As the face of the new Boots Christmas advert, actor Adjoa Andoh has a fresh-faced approach to make-up.
Known for her regal role as Lady Danbury in Netflix’s hit show Bridgerton, Andoh’s beauty regime is far more humble than her onscreen persona.
“I don’t wear make-up on Christmas day, because I’m having a day off,” Andoh laughed, “So that means my face can just look the haggard, craggy mess it really is.”
Despite her self-deprecating words, the 61-year-old actor’s plump and smooth skin is hard to ignore. “I will moisturise myself within an inch of my life – but I will have my Christmas nail varnish on, and I will smell fabulous – because I love all those things at Christmas.”
When it comes to everyday beauty, Andoh has welcomed the ageing process.
“I think there’s something that happens as you get older – you see the beauty in all sorts of ages and faces – in all different configurations.
“I’m paying more attention to visual things generally – I’m kind of caught up in the wonder of our faces a lot more.”
Having spent nearly four decades “looking at [her] face,” Andoh has arrived on the importance on skincare above all else.
“Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise,” Andoh chants, “it’s like Tony Blair’s education mantra,” she laughs.
“It’s a fundamental. You’ve got to feed your skin, you’ve got to drink a ton of water and you have got to sleep. If you get plastered – it will show on your face for days.”
Andoh revealed she now times her drunken celebrations wisely, asking herself, “when do I have to be in public again?”
Having been raised in the Sixties and Seventies, Andoh didn’t have the concept of skincare that Gen Zers do today.
“I’ve always been somebody who loved getting darker,” she says. “When I was raised, you basically put chicken fat on and went out and burnt yourself. So it took me quite a while to come around to the idea that you need to wear factor 50.
“The sun is powerful and as are you, but your skin is not, so protecting it is one of those things you’ve just got to do.”
Whilst her onscreen looks are often glamorous, Andoh notes she usually only has 10 minutes to put her face on, and so focuses on the essentials.
“You can do many things quickly – cover your bags, put on your eyeliner and put on your lipstick,” she says. “Our eyes and our mouth are how we read each other. We look at the the expressive parts of our face, and so those are the bits I focus on.”
Andoh’s beauty philosophy is rooted in its symbolism and how we paint our faces is emblematic of a deeper meaning.
This is an idea Andoh brought to the set of Bridgerton in her character of Lady Danbury – a senior matron who is considered one of the most powerful women in London high society.
“I wanted her eyes to be a big focus of who she is, because she’s a person that came into society with nothing much but her wits. So she’s had to keep her wits about her the entire time as a survival mechanism,” Andoh explains.
“She wore a lot of eyeliner,” Andoh explains, “I wanted her to be somebody who can be in a room and just watch – no frilly hair round her face – everything is exposed and her eyes are big and bold.”
Not dissimilar to the aristocratic matriarch, the Boots Christmas campaign depicts Andoh as a glamorous Mrs Claus, who is the driving force behind Santa’s chaotic workshop.
“I was very keen to wear a dress that I felt beautiful in,” she explains. Designed by couturier Rory Andrew, her ensemble balances glamour and practicality, with “no flappy sleeves” and a front opening to allow her to walk quickly.
“There’s a quality of the skirt which has this undulation to it,” Andoh explained, “It’s a bit like a swan, paddling furiously but gliding across the top.
“I just wanted to say to all the women out there who are running around like blue ass flies at Christmas time – I see you sisters!”
