Make-up & Skincare of Royals

[Julia]

First off, it's been ages since I've posted and as I looked around this fantastic new sub-forum I thought it might be nice to have a thread on royal make-up & skincare. Yes, it's girly and maybe a little frivilous but...it's fun!

I've always wondered what skincare CP Mary uses -- her skin looks like porcelain -- and what line of make-up CP Letizia uses as she always looks so flawless at galas and other engagements. CP Victoria is another royal who's beautifully made up at functions. My list could go on and on...

What are some favorite looks from your favorite princesses and other royals? And, do any of you know some secrets to their success in looking so regal?

[pretoriana18]

I watched a similar thread but about the Princess Mary... on the Danish Foro...if you want can to look for it´s very intresting... princess Mary Make-up I think...

[Elsa M.]

Mary is perhaps the best example of how expensive skincare treatments can do miracles. I remember seing some photos of her having luch with her friend Ellen, right after her wedding I believe, and she originally had a very damaged skin, with a lot of wrinkles and sunspots... certainly peelings can do wonders.

[RachelD]

I believe Mary uses mineral make-up...
I use it, just not the brand she does, and it does create a pretty flawless complexion.

http://womansday.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=52384

I've posted this site before on the thread for Mary's make-up and look...
The make-up for the brands she uses are not that expensive, but they are not the common stuff you can get at any drug store...

[Julia]

Elsa M - you are so right about the miracles of expensive skin treatment! Mary had good skin prior to marrying Frederik but it was sun damaged (some spots and discoloration). Since her marriage her skin has become better and better with each year. I would have to say that this year her skin has looked amazing. No discoloration or spotting and it looks amazingly smooth and healthy.

Beautiful photos, pretoriana18!

Mary looks very good with darker eye make-up and soft glossy lips -- very Audrey Hepburn/Jackie O.

Letizia is a fantastic natural beauty. She just seems to need a little pop of color on her cheeks, subtle eye make-up to bring out her eyes and a good gloss on her lips.

Mette-Marit is very natural. She's got great bone structure and I think, IMHO, if she wore too much make-up it would ruin her fresh appeal. Great photos of her.

Victoria's make-up is fantastic. I love how she plays up her eyes and bone structure. Her hair, when done for galas, looks very glamorous.

Very interesting information on mineral make-up, Rachel D. What brand do you use?

[Roxsteve]

I think Mary still has a lot of wrinkles for her age!!

[Julia]

Hi, Roxsteve. Mary does have a fair number of wrinkles but, imho, what saves her is that her skin, apart from wrinkles, is a beauitful tone. I'm glad that she hasn't given in to botox or something of that nature because I think that some wrinkles give a face character.

Letizia's eye make-up is beautiful. It looks to me like she uses an emerald or green eyeliner and sometimes a deep green (almost forest green) mascara to highlight her eyes. Does it look this way to all of you? I can remember a very high resolution photo -- sorry that I don't have it! -- of Letizia at the State Dinner for Putin and it looked as though she wearing a gorgeous emerald green mascara...

[RachelD]

Originally Posted by Julia

Letizia's eye make-up is beautiful. It looks to me like she uses an emerald or green eyeliner and sometimes a deep green (almost forest green) mascara to highlight her eyes. Does it look this way to all of you? I can remember a very high resolution photo -- sorry that I don't have it! -- of Letizia at the State Dinner for Putin and it looked as though she wearing a gorgeous emerald green mascara...

Julia,
I know what picture your talking about...but I can't find it! She looked amazing! I use Bare Minerals, have you heard of it? I'd love to try the brand that Mary uses!

[Julia]

Originally Posted by RachelD

Julia,
I know what picture your talking about...but I can't find it! She looked amazing! I use Bare Minerals, have you heard of it? I'd love to try the brand that Mary uses!

Hi Rachel,

Didn't Letizia look fantastic at that State Dinner? I'm going to do a little more sleuthing to try and find some photos from that event.

I've not tried Bare Minerals but from the looks of Mary's skin and your reccommendation I think I just might have to try this line! Thanks for the information.

The link that RachelD supplied above (thanks, Rachel!) has some information on Mary's preferred choice of skin care. She uses Ole Henriksen line. I've not used it. Does anyone here use Ole Henriksen's products?

[Little_star]

Originally Posted by Elsa M.

Mary is perhaps the best example of how expensive skincare treatments can do miracles. I remember seing some photos of her having luch with her friend Ellen, right after her wedding I believe, and she originally had a very damaged skin, with a lot of wrinkles and sunspots... certainly peelings can do wonders.

She definitely has a rigorous skincare regime as her skin pre-Fred wasn't so great. I've sometimes whether she's used some sort of bleaching treatment as well to get the porcelain "effect".

Charlotte Casiraghi has amazing skin, it's flawless, plus I think her make-up usually looks great.

[olga7777]

I agree with everyone in this thread about Mary having a beautiful skin but some other ladies that I have always wondered about their skin care routine are Lalla Salma and Rania. The women from those countries do tend to have very nice skin and considering the harsh sun in those countries, it is really difficult to get something like that.

Apart of knowing that in Morocco they used quite a lot argan oil in skin products, does anyone know any other routines or products that might help them to get those skins?

[Violet25]

Thanks for the great info..i would say that Mary for sure had some bleaching treatments, she looks incredibly pale..if you see her now , even next to other royals she's unnaturally white..kind of like Kate Blanchett, except Kate has always had that skin tone so it seems more natural..very interesting..

[BurberryBrit]

I also suspect Mary bleached her skin (but it may be the climate as well?). Her skin has definitely undergone a big change. She looks pretty flawless now.

[Violet25]

it's very interesting to me, being in Australia, because skin whitening products here are hardly ever sold..we live in such a warm climate..i have seen a few in asia, there's a big market for them. I have heard good things about Dior and some SKII stuff..anyone tried any with success?
thanks !!

[Fashionista100]

I doubt Mary has bleached her skin. She has not been in the sun for a long time. She may have had resurfacing treatments. But not bleaching. I have never heard of bleaching actually working. I have often heard that it is more common in noncaucasian cultures. But I've never heard of someone Caucasian doing it. Personally, I doubt it works. You can change you skintone by putting a cream on your skin. You can do peels and light resurfacing to remove the top layer of dead skin. Which is what I believe she has done.

[Suonymona]

Just by staying out of the sun, ALWAYS wearing a sunscreen, and regularly exfoliating your skin followed by a strong moisturizer can change a skin tone from haggardly tan to a creamy pale in just weeks.

Personally, I think Mary was never into all the image-conscious things. Once she became Princess, she had expert advisors and now considers her skin, make-up, hair and clothing choices more carefully.

Generally, once you focus more attention on an area, it improves--as long as you are using correct information to guide you of course!

This is what I think happened with CP Mary and is starting to happen with Duchess Camilla. Even ones who had better access earlier on improved as they found what worked best for them--like Diana, HRH Caroline and HM Queen Noor.

[BurberryBrit]

Originally Posted by Fashionista100

I doubt Mary has bleached her skin. She has not been in the sun for a long time. She may have had resurfacing treatments. But not bleaching. I have never heard of bleaching actually working. I have often heard that it is more common in noncaucasian cultures. But I've never heard of someone Caucasian doing it. Personally, I doubt it works. You can change you skintone by putting a cream on your skin. You can do peels and light resurfacing to remove the top layer of dead skin. Which is what I believe she has done.

You're right that bleaching is more common in ethnic cultures, but there are some whites who want pale skin (I've read about this on another forum). And as far as changing skin tone with a cream, the only prescribed cream that can lighten skin has hydroquinone in it. No regular skin cream can do that. So if she used a cream that lightened her skin (which I don't know) it was with that purpose. Bleaching definitely works and we can look at Michael Jackson and know that! He claims to have vitiligo, but that would not cause total bleaching, rather patches of whitened skin. Also, melanocytes (which are responsible for pigment) are not in the top layers of skin so any treatment that caused lightening would have been an aggressive treatment. Now, saying all that, I don't know what Mary did! I only know her skin is lovely now (which has more to do with the texture than the color).

[Violet25]

Really interesting, thanks Ann.
I used to work at Chanel, and i know that 'brightning' products are a bit of a fashion industry secret. Of course they work- look at Nicole and Cate, and other celebs who have totally changed their skin tones and complexions...it's nothing new-they have been used in Asia for years.
you'd be crazy to think it's all about putting on some sunscreen!! sorry but be realistic. Mary still goes out in the sun, just because Denmark is not like Australia it doesn't mean she's indoors all day. that's crazy. Mary herself says she goes out a lot and she's very outdoorsy and active. Besides the transformation was very apparent from the engagement to the wedding in a matter of months..peels or whatever it was..this isn't something you get by putting on sunscreen!!
Don't know if anyone watched 'what's hot or not' from 20 to 1 last nite, Mary was number 3 ( I think) and they showed the extended video from when she worked at Love (??) and my god, she looks like a totally different girl. I definitely think all the expert advisors have done a wonderful job of improving her! she just looks amazing now!!!!! good on her.

[Aquarela]

Originally Posted by Violet25

Really interesting, thanks Ann.
I used to work at Chanel, and i know that 'brightning' products are a bit of a fashion industry secret. Of course they work- look at Nicole and Cate, and other celebs who have totally changed their skin tones and complexions...it's nothing new-they have been used in Asia for years.
you'd be crazy to think it's all about putting on some sunscreen!! sorry but be realistic. Mary still goes out in the sun, just because Denmark is not like Australia it doesn't mean she's indoors all day. that's crazy. Mary herself says she goes out a lot and she's very outdoorsy and active. Besides the transformation was very apparent from the engagement to the wedding in a matter of months..peels or whatever it was..this isn't something you get by putting on sunscreen!!
Don't know if anyone watched 'what's hot or not' from 20 to 1 last nite, Mary was number 3 ( I think) and they showed the extended video from when she worked at Love (??) and my god, she looks like a totally different girl. I definitely think all the expert advisors have done a wonderful job of improving her! she just looks amazing now!!!!! good on her.

This is a very interesting thread! Thanks for all contributions.
Violet, since you are an expert, could you tell if (in your opinion) the secret of Mary's great skin could be a combination of peeling+quality moisturizer+sunscreen?

[Elsa M.]

Originally Posted by Violet25

I used to work at Chanel, and i know that 'brightning' products are a bit of a fashion industry secret.

It's crazy how some people spend $$, trying to look like a roasted beef and then there are some others, spending $$, to brighten their skin...

Personally, I prefer P. Mary's present pale complexion to P. Madeleine's roasted appearance, but I believe these beauty standards are all related with the part of the world one comes from... you know the old saying: the grass is always greenner on the other side...

Like Mary, I'm also from a sunny country, where people have naturally tanned skin, so perhaps that's why we wanted to look pale instead... while Madeleine is from Sweeden, where everybody looks naturally pale and so doing everything to look orange instead

Anyway, I believe she really did any sort of "brightening" treatment... perhaps not an aggressive bleaching treatment, but a long series of peelings, accompanied by the use of quality products (sunscreens, etc.).