If you look at a photo of Shelley Craft from 20 years ago, right next to a picture of the 43-year-old today, you’ll find there’s not much difference between the two images.
Despite a TV career spanning decades, the host of The Block looks just as fresh-faced and vivacious now as she did 20 years ago.
And while most of the time, the public sees Shelley when she’s dressed up to the nines on the red carpet or in professional hair and makeup on our TV screens, the mother-of-two explains she actually spends most of her days makeup-free, hanging out with her cameraman husband Christian Sergiacomi and their two daughters, Milla, nine, and Eadie, seven, in Byron Bay.
“I’m kind of low maintenance and living in Byron Bay, there’s an extra added level of low maintenance that comes with that, so I don’t pay a lot of attention to my makeup,” Shelley told Now To Love.
“But then I have the balance. I come to work in the city and I go out with with my makeup on and I’m ready for the day … it’s like my battlewear. I don’t feel like I’m ‘work-ready’ until I’ve got my makeup on. It is getting into the zone and getting into character, if you like.”
Shelley, the face of skincare brand Neutrogena’s new retinol anti-ageing products says the woman we see on TV is very much “Work Shelley”, who transitions into “Home Shelley” when she’s back at home in Byron with her tight-knit family.
“[Work Shelley and Home Shelley] are more and more two separate things now, having been in the industry for so long,” she said.
“When I started out, I wore a lot more makeup than I would ever wear now, because it was fashionable and it was fun and it was new and you’re in your 20s and experimenting and it was a form of self expression.”
Shelley Craft pictured in 2002.
(Credit: Getty)
Shelley at the launch of Neutrogena’s new Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol Oil on Tuesday morning in Sydney.
(Credit: Getty)You’ll never see Shelley in full hair and makeup when she’s in front of the camera on The Block – that’s a deliberate choice she’s made out of respect to the show’s contestants.
“If I turned up looking fully made up and in glamorous outfits everyday, when these women haven’t eaten or slept or showered for days, that would just be cruel, so I kind of like to strike a balance between the two. I’m clean and I’ve slept, but not too good,” Shelley joked.
“I say to myself I’m doing the contestants a favour.”
She says no to professional hair and makeup to ensure she appears relatable and down-to-earth to both viewers and her colleagues on set.
“I do [my own hair and makeup] for the show. Obviously if I’m working in the studio, because of the lighting I’ll have a professional makeup artist then, but for The Block I just like to keep it simple. You are on a work site, so if I think if I was done up I would just look stupid.”
Shelley’s #10YearChallenge photo, posted earlier this year.
(Credit: Instagram)Shelley has also become a bit of a fashion influencer on Instagram, with her followers often messaging her asking where they can purchase her chic, practical outfits.
“I wear my own clothes on the show because again, you don’t want to ruin a fabulous outfit that you’ve borrowed on a work site,” she said.
“Even though it just looks like we wander in and wander out, we are there for a good four or five hours a day, so to borrow someone’s clothes and send them back with builder’s dust is not cool.”
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Fans of The Block host went nuts for this Witchery blazer she wore on the show.
(Credit: Instagram)So what’s the secret to her youthful looks?
Well, it’s not Botox or filler – Shelley told Now To Love she hasn’t had any cosmetic or plastic surgery treatments done yet, but she’s not opposed to the idea of having a little sprinkle sometime in the future.
“I’m genetically blessed. I grew up in Brisbane, so I was in the sun my whole childhood. Probably the one thing I regret, is not knowing how good my skin was when I was younger,” she said.
“Now having little girls, they can’t go to school without sunscreen and a broad brimmed hat, but in the 80s it wasn’t anything you really thought about. You’d just whack on the baby oil and sit in the sun. I don’t do that anymore!”
She makes sure she takes off her makeup thoroughly at night and is extremely vigilant about sun protection, as the sun is the biggest cause of ageing.
“I use cleanser and moisturiser in the morning and after work if I’ve been wearing makeup, I basically just cleanse until it’s gone. I get in and just go for it. Scrub your heart out.
“At night, I take a little more care. I will put the extra products on.”
WATCH BELOW: Shelley Craft stuns on the red carpet at the Logies. Story continues after video.
Shelley says her daughters are makeup-obsessed – her seven-year-old can nail a smokey eye and is not afraid to offer her mother makeup tips!
“That’s all she wanted for her birthday, was her own makeup brushes, and her own products. I will say, she has been known to don the disco eye shadow,” Shelley joked.
“They [her daughters] love makeup and they won’t leave the house – not for school, obviously – but the older one comes home and she puts lip gloss on the minute she walks in the door.
“At first I said ‘Oh no, you can’t do that!’, but then it’s like enjoy it, embrace it, whatever makes you feel good, then that’s what you should do.”
Shelley gets a makeup lesson from her seven-year-old daughter.
(Credit: Instagram)
Shelley plays dress-ups with her two gorgeous daughters.
(Credit: Instagram)Shelley says she’s teaching her girls that makeup is about having fun and learning to express yourself.
“If you love makeup and that makes you feel special and gives you that confidence, go for it,” she said.
“If that gives you that power and that strength when you go out into the public, I’m all for it.”
Shelley Craft is the face of Neutragena’s new Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol Oil.
