MAKE-UP CHART USED FOR ICONIC SHOOT – AND HOW TO COPY IT TODAY
IN THE early days there was a dreamy, Pre-Raphaelite quality to the young Diana Spencer.
But it wasn’t long before the ‘princessification’ began — a process largely orchestrated by the Press and Palace to turn Diana into a sophisticated young lady worthy of her new status.
In part, this involved the handiwork of Clayton Howard, the veteran make-up artist Lord Snowdon often used for photoshoots. Howard first met a nervous Diana at Snowdon’s Kensington townhouse for the Vogue magazine shoot that would produce the official engagement picture.
At this point, in late 1980, Diana was a blank canvas. Her most sophisticated beauty products came from The Body Shop — Elderflower Under Eye Gel, for example.
Howard used Max Factor Sheer Genius foundation in Honey Touch and a Max Factor blusher stick in Frosted Coral.
On the eyelids, he applied Elizabeth Arden shades Rice and Timberland, with a white frosted eyeshadow on the brow. Navy Elizabeth Arden mascara and that blue eyeliner, also Arden, completed the look.
And we know all this because Howard created a bespoke face chart for her (right).
‘Diana’s eyes are so spectacular in colour that I wanted to emphasise their striking blueness,’ he later wrote.
The finished result is not flattering to such a young girl: she looks 18 going on 50. Her brows are too heavy, and her eyes overworked in dull brown.
Most striking, though, is the infamous eyeliner — worn on the waterline, inside the eye — in that ghastly Disney Princess blue. A fantasy shade for a fantasy bride. No wonder Diana looks back at us a little unsure.
One of the sources of Diana’s anguish was that she never knew where her public persona stopped and her private self began. This was the start of it.