Joanna Page used this £1.69 Nivea face cream 'for years'

Joanna Page on the red carpet wearing a black blazer with glowing skin — (Image credit: Getty Images)

There are so many reasons to admire Joanna Page: her quick wit on the latest series of Taskmaster, her ability to embody characters you can't help but love, and, our favourite thing of all, her refreshingly down-to-earth attitude.

Never was this more apparent than when woman&home sat down for an exclusive interview with Page, and asked about her skincare routine, to which she replied, "I've never been a big one for moisturisers or makeup. I think being an actress and having stuff put on you all the time, day to day, I don't like wearing anything at all. And so that means I'm not very up on knowing what to put on!"

We appreciate the honesty, although, given her beautifully clear and glowing skin, we had hoped for some tips - but all was not lost. We discovered one very budget-friendly buy Page has been loyal to for years, and the high-tech cream that turned her head, which she now uses "religiously."

Joanna Page's £1.69 face cream - and her new favourite

Detailing her low-maintenance skincare routine, Joanna confessed: "For years, I would just use Nivea Hand and Body, which was about £1.69, on my face." Honestly, we don't blame her. Much like Joanna Lumley's 'cheap as chips' Astral moisturiser, Nivea creams are tried-and-true hydrators that simply get the job done. And, it should be noted that Nivea does say this can be used on the face, too.

Nivea

Soft Moisturising Cream for Face, Hand and Body 75ml

Let's address the elephant in the room - this cream is £2, not £1.69 - but still a bargain, no? And we imagine it's easy to find on offer. That aside, this moisturiser contains plenty of effective nourishing ingredients such as glycerin, jojoba oil and Vitamin E. It has a light, ungreasy feel, is free from artificial fragrance, and is made with 95% naturally-derived ingredients. This 75ml tube would be perfect to pop in a weekend case or holiday carry-on, for versatile, top-to-toe moisturising.

Happily for our recommendation-hungry beauty team, she didn't stop there, revealing, "Now I’ve progressed from that, and I've started using Sculpted by Aimee’s Cloud Cream Moisturiser. That's the best thing that I've started using on my face, I use it religiously."

High praise indeed - and again, we are not surprised. Cloud creams are an emerging category of skincare from Korea, centred on highly nourishing ingredients in lightweight textures. These are so perfect for mature skin, particularly during warmer weather when we need plenty of hydration and nourishment but don't want to feel claggy or overloaded.

Sculpted by Aimee

Cloud Cream Nourishing Ceramide Moisturiser

This brand, founded by makeup artist Aimee Connolly, is known for products with elegant and refined textures - ones that are especially well-suited to creating a smooth and glowing base for makeup (they work nicely without it, too). This cream, inspired by the K-Beauty cloud cream trend, includes ceramides, shea butter and hyaluronic acid, a triple whammy of skin nourishment and line-plumping, but in a whipped-up, ultra-light texture.

Although Page's new find is more of an investment than her original Nivea favourite, it is still very affordable, relatively speaking, for skincare.

Once again, this simply cements the TV star's endearing relatability - speaking of which, she concluded our beauty chat with another confession: "Now, only at the age of 49, I’ve started cleansing and taking mascara and everything off before bed. I've always, all through the years, slept in my makeup, I know that is so bad!"

No comment on that from the beauty team here, except to say, who can truly say they haven't on occasion fallen into bed without the rigmarole of a full cleansing routine? Nobody's perfect.

To conclude, Page did note, "I now only use micellar water, which some people have told me is bad for you, but it’s easy to use and works for me." Take it from a beauty editor, Joanna - that's not bad, not bad at all!

Watch Joanna Page in Shift The Thrift on BBC iPlayer now

As woman&home's Beauty Channel Editor, Fiona Mckim loves to share her 15+ years of industry intel on womanandhome.com and Instagram (@fionamckim if you like hair experiments and cute shih-tzus). After interning at ELLE, Fiona joined woman&home as Assistant Beauty Editor in 2013 under industry legend Jo GB, who taught her to understand ingredients and take a cynical approach to marketing claims. She has since covered every corner of the industry, interviewing dermatologists and celebrities from Davina McCall to Dame Joan Collins, reporting backstage at London Fashion Week and judging the w&h Beauty Awards.