Simone Ashley Reveals an Unexpected Use for Body Lotion—and Other Things She’s Learned on “The Dark Side”

Hi, it s Simone Ashley

and I m gonna be showing you a little bit of my skincare

and a very simple date night look.

So I m just gonna clip my hair away.

I like to use my La Mer cleansing gel.

As you can see, it s nearly finished.

That s because I love it so much

and I used just a teeny tiny amount.

[upbeat music]

I never grew up doing much of a skincare routine.

I always took care of my skin,

but everything I do, I really like to do it simply.

Otherwise I feel like I m like overloading my face

and my skin with products.

I had my first skin facial, like back in 2021

and then I was, you know, transitioned to the dark side ll

and I realized how great it is to take care of your skin.

I was very naive and I thought

because I have dark skin, I didn t need to use sunscreen,

which I think a lot of women with dark skin might feel.

Dark skin needs some protection

just as much as any other skin.

I love to use an exfoliator on my face.

This one is Goldfaden.

I dunno why I say McFaden. [laughs]

It s pretty empty cause I clearly use it a lot.

I try not to exfoliate too much,

maybe like twice a week or something.

And then I mainly go in around my nose

and then I m gonna go on my lips.

One day she s dry, one day she s oily.

Much like my personality. [laughs]

I use body lotion on my face before I put my makeup on

just cause it doesn t roll.

You know when you use certain moisturizers

and they react to your makeup and then it starts rolling.

And I usually do my makeup when I m in a rush,

so I haven t got time for that.

So I love to use La Roche-Posay. [laughs]

There s no other way of saying it, La Roche-Posay.

But in Simone s world it s La Roshay Posay. [laughs]

Then I just like to put that all over my face.

When I was a kid I used to use like hand lotion

and now I ve upgraded to slightly fancier body lotion.

And then just to finish off, I m gonna use a teeny tiny bit

of sunscreen.

[music continues]

My skin is prepped

and ready to have some makeup on it.

I kind of work backwards with my makeup.

So I m actually gonna start with my lip gloss.

I wanna see the vision

as it s developing, if you know what I mean.

So I start with a little lip gloss.

Plump Ambition [laughs] from L Oreal.

That s my nickname. [laughs]

Lips are locked and getting loaded

cause we ll go back to them at the end.

But I can feel them like sizzling away

and they re having a bit of a party.

I am then gonna go in with my blush.

I actually sometimes just use a little bit

of the lipstick color that I m gonna eventually use.

I m gonna go in with this Armani one.

It s called Lip Power.

Little bit, they can be friends.

I actually realize I don t need to put as much on

as I might think I do.

You know when you re in high school

and you start experimenting

and learning how to do your makeup,

I always loved like a clumpy mascara and I still kind of do.

So my eyebrows are a little bit crazy.

They re kind of sparse.

Can you see?

There s like little gaps in them, which is fine.

I like to stain the skin just a little bit.

And then I go in with another brow pencil and I fluff it up.

Me and this eyebrow, we re not friends.

This one just, there we go.

So then I go in with my Anastasia eyebrow pencil

in granite or dark brown.

[music continues]

Eyebrows are now done.

Happy with those.

Tea break.

Girls with dark skin, color correcter changed my life.

I had never really understood what it was

until a few years ago.

I get a lot of shadow around my mouth

and color corrector just kind of balances out the shadow.

I go in with my brush

and then do a little bit here, a little bit there.

I think when I was younger I was picking out color tones

that were maybe a lit a bit too light for me.

And then I started just buying stuff, whatever worked

for me at work on set

and I just stuck to that shade for a bit.

And then maybe on another job I d be like,

Oh, this one s actually better.

I would just kind of follow what the pros are using.

I ve got a little friend over here, so we re just gonna

ask him to go away.

My first experience as an actor was for a kids show

and they asked me if I was okay with my makeup

and I was sat in the chair and they were like,

Oh, you happy with everything?

And I was like, Me?

Like, you re asking if I am okay with my makeup?

And I wasn t used to, I just thought I was,

I had to do what I was told.

And they were like, No, it s your face.

Then I really started watching

how people were doing my makeup

and learn what I liked and what I didn t like.

I m gonna go in with a little bit of a tinted moisturizer.

I like using this Urban Decay one in shade 70.

Needs some waking up.

Come on, come on. [laughs]

I ve put a little bit, literally teeny tiny bit.

This is actually, I would say this is too much.

I really don t like going out on a date

or going out with my friends and the makeup

like over a few hours I start noticing it.

I just wanna forget that I ve even got makeup on my face.

So less is more for me.

[music continues]

And then this guy s really annoying me.

My forehead, I don t like,

I don t put too much makeup on there,

cause that s where I m prone to getting spots

and unwanted visitors.

I remember Sex Education kind of well,

it feels like years ago.

We all auditioned for the same role

and then they kind of workshopped characters around us.

And that s when I suggested Olivia like had bubble gum

and blue bubbles and stuff.

And she wasn t really a mean girl,

she was just finding her way.

And the more I rewatch watch the series, you realize

that she s just finding her identity still.

I m gonna go in with a little bit of concealer now.

Oh holy concealer.

What would we do without you?

Feeling tired?

Concealer.

Got a spot?

Concealer.

I use the shade Walnut.

This is my NARS concealer.

Jesse actually used this on me in Bridgerton

and I never looked back.

[music continues]

Bridgerton feels very transformative.

I turn up at 5:00 AM in my pajamas

and then hours later I step out looking like a viscountess,

which is just amazing.

I think the girls on Bridgerton really, we all go

through such a transformation with the wigs and the makeup

and the dresses.

It s such a dream.

Every season I fall in love with Kate s looks more and more.

Her makeup looks are just so, they started off very plain.

She wasn t wearing much makeup.

And then the softer she got, the more lashes were fluttering

and the more color were on her cheeks.

And a little bit of lip stick, lip color.

I learnt so much from the makeup department on Bridgerton

and I wish I could say it was my real hair, but it s not.

It s a wig.

I can t say anything about this season.

I would say as the characters progress, their makeup,

their hair, their costumes, all progress with them.

I m gonna attempt a little bit of eye makeup.

I would happily step out like this, with a bit of mascara,

but I m gonna make an effort.

I ve got this Rare Beauty bronzing stick.

I m gonna just get my ring finger

and dab it on my eyelids a little bit like that.

And just put it on the lid.

We re gonna bring it down to the lash line there.

My mom didn t wear too much makeup.

She always wore like kohl eyeliner, very Indian.

I m just gonna get this guy

and I m just gonna go on like my waterline.

Today I m in a rush,

so I m just gonna use a crayon eyeliner,

the same one I used to stain my eyebrows.

I want to just go in a tiny, tiny bit.

I might be a little bit too smoky.

So we re just gonna go in with my brush.

And then it has a little, it has a jacket. [laughs]

I m really excited for this year.

I ve got some very cool things going on.

One being the first movie I ve ever produced.

Picture This, which is my rom-com.

So I m very tired. [laughs]

I m kidding.

I had lots of creative control,

which was really important for me

because I grew up watching Bridget Jones

and all the classic studio rom-coms back in the nineties.

And I always wanted to be that girl.

I never really saw anyone that looked like me.

So I was like, you know what, if we re gonna do this,

let s try and do it right.

So I had creative say on the character quite a lot,

on Pia s character and her background, which was super fun.

And I was just really grateful that I could have,

you know, that the team at 42mp trusted me with that.

I m gonna use my mascara, which is my L Oreal Paradise.

Not just Paradise.

It s Paradise Big Deal. [laughs]

And then I also have the F1 movie coming out this year.

It s produced by Louis Hamilton.

I would say that s one of the dream movies

that I ve ever been part of.

That was an incredible experience.

I m just gonna go in with this guy.

[music continues]

When I have downtime, when I m not filming or in the studio

or doing press, I ll go to the banya, which is

like a sauna and do ice baths and sweat it all out.

I have such a tight knit of girlfriends

and friends in my community in London

and I just hang out with them really.

And time with my dog.

My dog!

Look, I ve got this little necklace that has her face on it.

I m just gonna go in with a little bit of lip gloss.

So let s take the hair down.

Let s give it a bit of a zhuzh.

I think it s very minimal.

I didn t use too much products on my skin,

so I feel like I m gonna last all night.

This was so much fun

and I hope it was helpful for anyone who wants

to learn how to do their makeup

or any girls with skin similar to mine.

We re gonna put on some Whitney Houston

or some George Michael and dance around

with an espresso martini.

Bye Vogue, thank you. [laughs]

[music continues]