What Was In Queen Elizabeth's Makeup Bag? Her Beauty Buys Were Cheaper Than You'd Think

When you think of royal fashion and beauty, typically you imagine a higher price tag. After all, high-profile figures like Kate Middleton lead lavish lifestyles after marrying into the royal family. However, that doesn't mean that every aspect of the British royals' lives are over-the-top; Queen Elizabeth II was actually quite modest in terms of her beauty regimen. While her impressive jewelry collection was staggeringly expensive, the late Queen's go-to beauty products only add up to less than £150 (or around $200 USD). 

Queen Elizabeth's beauty routine was more relatable than you'd expect. According to Hello!, the Queen favored brands like Clarins and Elizabeth Arden for hand and face cream respectively; she commissioned Clarins to design a custom lipstick color for her coronation back in 1953, evidence of the Queen's impressive sense of brand loyalty. According to Glamour UK, one of Queen Elizabeth's beauty secrets was to apply Elizabeth Arden's Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant (£31) twice each day. Other staples in Queen Elizabeth's beauty collection include soaps from British brands Bronnley (which cost in the range of £8.50) and Yardley (£11.99 for three of royal favorite English Lavender), both of which have received Royal Warrants (a formal recognition of brands/individuals who provide goods and services to the royal family). 

Queen Elizabeth II kept her makeup streamlined as well. The Queen used Clarins' Ever Matte Compact Powder, which has since been widely discontinued (though Make Up For Ever's HD Skin Blurring & Perfecting Pressed Powder is a solid dupe for the Queen's go-to powder foundation). Queen Elizabeth's iconic red lip was often courtesy of Elizabeth Arden's Beautiful Colour Lipstick in discontinued shade Fig, but she also enjoyed Elizabeth Arden's Moisturizing Lipstick in the understated blush pink shade Rose Petal ($32), which is still available today.  

Despite being the UK's longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II was seemingly no-frills when it came to her makeup. While you'd expect a woman preparing to ascend the British throne to find the most skilled makeup artist possible for her 1953 coronation (the first in history to be televised), then-27-year-old Queen Elizabeth did her own makeup. According to Merlin Holland, the son of Queen Elizabeth's beautician Thelma Besant, the Queen apparently requested that Besant be at Buckingham Palace early as a precaution: "in case anything goes wrong" (via The Telegraph). 

Holland told The Telegraph that Queen Elizabeth having done her own coronation makeup was kept hush-hush until he discovered his mother's unpublished memoir manuscript detailing the entire affair. "She wrote about the lead up to the Coronation. She went off to [tailors] Ede & Ravenscroft to get a sample of the Coronation robe because the lipstick [and makeup needed to match,]" Holland said, referencing Queen Elizabeth's custom-made Clarins lipstick.

But, in the decades following her coronation, Queen Elizabeth continued to do her own makeup. Given the fact that Queen Elizabeth's personal feelings about clothing fittings made it difficult to dress her, it's no real surprise that she opted to do her makeup herself as much as possible; after all, who can understand your makeup preferences better than yourself?