Helen Mirren's 'feel-good' skincare steps for 'woken up' skin are refreshingly simplistic

Helen Mirren is the pro-ageing icon of her generation, and her refreshing approach to beauty and skincare routines reflect her principles perfectly.

We adore Helen Mirren for being the voice of positive ageing, and using her platform to advocate for an overhaul of the impossible beauty standards imposed on women.

The acting legend is enjoying every moment of growing old, and has no time for brooding over the effects of advancing years on her body - the 12-minute workout she swears by and her straightforward, easy chic hairstyles, encompass the no-nonsense attitude the star has to her appearance.

Helen's thoughts around beauty and skincare routines are no different - in fact, she's prefer to drop the word 'beauty' from how she cares for her skin. "My so-called beauty regime, I really wish we could find another word for it because it doesn't necessarily make you look beautiful, but it makes you feel good," she explained to Elle.

The actress added, "My feel-good routine, then, is that I always I love applying a serum - you can suddenly feel your skin just freshen up. I don't have any particular process; I grab whatever's in front of me but I do always put on a moisturiser to wake up my skin."

Shop Helen Mirren's Skincare Staples

Helen recalls wearing makeup every day during lockdown, but not to please anyone, simply for her own enjoyment. "Throughout COVID I put my make-up on every day, even though nobody was going to see me except me and my husband and my husband couldn't give a t*ss whether I have make-up on or not," she muses.

The actress continued, "He didn't even notice, really. But I would love the process of playing around and experimenting with make-up," proving that enjoying makeup and caring for your appearance can still go hand-in-hand with pro-ageing and acceptance - Helen has exactly the right balance where this is concerned.

The star also spoke about the rise of teenagers and young people using beauty products their young skin doesn't need, simply because they're so heavily influenced by social media. However, she understands why they're obsessing over their skin, but wishes there could be a narrative change that would see this practice come to an end.

"We all do really silly things when we're young - and it's a silly thing," she said of it, adding, "I hope there's nothing in those skincare products that's actually going to harm them, but we've all done something similar when we were young. They will grow up; they will grow older, if they're lucky. And then they will discover a whole new world."