Ada Nicodemou shares her beauty favourites

Longtime Home and Away star and Australian darling, Ada Nicodemou, has spent a lot of time in the spotlight. Besides her role on the popular Aussie soap, she’s also a Priceline Sitserhood Ambassador and a regular at red carpet events, so she knows a thing or two when it comes to beauty prep.

Here, she shares with Beauty Crew her favourite products, the tricks she’s learnt from the pros and her time-saving tricks.

On her skin care routine
“As I have stage makeup on so often it’s really important to make sure I cleanse. As I grew up with bad skin, I made sure never to sleep with makeup on. I use the Bioderma Micellar Water to take off my makeup and then cleanse with Cetaphil. At night I use Neostrata, which is a glycolic acid cleanser and in the morning I use a foaming cleanser. To tone I use the Dr. LeWinn’s Glycolic Toner and I also make sure to incorporate a bunch of different serums that include vitamins A and C. Lastly, I apply a moisturiser with sunscreen included. I also exfoliate twice a week as well, and I’ll have laser facials, like an IPL every six to eight weeks. I’ve always tried to look after my face, even as a kid I used to sunbathe but would never tan my face.”

On her favourite mascara
“Maybelline! Great Lash is really good. There are so many great ones on the market though, L’Oréal Paris have some great ones as well. I love anything that separates and lengthens my lashes.”

On her favourite nude
“There’s just too many! Honestly, nude lipsticks are like the perfect pair of jeans – you’re always searching for the perfect shade. It’s the same with nail polish, I have so many but really do love a pinky nude. I think my favourites though are the big pencils that look like giant lip liners, as they’re quite moisturising and easy to apply. I need anything easy because I’m one of those girls that applies in the car, at red lights or whatever. I don’t have a favourite brand, although the Revlon ones are quite good.”

On the tips and tricks she’s learnt in the makeup chair
“Definitely eyelash curling. I like using both a manual and a heated curler to lift my lashes up. I apply about three coats of mascara, curling in between each application.”

On her beauty regrets
“When I look back at old Logies where we had to do buy our own clothes and do our own hair and makeup, there are some shocking looks there. I think for me, anything with too much liner I definitely regret. Also when I use to apply foundation that was too light and applied really light lip liner, 90s style, I definitely regret.”

On getting her hair done
“People say to me ‘don’t you hate sitting in the chair?’ and I’m like ‘are you serious?’ I love it. I love love love it. If I had to choose what I’d like to do, I could do my makeup, but I would never blow-dry my hair. I’ve just got way too much of it, I hate blow-drying my hair. I think I’m alright at applying makeup but any chance I have of a professional doing it, I’m all for that. When I was on maternity leave with my son, I couldn’t wait to get back to work so I could have my hair blow-dried and have false lashes put on. They were the two things I missed. I know it sounds really sad but having you hair blow-dried every day is the best thing.”

On her favourite timesaving tricks
“I don’t really have time for styling my hair. I used to be able to curl and braid but now everything just has to be really quick. That’s why Keratin’s good. I went four weeks without it and just had to get it done. Then you just wash your hair, dry it at the ends and straighten and you’re done. I also had eyelash extensions done in the break, they were great. Nowadays, it’s about what I can do really quickly. It used to take me an hour to get ready but now if I’ve only got 15 minutes I’ll just apply foundation, mascara, blush, eyeliner and lip gloss.”

Image credits: Getty