Essie Ballet Slippers is one of the brand’s best-selling nail polishes year after year. We always attributed its popularity to the fact that the pale pink looks good on any nail shape and skin tone. What didn’t occur to us is that it’s the Royal Family who’s keeping the colour — and others like it — consistently on top.
Legend has it, the faint shade has been the queen’s polish of choice since 1989. And it’s not just because she personally fancies it — protocol reportedly dictates only natural-looking nail shades can be worn by royals while on official business.
Leave it to Meghan Markle to be the one to finally usher in a new era. The Duchess of Sussex took the stage at the Fashion Awards in London tonight not with delicate, sweet pink nails (or even a hue slightly stronger than what's stocked in Kensington Palace), but a spectacularly vampy shade of oxblood instead. It doesn't get any further away from Ballet Slippers than this, folks — and paired with sleek hair and a single-shoulder dress, we think the bold departure is a brilliant one.
Shaking up traditional royal style has become something of a hallmark for Markle. She rejected pantyhose to go bare-legged, picked pants over a skirt, and has worn plenty of black, among other much-needed changes to royal protocol. With her latest switch-up, something tells us '90s favourite Chanel Vamp is about to see a major comeback.
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