Just for kicks, Lauren Hutton likes to play with boa constrictors, wrestle alligators, and go diving with sharks. Yup, the pioneering model and style icon has done all that — and more — in her travels across the globe. In her latest adventure, she jetted off to the Amazon jungle in Brazil, home to the natural ingredients found in a new addition to her line of beauty products. Her "Passport to Brazil" makeup palette (on the next page), which launches this month, is made up of exotic goodies ranging from passion fruit to guava to Brazil nuts — all known for their moisturizing properties.

Hutton, who "flew, trucked, ferried, and canoed" to meet with the villagers who grow the plants, says journeys like this give her ideas: "Over the years, I've spent time with nine different indigenous tribes around the world — in Botswana, Uganda, Somalia — and I saw how they make use of every single leaf, vine, and berry," she says. "It's like going to a gigantic A&P."

>After her excursion, Hutton left a parting gift: a donation of nearly $10,000 to the Luz Foundation, which educates and empowers local girls. "My main pleasure is giving — being able to leave something everywhere we go," Hutton says. Below, she shares her diary and slideshow.

Click here to see Hutton's Passport to Brazil Palette and other eco-friendly beauty items.