Kate Middleton has always been gorgeous, but she would be the first to tell you that she's
had help along the way. So how does she maintain that polished look? Keep watching to find out.
When Kate Middleton first started regularly appearing in the spotlight,
she opted for a heavy makeup look, including eyeliner circling her entire eye. She also
favored a heavier foundation and powdered blush. Even on her wedding day in 2011,
Kate wore a full face of makeup with prominent eyeliner
under her eyes. Her go-to product during this phase was Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner,
according to Today, a liner famous for its ability to stay put for hours.
Obviously, Kate has always looked beautiful, but when she turned 35,
makeup artist Samantha Mercer told the Daily Mail that she noticed a dramatic change in Kate's look.
The duchess was choosing a much more subtle palette, with lighter,
dewy foundations, creamy blush, and lighter eyebrows and eyeliner.
Kate's choice to go more natural was a great anti-aging strategy. Mercer told the publication,
"By changing a few things in her makeup routine she's managed to transform herself."
Makeup artist Niki McEwan added,
"As your skin matures you want your under eye area to look as clean,
bright, and fresh as possible. The more light you can allow
under your eye the more refreshed, refined and youthful your under-eye area will look."
The consistent message celebrated by makeup artists who saw Kate's changing look was that
the lighter she went in terms of product, the more youthful and fresh she looked.
The rules and stipulations of royal protocol have impacted Kate Middleton's evolution in the
world of glamor. Kate consistently opts for neutral nail polish tones and, as with much
of her transforming look, she's following the Queen’s lead. As Hello! reports, Queen
Elizabeth has been a devoted fan of Essie's nail polish in the color "Ballet Slippers" since 1989.
Kate has followed her example and exclusively chosen a nude nail,
occasionally breaking with tradition to sport a red color on her toes,
especially if she's not at a royal event. While it's certainly tradition, the nude nail might
not exactly fall under protocol. Omid Scobie, the British journalist who co-wrote Finding Freedom:
Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, spoke with Harper's Bazaar about the
subject. When Meghan Markle was spotted wearing a dark burgundy on her nails, he explained,
"There's no actual protocol about dark nail polish.
It's simply about being appropriate—we'd never see this at a royal engagement."
Much of the remaining royal protocols, at least when it comes to fashion choices,
center around the same theme: being appropriate. A later publication by Hello! notes that modesty
is a guiding principle, and so royal women rarely show their shoulders, wear short skirts,
or low-cut tops. While Kate has been seen wearing sleeveless or strapless dresses at movie premieres
or other events, she consistently opts for demure, well-covered outfits at royal engagements.
While everything about Kate Middleton is beautiful, her hair often steals the show,
and this is one element of her look that has remained consistent since the beginning.
She's worn it up, down, or in a ponytail, but the unchanged factor is that her hair is perfect.
It comes at a price, though. For a decent gauge, the Daily Mail reports
that on Kate's 2014 trip to Australia and New Zealand, Kate's hair cost nearly $8,000.
This was to pay for hair treatments and the fee of a traveling stylist.
While she spends a lot on stylists, her hair products are more reasonable.
As Glamour notes, Kate's go-to stylist, Richard Ward, gets Kate to use the Chelsea Collection's
Cleanse and Condition duo, which is really just a 2-in-1. The product costs $12 and is,
unsurprisingly, frequently sold out. So it seems like the Kate Middleton effect,
where consumers follow her lead, applies even to her shampoo.
Kate's hair, much like her fashion, incorporates both high and low maintenance techniques.
While her shampoo is run of the mill, her hair for her wedding day involved more planning
than some entire weddings. Ward and former royal stylist James Pryce told HJ that they worked for
three months on planning her hair and used three different mood boards to give Kate a choice.
Once she picked her look, they practiced on a mannequin head in their back office and used a $10
fake tiara to nail the perfect style.
Kate Middleton and Prince William share three children: George, Charlotte, and Louis. One of
Kate's ongoing charms is how down to earth she is and this includes her conversations about
parenting. In 2019, she made an appearance at the Lewisham Local Family Action in London, a charity
that focuses on helping families and discussed her struggles as a mother. Kate said at the event,
"Everybody experiences the same struggle. Even for me, who has more support at home
than most mothers do [...]. Nothing can really prepare you for the sheer,
overwhelming experience of what it means to become a mother. For many mothers,
myself included, this can at times lead to a lack of confidence and feelings of ignorance."
"Every child should have the best possible start in life."
This is a lot, but what does it have to do with Kate's evolving glamor? Well,
pregnancy actually significantly changed the way she approached makeup and skincare. She opted for
much more natural products while pregnant and was especially committed to using Trilogy's Rosehip
Oil daily as an anti-aging effort, according to Us Weekly. When not pregnant, Kate gets regular spray
tans to keep a healthy glow but when pregnant, these stopped. An insider told the outlet,
"Kate is very cautious of products and treatments. Baby's health comes first."
To at least get some bronze on her face, Kate used the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Bronze as a way
to get a break from the chemicals in spray tans. Kate Middleton's interest in anti-aging
strategies, like the rest of her life, shows attention without excess. In the early days of
her royal life, she began visiting the London's Hale Clinic for bee-venom facials at $250
a pop, Vanity Fair wrote in 2012. For take-home remedies, Kate used the Heaven Bee Venom Mask by
Deborah Mitchell. But this isn't the only product Kate uses. According to InStyle,
the duchess regularly uses Biotulin Supreme Skin Gel, a plant-based, organic botox gel.
The product is such a hit because it offers instant results without invasive procedures.
While Kate is obviously a fan of anti-aging products,
she hasn't gone in the direction of Botox injections. In fact, there was some palace
drama when a London-based plastic surgeon tried to use Kate as a promotion for Botox.
Well, the royal family wasn't standing for this and a rep from Kensington
Palace told the New York Post that the doctor's hints were not true.
Something special happened at the September 2021 James Bond premiere for No Time to
Die. Kate Middleton has always looked stunning on red carpets, but that night,
she took it to a whole new level. The James Bond premiere marked a massive shift in her aesthetic.
The duchess slayed us all in a gold cape dress by long-time favorite designer,
Jenny Packham, according to Elle, and wore her hair in a glamorous updo,
a nice departure from her usual long and loose style. What caught everyone's attention
was how sophisticated Kate's makeup look was in combination, of course, with her impeccable style.
Hello! went so far as to call it a, quote, "beauty overhaul" and they're not wrong. Makeup artist
Sara Sordillo told the outlet that one of the biggest changes was Kate's use of false eyelashes,
calling the effect, quote, "fluffy and fluttery." Sordillo explained,
"The false lashes have a lifted appearance
which helps to open up the eyes and give a youthful appearance."
It wasn't just her eyes though. Kate's skin was glowing that night and skin expert
Abbi Ingram told the outlet that Vitamin C serum can be responsible for this healthy,
youthful look. Kate really stole the show that night.
Who knew we'd get the ultimate Bond girl on the red carpet rather than the movie?
"There's a true romantic in there—"
Kate Middleton's glamor has evolved into a more mature and sophisticated palate, but it
has also evolved ecologically. First of all, Kate frequently reuses outfits. For the average reader,
this might not be such an extraordinary thing but for those with celebrity status, there's
an unspoken expectation of providing audiences with new looks on every occasion. In fact, Kate's
habit of repeating clothing is a subtle rebellion against royal tradition. As the Mirror reveals,
"Monarchs are traditionally limited to dressing in the same clothes no more than twice."
While Kate isn't a monarch yet, she will be one day.
This commitment to repeating clothing is something Kate has mimicked from Queen Elizabeth II.
The queen has abided by this tradition of limiting repeated clothing but broke the
rule after her husband, Prince Philip, died. As My London notes, the queen wore a muted,
lilac coat three times in one month. This comes from the tradition that royal widows wear black
for two years after their husbands die, but may also wear grey or lilac.
While Kate obviously recycles clothing for different reasons, her investment in it likely
also comes from an ecological perspective. At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2021,
Kate didn't repeat a dress but she did wear a blue coat dress made by Eponine,
a London-based brand known for recycling materials and lessening its carbon footprint.
So while she and Prince William gave awards for the Earthshot Prize, she was setting an example.
A common and very nostalgic comment about Kate Middleton's fashion choices is that she channels
her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. This might be true in some cases. Her epic moment
at the James Bond premiere, in the glittering gold dress, was deemed by many to be a tribute
to Diana's glittering silver dress when she attended the "View to a Kill" premiere in 1985.
But in many ways, Kate emulates Queen Elizabeth II just as much as Diana. Royal commentator
Kinsey Schofield told The Mirror that Kate might be more like the queen than Diana because
she's low maintenance and plays by the rules. Schofield adds that the queen and Kate have grown
very close over the years and that in terms of temperament, Kate is a lot like Queen Elizabeth.
Perhaps most significantly, both women are fully dedicated to serving the crown.
Another royal expert weighed in on how this bond has influenced Kate's fashion over the years.
Elizabeth Holmes, who wrote HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style, spoke with Insider and said,
"It feels as though Kate has studied the Queen's wardrobe and what she does with those brightly
colored coats and hats. I think that Kate is embracing the attention around her fashion."
Holmes went so far as to say that Kate's growing confidence in her fashion and her evolution into
sophistication is a conscious decision in her preparation to become queen consort.
If we've learned anything about Kate Middleton,
it's that she can adapt to her changing circumstances. She took to royal life
with grace and flourished as a mother and popular royal figure. So she'll certainly
take to the role of queen consort with the same flexible interest in growing to fit the role.
"By the way, you've got to be careful with what you say now,
because these guys, they're filming everything."
While this will come with responsibilities and added pressures,
the change will also impact her fashion. Bethan Holt, author of The Duchess of Cambridge:
A Decade of Modern Royal Style explained to Vanity Fair that Kate's charm is in being relatable.
She said,
"The public mood now is much less towards wanting royals that are very distant. [...] People want to
be able to relate, and I think the royals realize that clothing is a way that they can do it."
Holt also addressed the very legitimate concern that royal women are reduced to what they wear,
saying,
"The truth is — and it may be a sad truth for some people but I think it's
an exciting truth — without the style the substance wouldn't have the same impact."
On Kate as queen, Holt said:
"I hope that she still keeps those experimental fashion moments in there — it keeps everyone
excited. Obviously when she becomes queen, there will possibly be more
of those really formal moments as well, which would be really interesting to see."
Kate's attitude towards fashion and her approachable yet glamorous look
may well be what keeps the monarchy relevant in the years to come.
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