Scarlett Johansson Fronts The Outset Sunscreen Campaign

Scarlett Johansson went makeup-free in a poolside Instagram video to model The Outset's new mineral sunscreen, fronting her own skincare brand's summer campaign.

A Founder Who Sells By Example

Scarlett Johansson stepped in front of the camera for her own beauty company this week, and she did it without a stitch of makeup. According to Yahoo Entertainment, the actress shared a video on The Outset's Instagram account on June 25 showing her applying the brand's Hydrasheer Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 before easing into a poolside sunbathing session.

In the clip, Johansson wears an electric purple, square-neck swimsuit and smooths the mineral formula across her face and neck before settling onto a yellow-and-white striped beach towel. The 41-year-old appears bare-faced throughout, with Yahoo Entertainment describing her skin as looking "radiant from every angle." The choice to skip cosmetics is not incidental; for a brand built on the idea that good skincare should let real skin show, the founder modeling the product unfiltered is the message.

Building The Outset

Johansson co-founded The Outset in 2022 alongside Kate Foster Lengyel. The line centers on hydrating products for sensitive skin and is positioned as clean, vegan, and cruelty-free. From the start, Johansson has presented herself as a hands-on founder rather than a distant celebrity name attached to someone else's formulas, a distinction the brand leans on heavily in a market crowded with star-backed ventures.

The latest push focuses on a single seasonal hero product:

The new launch is the Hydrasheer Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30.
The promotional video posted June 25 on The Outset's Instagram.
Johansson appeared completely makeup-free in the campaign.

A Calculated Summer Moment

The timing is no accident. Sunscreen messaging naturally peaks in early summer, and launching a mineral SPF as warm weather arrives gives the product its most receptive audience. It also lands during one of the busiest stretches of Johansson's career. Beyond the beauty business, she has a packed film slate that, per Yahoo Entertainment, includes James Gray's Paper Tiger, which premiered at Cannes, an upcoming role in Ari Aster's Scapegoat for A24, and continued work in major studio franchises.

That dual identity, as both A-list actress and active brand founder, is precisely what The Outset is selling. By fronting the campaign herself instead of hiring a model, Johansson reinforces the personal connection that has helped the company stand out among celebrity beauty labels, a category that has grown so saturated that authenticity has become the key differentiator.

Why The Makeup-Free Approach Works

In the influencer and celebrity-beauty economy, the bare-faced demonstration has become a kind of proof of concept. Yahoo Entertainment notes that Johansson's "even complexion and natural glow" effectively doubled as a testimonial, the implication being that the product on display is responsible for the results on display. It is a familiar marketing move, but one that depends entirely on the credibility of the person making it.

The relaxed, founder-led format also offers a softer image than a glossy ad campaign. For a star who has long guarded her privacy and rarely overshares online, the casual poolside clip gives fans a rare, unfiltered glimpse while keeping the spotlight squarely on the product she is promoting. It is intimacy in service of commerce, carefully framed.

Fans and beauty watchers tend to respond well to this kind of low-key, direct-to-camera content, which reads as more genuine than a traditional billboard. Whether that translates into sales for the Hydrasheer sunscreen will play out over the summer, but the strategy is clear: in a field saturated with celebrity names, Johansson is betting that showing up herself, makeup-free and in the sun, is the most persuasive endorsement The Outset can offer.