Meg Bellamy, who plays Kate Middleton in season 6 of The Crown, talked how she got her hair and makeup to look like Kate Middleton's from the early 2000s.
Kate Middleton is known for her minimalistic approach to beauty - so when Meg Bellamy, who plays a young Kate Middleton in the new episodes of season 6 of The Crown, signed on to play the Princess, she knew her work would be cut out for her and the show's makeup team.
Since the Princess has always had such naturally unwavering beauty, the idea of putting too much makeup on the actress seemed foolish - but Meg revealed to Glamour that there was one product that really helped her find a likeness to Kate.
Meg Bellamy used eyeliner to help her look like Kate Middleton
Meg said that, of all of the products they used to recreate Kate's makeup from the early 2000's, eyeliner proved to be the most useful. "Something that was really fascinating is we rounded my eyes a little bit because Kate often wore heavier eye makeup and she has round eyes, so we’d make the eyeliner thicker in the middle parts of my eyes," Meg recalled.
Since Kate's makeup from the early 2000's has changed quite a bit from then to now - the Princess now prefers more of a "no makeup-makeup" look - the makeup team on the show had to look at the intricacies of old photos of the Princess. "So just little intricate things that I really get nerdy about," Meg also said. "The research that goes into the look is absolutely amazing, and it’s really a pleasure to be that canvas."
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The makeup and hair team for The Crown also advised Meg not to do anything to her hair before they started filming, as the actress' natural hair already looked quite similar to Kate's. "We didn’t do a whole lot different because my hair was kind of similar to Kate’s, but as soon as I was cast, I was told, 'Don’t cut it or dye it or do anything crazy.' I don’t think I cut my hair for six, seven months," she said.
In terms of styling, Meg noted that they simply diffused her hair in the morning with one of the best diffusers before shooting, which helped give the actress' hair a naturally wavy texture, akin to Kate's. "We diffused it in the morning to get more of a natural wavy texture that’s a bit more like Kate’s," she said.
She also recalled that, in certain instances, they would use hair extensions to achieve a more voluminous look. "And sometimes we’d have what’s called a weft or a piece, which is a band of extra hair, so if we were doing a bigger look or a party look, we’d use that," she noted.