She may be a late starter in the modelling game, but Jessica Lavine is already turning heads.

The Bray Park local is one of eight Queensland finalists of the Girlfriend Rimmel Model Search.

The popular model competition, for 13 to 19-year-olds, has helped launch the careers of Alyssa Sutherland, Samantha Harris, Catherine McNeil, Sarah Stephens, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Pania Rose.

At 18, Jessica has just started “dipping my feet into modelling.”

“I’ve always been interested in it but I just wish that I’d delved into it sooner, when I was in my teen years in high school,” she said.

“It would have been great to start then but I’m getting into it now and I’m glad because I enjoy it.”

The daughter of an Australia-born father and a mother from Fiji, Jessica boasts a look that “people find really interesting”.

“My brother’s always telling me, ‘you’re so unique Jessica, you should try out for these pageants’,” she said.

“I know in my heart modelling is something that’s of interest to me, it’s not just an idea people put into my head.”

Six national Girlfriend Rimmel Model Search finalists will be selected in September.

The national winner will receive a two-year modelling contract, an all-expenses-paid trip to Sydney for a fashion shoot, and a year’s supply of Rimmel products.