Alan Cumming Narrates e.l.f.'s Animated Holiday Spot

Stop motion is a thing this festive season

“So remember, the next time you feel alone or adrift—sometimes your difference is low-key your gift.”

Thanks for giving us that tip, Alan Cumming, in e.f.l. Beauty’s 2026 holiday ad below. We’ll keep your wise words in mind.

The Scottish thespian lends his thick-as-porridge brogue to the narrative, which marks the first time e.l.f. has created a push specifically for the EOY holidays.

A trio of young women enjoy a night out in the stop-motion tale, developed with the Shadow agency and long-time Cumming collaborator Adam Goldman. Apartment D director Cami Kwan imbues a bouncy, lighthearted storyline with tons of whimsical details to delight viewers’ eyeballs.

“Just as no two handcrafted creations are exactly alike, it’s our differences that make each of us one of a kind,” says e.l.f. CMO Oshiva Savur. “We want our community to see themselves in these characters and feel something, so we created a world with as much personality as the people in it.”

It’s a familiar moral that feels apt for this time of year and certainly broad enough to gain mass audience appeal. Wags might argue that the lesson applies sans make-up. But that would be Grinchly, so let’s not go there.

“The campaign is so authentic and artistic and really the absolute antithesis of where so much of advertising and marketing seems to be going these days,” Cumming tells Cosmopolitan. “It’s lovely to be able to embrace everything a brand is saying and agree with it utterly. That doesn’t always happen.”

This marks the second major Xmas-themed outing to use stop-motion techniques, though it’s surely not the last. Levi’s lovable yeti roared its way into the convo yesterday. Such ads play up traditional animation as an antidote for AI overload, and, by extension, they rep the craft and care that go into making products for consumers.

Perhaps that’s a stretch. But in an age of digital slop, it’s a point brands can sell. Plus, the animation for both e.l.f. and Levi’s pops off the screen, providing early stocking stuffers as the gifting season gains steam.

Related: e.l.f.’s ‘Magical Sisters,’ Bill Murray’s ‘Ghostbusters’ Riff and More Halloween Highlights