Simone Ashley shares her beauty secrets, inspirations and why she doesn't have regrets
Crowds gather along the temporary barriers that line the entrance to Cannes’ Hotel Martinez, the seaside town’s stratospheric film festival has drawn paparazzi and movie fans from across the world... I arrive the morning of the closing ceremony, stepping out of the car to the well-worn disinterest of the celeb-spotters, and crossing the threshold into the inner workings of the glamour. Maybe it’s the sprawling 1920’s beachfront architecture, or perhaps it’s the number of pictures I’ve seen on Instagram of ball gowns sweeping through the lobby, but here, thousands of miles away in the south of France, it feels like tapping into an elegant Hollywood lost to the past. Which is how it feels to sit in front of Simone Ashley in her suite, as the sea view pours through the window behind her. For those lamenting the loss of 'proper movie stars,' Simone may be just what they're looking for.
Though her unassuming confidence makes it seem like she's been coming to Cannes for years, Simone is about to make her Film Festival red carpet debut. It's an occasion made even more special, as it also marks her first appearance as L’Oréal Paris’ newest spokesperson.
The previous night, Simone was welcomed into the fold at the brand’s Lights on Women’s Worth dinner, with an eyewatering guest list; “It was such a wonderful warm welcome. I felt very honoured and very grateful to be sat among some really beautiful women who were so inspiring and powerful” she says, listing the attendees with reverence; “Viola Davis, Elle Fanning, Helen Mirren, Andy McDowell.” She has a clear appreciation of the magnitude of what is happening in her life, but at the same time shows no flicker of imposter syndrome.
You can see why she was cast as nobility in Bridgerton. Even writing this I can’t shake off an un-Cosmo-like formality, but she has the kind of dignified presence that makes your knees start subconsciously considering a curtsy - even when she’s sweetly complimenting the colour of your electric green talons.
A true cinephile, her own beauty inspo comes from the screen; “My beauty icons are usually characters in movies. The icon is obviously the actress that wears it, but it's the makeup designer as well, so I have to credit them,” she says, sharing the breadth of the inspo sources; “Recently it was Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard, I screenshotted so many of her looks, I was so inspired. Dream Girls was another one that inspired me, Euphoria – I think everyone was inspired by the beauty looks on Euphoria. They really brought the fun back to eye makeup.”
For a girl who delivers look after look of striking glam herself, her go-to beauty style for a confidence boost is surprisingly very stripped back; “If I'm feeling a bit sleepy I love using colour on my lips, just a little like a tinted balm. And curling my lashes a little bit, I love the L'Oreal Paris Panorama Mascara to give them a lift and make my eyes look open.” Then she likes to match the no-makeup makeup with freshly washed natural curls; “Fresh hair, fresh face, I think that's a failsafe look.”
Simone’s embrace of natural beauty is generational and not some new phase, “I remember my mum using kohl on her eyes now and then, but she never really wore much makeup. I didn't really grow up wearing much makeup.” But girlhood brought with it the years of exploration; “When I was a teenager I loved experimenting with it. I went to an all-girls school so naturally, you kind of learn from the women around you, what they're doing, how they express themselves.”
While most of us have a string of poor choices from those years, Simone says she doesn’t tend to regret much; “I was on two ends of the scale, I used to dress up very much like a teenage boy or I was a very girly girl and I wore loads of foundation and loads of mascara. I was happy at the time, so I don't regret it.”
For someone whose day-to-day glam is now so minimal, the makeup chair must be quite a contrast. “All of my characters that I've played are very different, beauty-wise. Olivia on Sex Education, wore a lot of makeup, but it was very, very different to how I would wear it. I'm either no makeup or super, super subtle.”
Despite those hours and hours in hair and makeup, and long days on set, Simone’s skin and hair look so healthy; “It will always take a toll, but just taking care of it as much as possible and trying not to stress is a good way forward, drinking lots of water, I like to steam my face or go to the sauna and make sure I cleanse properly. Just being disciplined with that at the end of the day.”
A religious body routine is responsible for those glowing limbs: “I always, always moisturise. I love using a body oil or body moisturiser, every day first thing in the morning and before I go to bed.” While she credits the Elvive Glycolic Gloss Five-Minute Lamination Treatment for rescuing her hair and retaining its glassy shine: “I love this product so much. I put it on in the sauna or when I'm in the shower, or on my phone, and leave on for five minutes.”
But her biggest beauty secret can’t be bought at Sephora or Boots; “Just eating really healthily. I personally eat a lot of fish, lots of oily food. I eat more than enough so that my nails, skin and hair feel healthy and look healthy.” It goes beyond what’s literally on the inside too; “Beauty to me means being kind. It doesn't matter what you look like or where you're from. If you're kind, I think that makes you beautiful.”
As someone who embraces creative red-carpet beauty just as effortlessly as natural looks, it’s easy to see how she’s becoming a beauty icon. Though that’s a label she’s reserved about when posed. “I don't know about the word icon. It makes me feel weird, but it's really nice to hear. Beauty to me is the beauty in your brain and in your heart, so if the word icon means anything, I hope other women look up to me and have the confidence to think smartly, make smart choices, believe in themselves and to be strong in all meanings of the word; to be fierce and vulnerable.”
That’s the kind of role model she would most like to be; “I hope younger women look at me and feel inspired that I am very much self-made. And if I can do it, they can do it too. I really believe in manifestation but also really physicalising that, doing it. If you want something go and get it until you've got it. And I think that's what I'm on the way to achieving, or have already achieved.”
When she glides out through the lobby later that day on her way to grace the red carpet – every bit the movie star – it’s safe to say she’s more than on the way.
You Might Also Like
