Bruce almighty

However, Florence hasn't taken all her family's beauty lessons on board: 'My French granny would say, "You have to suffer to be beautiful." But I don't agree. My attitude to fitness is very un-LA. I go to the gym as much as I can. But if I miss a couple of days, I don't get into a panic. If I'm feeling a bit low, no amount of gym or make-up will make me feel good.'

She is recently back from India where she has been shooting Bollywood film Love Aaj Kal (Love before and after), which is out in June. She plays an English girl caught in a love triangle, and spent the last few months on location in Mumbai and Delhi. 'It was easy to keep in shape over there because it was so hot; just being busy was a way of staying fit.' In preparation, she had a crash course in bangra dancing in the gym of The Bentley Hotel in Harrington Gardens, with a teacher the producers flew over from India. 'The hardest thing was getting over looking at myself in the mirror. I'm quite mal-coordinated.'

With her golden curls and endless legs, it's no wonder Florence, a descendant of the seventh Earl of Cardigan who led the Charge of the Light Brigade, was spotted by a model agent coming out of Topshop, when she was a teenager. On her parents' insistence she didn't model until her gap year.
She is planning to move to Notting Hill but for the moment she shares the family home in Southwest London with her wine merchant father, Andrew, and French mother, Sophie. Three years ago, in her final year of a history of art degree at Bristol University, she met Button and spent the next two years following him around the F1 circuit.
More recently, he has been stepping out with half-Japanese, half-Spanish lingerie model Jessica Michibata on his arm, and Florence was linked last autumn to Henry St George, son of the late multimillionaire financier Edward St George. But with her sights on acting, there's hardly time for sizing up suitors. She has just finished cavorting around a hotel room in couture underwear for a cover of Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer' by British hip-hop artist Ironik, but her ambition is to be directed by Sam Mendes in a period drama. 'I love the literature and the costumes, and I feel quite period sometimes when I'm baking cakes.'

Florence's Beauty Formula

FLORENCE'S PHILOSOPHY
I exercise so that I can eat more. My mother has a very French way of thinking: 'Eat properly -breakfast, lunch and dinner, and don't snack too much in between.' It regulates the metabolism and then you can eat what you want. I've never needed a personal trainer.

GYM I go to the Hurlingham Club as much as I can. Normally, four times a week. I do the cross trainer for about half an hour and then light weights.

RUNNING I've just signed up to the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon in October, which goes through Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's Park. Lots of my friends are doing it this year. At the moment I only manage a few kilometres on the running machine and I'm knackered. I'll have to train on roads to build up strength in my knees ( royalparkshalf.com).

FACIALS I go to Spa Illuminata on South Audley Street. Its facials are more pampering than deep cleansing. They're a real treat ( spailluminata.com).

HAIRCARE Do as little drying as possible. I use Pantene daily and I occasionally leave olive oil (an old French trick from my mother) or John Frieda's night serum on my hair overnight.

HAIR COLOUR I get highlights done at Neville's on Pont Street. My colourist, Etna, is brilliant because you walk out feeling like you've spent a couple of months in the sun. They've just got an amazing new spa on the top floor where they do deep-cleansing peels and laser treatment ( nevillehairandbeauty.net).
HAIR REMOVAL I have laser treatment with Kathy Jackson on Fulham Broadway. It's a real secret, not at all flash and extravagant. She uses UV rays through a hot crystal, it stings a bit to begin with, and then it feels like an elastic band snapping against your skin. I've had it about six times. She also does reiki healing (020 7581 2177).

CYCLING In the summer I love cycling from Putney to see my friends in Notting Hill. It doesn't sound that far but up and down the hills is quite full-on. I have a little silver fold-up bike that is light to take up and down the stairs of their flats. But I must get myself kitted out with a helmet.

EXFOLIATION Once a week I mix hard sea salt and olive oil and have a good scrub, and I also have little mitts that I use every few days.

FOOD People can become very diet-obsessed. I definitely went through that stage last year. I tried something called the General Motors Diet, which was fruit one day, meat the next, rice the next. Supposedly, you lose half a stone at the end of the week, but it didn't last long. There was no reason for me to do it, it was just because everyone else was trying it out. But I love making cakes and I don't see any point cutting them out.

The day before a modelling assignment, I won't stuff my face and have a massive slice of pizza or big bowl of pasta. During a shoot, I'll drink a lot of ginger tea. I put a lump of fresh ginger in hot water in a flask and I'll drink that throughout the day. In the evening, I'll have Thai food or soup. I love spicy things. I think if something's spicy, it's generally quite good for you.

I get into baking obsessions: at the moment I'm learning how to make flapjacks. If you make them smaller in size than usual with lots of seeds and just have one instead of ten, they're perfect. I sometimes think it would be nice to be a kobe beef, drinking Guinness all day and having massages.

HOW TO LOOK FRESH AFTER NIGHT OUT I go for Berocca, and fresh carrot and ginger juice. I've got this really old-school juicer. I made the mistake of putting a cooked beetroot in it the other day and it was revolting. Everything has to be raw, and preferably organic. Also, you can't beat fresh air for a hangover.

FEEL-GOOD LUXURIES I love Bamford products, especially the fig candle and the camomile body oil. I love the delicious smells, and they're very calming products (daylesfordorganic.com).

SUN I'm not brilliant in the sun. I don't see any point in frying yourself. If I had dark Amazonian skin I'd be in it all the time, but for me, the key is high-factor Soltan, and in the winter Johnson's Holiday Skin. For modelling, they don't like you being too orange, and I hate the smell of fake tan. Before a recent show I did for Elizabeth Hurley's new bikini range in Gloucestershire I had a rare spray tan, but then I was wearing a pink and gold polka-dot bikini.

MAKE-UP I love Chanel for the packaging. It's very chic and grown-up (chanel.co.uk).

MUST-HAVE PRODUCTS I love By Terry products, which make you all glowy and dewy and lift the cheeks. You can get them in Space NK. I've been lucky. Make-up artists have always given me good tips (spacenk.co.uk).

RECESSION TIP Get your mother to cut your hair. I think my sister gets her husband to do hers. I don't really believe in fancy haircuts. I like hair tressy and natural.

Hair by Mark Daniel Bailey at Artlist Paris. Make-up by Lisa Valencia at Frank Agency using Bobbi Brown. Florence Brudenell-Bruce is at Independent.

Fashion assistant: Orsolya Szabo.

Shot on location at Agua Spa at Sanderson, 50 Berners Street, W1 (020 7300 1414; sandersonlondon.com).