the fairest of the land
Royal beauty secrets
Since my audience with Máxima, Queen of The Netherlands I am now completely besotted by all the ladies of royalty and their beauty routines. Of course they are surrounded by teams of people to fix and dab and powder puff every little hair or spot at any given time of day, but they also have their own little secrets. Well actually, they won’t be secrets for much longer as I’ll be sharing them with you here.
Marie Antoinette
It is said that Marie Antoinette had the most beautiful fair, clear skin. When needing to look her best she used a face mask that she made with things from her own kitchen cupboard. Two teaspoons of cognac, 1/3 cup dry milk powder, a little egg white and lemon juice were all party of this beautifying concoction. Why? The cognac stimulates circulation and reduces pores. The acid dissolves the sebum and the citric acid makes the dead skin cells disappear. The result: skin like Marie Antoinette.
Queen Elizabeth I
Fair skin was perceived as the ideal beauty look. Of course back then there were no whitening products like we have now, and women had resorted to using all sorts of wild potions to achieve this fair complexion. Queen Elizabeth was no exception and wore white foundation known as Naja. This foundation was made of white lead powder and vinegar. By no means recommended but funny to know what these woman put themselves through.
Queen Victoria
All the English queens wore gloves and the gloves were known to quickly develop a stale smell from the sweat on their hands. To help give them a delicate fragrance the gloves were dipped in rose oil.
Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II adored lipstick. Clarins was her favorite brand, but at the time of her coronation she could not find the perfect color to match her robes. So what do you do? You commission Clarins to make a lipstick for you. In 1952 they developed the red-blueish tint, called The Balmoral in homage to her Scottish mansion.
Grace Kelly
Hand cream. Addicted.
Prinses Diana
From 1991 onwards, Mary Green Wall was Princess Diana’s personal makeup artist who discouraged Diana from a few outdated beauty habits and gave her some valuable pointers. From that time on Diana never wore blue eyeshadow again (blue on blue eyes is a no go) and she never left the house without mascara.
Kate Middleton
The secret to her beautiful skin: rosehip oil. A few drops is all that is needed to achieve that soft, glowing skin and it also works against wrinkles. So the already very lovely Kate will simply just age beautifully. Without wrinkles.
Source: Harpers Bazaar, Image: Project Prep
