Adria Arjona on Rosacea and Moroccanoil’s First Fragrance

While Adria Arjona is used to shapeshifting for her on-screen personas, with her cinematic portfolio ranging from action comedies like Hit Man to thrillers like Blink Twice, the Puerto Rican actress’ luxurious, curly brown strands are a mainstay no matter who she’s portraying. So, it’s no surprise that legendary hair-care brand Moroccanoil tapped the silver screen star to be its muse for its long-awaited, debut fragrance launch. On the night of the L’Original Eau de Parfum ($130) launch, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Moroccanoil muse Arjona to talk all things hair history, skin revelations and, of course, beauty mishaps along the way.

This is Moroccanoil’s first fragrance launch—were you a fan of the brand prior to this expansion? What drew you to Moroccanoil in the beginning?

“I was a really big fan, actually, and I have been for many, many years. This brand really helped me embrace my curls back in the days of high school when we were all straightening our hair. I was always in humid conditions and my mom sort of introduced me to the Moroccanoil Treatment ($48) and the Hair Mask ($45) and it completely changed my curls, so I’ve always had this appreciation for the brand. Now, my curly hair is such a staple. It’s who I am. I have my hair curly every day of my life, and I have Morrocanoil to thank for a lot of that.

I approached Moroccanoil myself a few times and they had approached me and initially, I was like, ‘Can I just be the face of anything?’ And that’s when they told me they were doing this fragrance, and it was just perfect. I wanted them to sort of figure it out first and then they came to me and told me, ‘We would love to have you.’ I felt really honored. It feels like a really beautiful, full-circle moment for me to work with a brand that I’ve genuinely loved for so long. It feels authentic. It’s also a Latin American, female-founded brand, so that also feels very important to me.”

What does your day-to-day beauty routine look like? Are there any steps or products you never skip?

“I tend not to wash my face in the morning. I have rosacea, so my beauty routine has really been focusing on that—on soothing inflammation. I’m always trying not to have flare-ups throughout the day, especially when I’m filming and having interviews with people. The Tower 28 SOS Spray ($28) has really helped me. Azelaic acid has really helped me, too. It doesn’t help everybody, but it’s really helped me. I have a little LYMA ($2,695) that really helps my rosacea, so I use that too. I also ice my face a lot. Aside from that, a moisturizer and an oil serum typically do the trick. I’m really liking the Beauty Sandwich SS01 Secret Sauce ($300). That’s what I’m using right now. If I don’t use that, I also love Vitner’s Daughter.”

When you’re filming, does your beauty and self-care ritual change? Do you do anything more or less?

“It completely changes, mostly depending on the makeup I’m wearing while shooting—if I’m wearing prosthetics or if I’m wearing a lot of blood and dirt, whatever they’re putting on my face [laughs]. It’s challenging when you have sensitive skin and rosacea and you have to be in prosthetics and stuff because they use alcohol a lot of the time, which is super irritating. I think every movie sort of changes the way that I approach my skin care. Azelaic acid has, for some reason, helped me a lot.
It only works with my skin [laughs]. It irritates a lot of people. But overall I just keep things super clean and simple. I don’t do a ton of treatments, and what I’m eating and if I’m sleeping enough plays a big role too.”

If you could give any piece of beauty advice to your teenage self, what would it be?

“I would say less is more. I think when you’re discovering makeup or when you’re discovering skin-care products and you’re, you know, stealing stuff from your mom and putting everything on, you’re just harming your skin barrier so much more. Or wearing very strange colors on your eyes or wearing way too light of a concealer [laughs]. I was that girl. Yep. So yeah, I think I would tell my younger self that less is more.”

How would you describe your current beauty mood in three words?

“Oh, that’s hard. I think I’d say warm for one. Maybe sessy—not sexy, sessy, there’s a difference. I say sessy all the time and now my whole team uses it too. What else? Fun! I guess you could say that. Warm, sessy, fun.”