Kate Middleton’s £18 lip balm is here to help you nail that 90s beauty trend
- Posted by
- Kayleigh Dray
- Published

This high-gloss beauty staple is perfect for summer – and the Duchess of Cambridge knows it!
Before the ‘Meghan effect’, there was the ‘Kate effect’ – and it seems the Duchess of Cambridge is still one of the most powerful royal fashion and beauty influencers, according to a recent survey.
That’s right: stats have shown that when Kate Middleton wears an item of clothing, dons an accessory or uses a beauty product, it increases the desirability among 38% of shoppers.
So we imagine that the folks at Clarins will be ecstatic to learn that Kate has been snapped using one of its hero items at Wimbledon.
When the Duchess of Cambridge joined tennis fans at Wimbledon this year, she did so while carrying a teeny-weeny (and very on trend) Alexander McQueen raffia bag.
No bigger than a smartphone, the accessory left little room for error when it came to packing the essentials – but Kate knew exactly which multi-tasking beauty product she wanted to bring along with her to the event.
The hot and humid British summertime can make your lips vulnerable resulting in dryness, cracked and chapped lips – and applying a layer of moisturising lip balm can help to protect them.
But Kate’s choice – the £18.50 Clarins’ Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector – isn’t just an award-winning lip balm: it’s a softly textured (and deliciously scented) lip gloss, too.
The cult product, according to Clarins, leaves lips “looking soft, smooth, shiny and plump” – and, while it’s a “sheer” gloss, it also “has enough colour to wear alone or to complement your favourite lip shade”.
Better still? The Lip Perfector taps into one of this year’s biggest beauty trends: the revival of shiny 90s-esque lips.
As previously reported, we recently saw a 459% spike in ‘lip gloss’ saves, and a 343% global increase in those for ‘barely there shine’ on Pinterest. And Kate’s favourite rose shimmer version of the Lip Perfector definitely delivers on the latter, thanks to its subtle sheen effect.
Naturally, Kate’s penchant for perfection has seen sales of the lip product shoot up to well over 500% on Amazon according to the retailer’s Movers and Shakers page, which means that it has sold out of the Rose Shimmer shade.
Thankfully, Kate’s favourite lip balm is still available on the official Clarins website. Although we recommend you move very, very quickly if you want to be in with a shot of securing one for yourself, mind you…
Image: Getty