Mariska Hargitay is the new face of Cetaphil

She told WWD: "I have always been a basics kind of girl.

"I have sensitive skin, and Cetaphil has always been a brand and a product that makes me feel taken care of."

Mariska loves her "unexpected" look in the campaign.

She said: "I'm rocking a red lip, a sexy trench - it's utterly unexpected. But that's also what I'm about, is, don't put me in a box, right? Because you have no idea what I'm capable of."

The My Mom Jayne filmmaker explained the thing she finds "most exciting" about working with Cetaphil is the technology behind the products, which uses micro-doses of centella asiatica and mandelic acid to "wake up" dormant cells.

Chief Science Officer Alan Widgerow said: "We found that if we combine these two known active constituents but in micro-doses, they had a very unexpected combined effect."

He noted that while mandelic acid is known as an exfoliator, in lower doses it can "reenergise and reactivate cells."

Cetaphil have noted Millenial and Generation X-plus consumers make up around half of their consumer base and are keen to align with their ideas on the aging process.

Tara Loftis, global president of skin care and Cetaphil at parent company Galderma, explained: "We're seeing Gen X women drive a major cultural conversation right now, and it's not about antiaging, it's about reclaiming what aging means.

"Skin care has never been more competitive or more saturated than it is now, and while it's fairly easy to create a brand that looks cool and gift it to the right influencers, what's more scarce is powerful science, and so that's what we're tripling down on.

"Our focus is on amplifying our science across our product, across our digital campaigns, and across every tenet of our marketing."

Mariska added: "It's exciting to be this age and be unapologetic and to invite other women into that space - to step into our beauty, into our power."