this”, but unfortunately, I didn’t wake up flawless. Now I do and it’s just so empowering.

That’s amazing, and we can’t wait for other people to experience that feeling of being their best self. Thank you so much for joining us today, Jaimie. We really appreciate everything that you’re doing! How can our readers follow you personally?

They can follow me on all the social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, @JaimieHilfiger. Hopefully, soon I’ll be on a TV show on a major network, too.

Are you dropping some hints here?

Possibly! We’ll just have to catch up!

That’s so exciting! Thank you so much, Jaimie. It was really great to get to know you better.

Taylor, I appreciate it. Have a beautiful day. I’ll talk to you soon!

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