Duchess Sophie just broke royal beauty protocol but we couldn't be more on board

Duchess Sophie just broke royal beauty protocol yet again at her latest engagement but we couldn't be more on board with it.

The Duchess of Edinburgh might be a senior royal but she’s just proved once again that she’s not afraid to push the boundaries when it comes to her beauty routine. With so many of us drawn towards Black Friday beauty deals at the moment it’s a great time to purchase a little treat to yourself and Duchess Sophie just provided some style inspiration with her protocol-breaking bright red nail polish. It might seem like a relatively small detail when it comes to her overall outfit, but the rich crimson shade she chose on 22nd November was a bold statement.

The Duchess of Edinburgh attended a roundtable discussion focusing on how to help collectively strengthen the role of science to advance humanity. For this important engagement, Duchess Sophie went for a gorgeous midnight blue corduroy dress by Aspiga London and her red nail polish was a strong contrast.

The combination was super autumnal and jewel-toned and Duchess Sophie’s choice of nail polish colour was a radical departure from the usual royal-approved shades. Particularly during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, royal women tended to stick to neutral pinky-nude colours and a more natural finish which she supposedly preferred and wore herself. 

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The other royal women like the Princess of Wales and Queen Camilla were rarely seen wearing any other hues whilst Her Majesty was said to be a huge fan of Essie's Ballet Slippers, which is now reduced to £4.49 on Amazon. 

However, Duchess Sophie clearly has a penchant for deeper, more statement nail colours - as her recent choice of bright red proves. She’s previously been seen wearing other dark shades, including a fabulously festive metallic red at the Royal Variety Performance last year.

The Duchess of Edinburgh also wore a dark burgundy during an engagement in Liverpool in 2022, showing that this colour palette has long been one of her favourites. Red might seem like a difficult colour to incorporate into your everyday beauty routine, but there are plenty of very chic dark red nail designs that highlight how fabulous the final look can be. 

If you've already trawled through the luxurious Jo Malone Black Friday 2023 deals and other beauty sales, you might not be surprised to learn that there are also plenty of iconic nail polish brands with stunning dark red shades now on sale for Black Friday. This includes including Chanel’s Rouge Noir and OPI’s Big Apple Red, as well as a very affordable Essie polish in a spectacular orange-red tone. 

Simply wearing red nail polish can help add a pop of colour to even the most neutral of outfits without looking too much, although Duchess Sophie seems to favour breaking the royal beauty rules this way with a blue outfit.

The sparkle of her silver sequin Royal Variety dress also worked well with her red nails as a super glamorous, almost old Hollywood-esque look, making this a colour choice that looks beautiful in more day-to-day and special occasion settings. 

Whilst Duchess Sophie has broken an established royal beauty tradition with her nails over the years, she knows what she likes and what works and each time she’s worn red polish it’s looked incredibly elegant with her outfit. The more Duchess Sophie wears red polish for royal engagements, the more it’s possible that this royal trend for neutral nails is beginning to fade away and become a thing of the past - at least for her.