Irina Shayk Talks Family, Minimalist Makeup, and "Lacy, Sexy" Italian Fragrance

If Italian sensuality manifested itself in female form, it would be Irina Shayk. It's not that the supermodel is Italian. No, the viral clip of a 2014 interview on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, in which the model and actress tasked the host with pronouncing her proper last name (Shaykhlislamova), proves that she is thoroughly Russian. But her ripples of espresso hair, divinely sculpted lips, and near-regal demeanor embody the torrid tales of Italian love stories, the heavenly features of Vesuvian frescoes, and the fiery spark of feisty nonnas. She shifts effortlessly between sumptuous sophistication and sizzling seduction.

It's the same intangible essence found in Italian actor Michele Morrone, who is the physical embodiment of Roman ruggedness; the textbook definition of tall, dark, and handsome; and Shayk's costar in a newly released short film for Dolce & Gabbana. Yet by some witchcraft, the Italian fashion house managed to siphon this fantasy into a solar, fruity gourmand so devastatingly romantic that it rivals the stuff of Hollywood classics. Meet my new obsession: Dolce & Gabbana's Your Devotion Eau de Parfum Intense.

On a blazing afternoon beneath the Neapolitan sun, I walked into the cerulean-washed lobby of the De Bonart Naples to meet the storied supermodel ahead of the evening's soirée. The party, complete with an all-black dress code (lace highly encouraged), was being thrown in the famous Palazzo San Felice, where a long string of mobster movies and dramatic romances have been filmed, to celebrate the launch of Your Devotion. Fittingly, the fragrance's campaign film—directed by Gordon von Steiner, scored by Gino Paoli's "Sapore di Sale," and starring a "will they, won't they?" Shayk and Morrone—would be projected onto flowing white bedsheets hanging from the windowpanes just hours later.

After staring off at the glittering vista of the Tyrrhenian coastline (speckled with buildings made from volcanic rock, red terra-cotta roofs, and throngs of natives bustling through the narrow streets), it was time to meet the glamorous star. The doors to her suite opened in a flash of set lights and a blur of team members speaking in fast Italian, but Shayk sat perfectly still amid the chaos as a makeup artist flitted silently around her head like a dragonfly. Melon, vanilla, and orange blossom perfumed the air, warmed by my sunned skin and fresh on her robe-clad limbs. Before we exchanged warm hellos and small talk about our apartments in New York City, our identical scents met in a frenzied embrace.

"I've always felt like Italy is my second home," Shayk says, leaning back in a plush white leather chair. We're discussing her latest accolade, the Filming Italy Venice International Award, which she'd clinched during the 83rd Venice Film Festival just days before our interview. "It was a very special, emotional evening," she tells me in her velvety accent. "It's a beautiful time to celebrate art, music, and artists in front of and behind the cameras." The star has flexed her acting chops in films like the 2014 live-action Hercules as Megara, alongside Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, though her latest role as the face of Dolce & Gabbana's Your Devotion strikes a more personal chord with the multi-hyphenate.

The model, who has worked with the Italian fashion house on both the couture and beauty sides since 2023, has borne witness to how the brand fuses fragrance and fashion together to fit into its sexy, lace-clad world. "Dolce & Gabbana always associates with a lacy, sexy Southern [Italian] woman who is elegant, modern, and feels very comfortable in her own skin," Shayk explains. "When I think of the fashion and perfume, I feel like it's one big thing that comes together."

It's not just any perfume that the supermodel is alluding to. In fact, she feels synergy with the sensorial profile of Your Devotion. "My first memory of fragrance is not even fragrance itself. It's of my childhood garden and its little sweet notes of pear and flowers," she tells me, her pillowy lips curving into a remembering smile. Your Devotion is, essentially, an aged-up version of this nostalgic scent, spiked with Sicilian melon, sensual vanilla, and soft orange blossom. It's a blend of home and Italian escape.

"I always try to reach the DNA of Dolce & Gabbana," says Olivier Cresp, the master perfumer behind Your Devotion. The prolific perfumer has brought several of fashion's favorite designer fragrances to life, including Dolce & Gabbana's Light Blue and Mugler's Angel, and this new concoction is poised to become another household name in his portfolio. Cresp sells me the scent—a warmer, less sugary extension of Devotion Eau de Parfum—as a fragrant re-creation of the "warmth and sexiness of the Mediterranean Sea."

Cresp credits his lifelong affinity for Southern Italy—its people, its environment, and its joie de vivre—as a driver behind this scent. "I try to connect with the sea, the luminosity of the sun, and the warmth," he explains. The scent opens with a gentle squeeze of lemon ("I use a hint of Sicilian lemon in every fragrance for Dolce & Gabbana," he tells me) and a splash of sensual, home-grown mandarins. In the next whiff, you catch the late-summer sweetness of Sicilian cantaloupe. So far, so good, Cresp thought.

The heart and base layers go a bit deeper than local produce. Sea spray and white-petaled orange blossoms (which decorate the coastal regions of Calabria, Sicily, and Puglia) dance with delicate gardenia before settling onto the skin, giving way to a comforting blend of oakmoss, vanilla, and sandalwood. There's a "black-lace effect," Cresp explains, to this balance of ripe sweetness and something warm and alive.

Shayk has learned the importance of having a few easy beauty essentials to rely on with a jet-setting lifestyle like her own—perfume being number one and mascara coming up second. "I'm a girl who doesn't use a lot of makeup, but definitely, I love a touch of mascara," she tells me. It makes sense, seeing as her piercing blue eyes and smoldering gaze are the first thing you notice when you see the supermodel in real life. "I also like to use one product in a few different places—a blush on my lip, my cheeks, and sometimes on the eyes," she adds. Makeup isn't her go-to, she elaborates, but skincare, SPF, and fragrance are nonnegotiables, especially while on the road.

It's been only two weeks since we chatted in her glam room, dined in the Palazzo, and flew back to New York on the same flight (there, we griped about plane delays and the humid Italian rain, which held out until our departure), but she's already landed back in Italy for Milan Fashion Week. So naturally, when I asked her to describe her life at this very moment in three words, she gave me "sleepless" and "jet lag." With a small laugh, she waves her hand at the hardly untrue joke. "No, I'm in a really good place. [I'm] happy, grateful, and just a little sleepless," she adds.

"With a busy schedule, being a mom, and being able to travel and work, I think you always have to remember to enjoy the moment," Shayk says knowingly. "It's hard to be in the moment because my brain is already like, 'Oh, I have to travel to New York tomorrow!'" Her eyes widen in animation. The model's goal, when her mind starts to spin, is to "meditate, be in the moment, and try to be present, even though it's very hard." It turns out that one of the easiest ways to escape and unwind—whether on a plane to New York or a beach in Naples—is with a spritz of Your Devotion.

Shop the Dolce & Gabbana Devotion Collection