You also might think Essie’s iconic nail polish shade Ballet Slippers, the barely-there lacquer that every publication in the history of the WORLD claims is the Duchess of Cambridge’s favorite color.
Such is the power of the K.Midds’ manicure that, according to Essie, 30 bottles of Ballet Slippers sells in the United States every hour. That’s a lot of beige-pink nail polish!
But it turns out that your Kate-inspired nail polish might all be a lie. Turns out that she might not wear this color at ALL.
Back in the day, the story goes, the Queen’s hairdresser sent a letter to Essie brand creator Essie Weingarten requesting a pale pink nail polish called Ballet Slippers. The letter — which Essie references in interviews, and is usually only attributed to the Essie website — supposedly called this pale pink shade “the only color her majesty would wear.(Pale nudes are also meant to be the ONLY nail polish color royals can wear to official events. Womp womp.)
From this single anecdote, tens of thousands of beauty articles were born. Almost 30 years later, Ballet Slippers is still described as “The Queen’s favorite nail polish” — and it’s why almost every other female royal, including Kate Middleton, is said to wear it.
“But Alle,” I hear you saying. “What if the Queen is just wearing Ballet Slippers applied very lightly?”
Well, get ready. Because there is no lightly where Ballet Slippers is concerned.
I’ve been wearing Ballet Slippers ($8, Target) since 1993. I am a long-term fan. And though Ballet Slippers has likely been though multiple reformulations, it has always had a thin, slightly streaky consistency. You need to wear two coats of this polish, or it looks terrible — plain and simple. And no woman who routinely wears hats made out of jewels is going to risk having a crappy looking manicure.
There is a tremendous amount of pressure on Kate to be absolutely perfect at all times. She can never not be camera-ready — not even after giving birth — and having a perfect, “appropriate” manicure is part of that. Her appearance is simultaneously the most important thing, and something which should (ideally) be part of the background — she must be perfect, but not seem like she’s trying to pull focus from anyone else.
If she had nails that popped this dramatically, people would start talking about her manicure. That’s not the desired effect.
That looks like a very pale, opaque, pinky-white polish to me! And if you zoom in, you can even see some of the tell-tale streaks that let me know that someone didn’t go heavy enough on that second coat!
Yep – this looks like Ballet Slippers to me.
title: “Ballet Slippers Is Not Kate Middleton S Favorite Nail Polish” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-11” author: “Tina Willy”
You also might think Essie’s iconic nail polish shade Ballet Slippers, the barely-there lacquer that every publication in the history of the WORLD claims is the Duchess of Cambridge’s favorite color.
Such is the power of the K.Midds’ manicure that, according to Essie, 30 bottles of Ballet Slippers sells in the United States every hour. That’s a lot of beige-pink nail polish!
But it turns out that your Kate-inspired nail polish might all be a lie. Turns out that she might not wear this color at ALL.
Back in the day, the story goes, the Queen’s hairdresser sent a letter to Essie brand creator Essie Weingarten requesting a pale pink nail polish called Ballet Slippers. The letter — which Essie references in interviews, and is usually only attributed to the Essie website — supposedly called this pale pink shade “the only color her majesty would wear.(Pale nudes are also meant to be the ONLY nail polish color royals can wear to official events. Womp womp.)
From this single anecdote, tens of thousands of beauty articles were born. Almost 30 years later, Ballet Slippers is still described as “The Queen’s favorite nail polish” — and it’s why almost every other female royal, including Kate Middleton, is said to wear it.
“But Alle,” I hear you saying. “What if the Queen is just wearing Ballet Slippers applied very lightly?”
Well, get ready. Because there is no lightly where Ballet Slippers is concerned.
I’ve been wearing Ballet Slippers ($8, Target) since 1993. I am a long-term fan. And though Ballet Slippers has likely been though multiple reformulations, it has always had a thin, slightly streaky consistency. You need to wear two coats of this polish, or it looks terrible — plain and simple. And no woman who routinely wears hats made out of jewels is going to risk having a crappy looking manicure.
There is a tremendous amount of pressure on Kate to be absolutely perfect at all times. She can never not be camera-ready — not even after giving birth — and having a perfect, “appropriate” manicure is part of that. Her appearance is simultaneously the most important thing, and something which should (ideally) be part of the background — she must be perfect, but not seem like she’s trying to pull focus from anyone else.
If she had nails that popped this dramatically, people would start talking about her manicure. That’s not the desired effect.
That looks like a very pale, opaque, pinky-white polish to me! And if you zoom in, you can even see some of the tell-tale streaks that let me know that someone didn’t go heavy enough on that second coat!
Yep – this looks like Ballet Slippers to me.
