Emilia Clarke Reveals Honey Blonde Balayage Highlights

Emilia Clarke's honey balayage highlights just served up the perfect winter blonde hair inspiration. The former Game of Thrones actor showcased her earthy golden hues for the Bazaar Awards 2023, which took place at the iconic Claridge's hotel on Monday.

The fresh colour, styled down for full effect by the wonderful Earl Simms, is utterly harmonious with Clarke's naturally ashy base. But she's not the only one who's been experimenting with the trend: the flattering au natural colour has also been sported by the likes of Rosie Huntington-Whitely and Scarlett Johansson recently. Dubbed 'Bündchen balayage' (after Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen) by British hairstylist and trend forecaster Tom Smith, the colour is a key AW23 hair trend.

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'Not new to the "hairspo" game, Bündchen’s flowing locks have been the envy of many for her entire career,' Smith explains. 'Her "better than natural" dimensional blonde is ideal for those who love their hair the most when they are just back from holiday and we’re seeing more versions of her earthy golden tones on other supermodels, such as Rosie Huntington-Whitely and the gorgeous Blake Lively.'

However, it's important to note that this gilded hue might not be a suit-all shade. 'The main tricks to achieving subtle golden blonde tones is keeping the hand painted highlights away from the root while retaining some of the deeper base colour in the mids and ends too,' he adds. 'The bad news is this hair colour relies on a light brown/dark blonde natural base colour and tends to not look as harmonious or understated when the base colour is dyed to be so.'

The loose face-framing waves worn by Clarke were full of movement, yet remained uniform and glossy, thanks to Sam McKnight's Happy Endings Nourishing Balm, as revealed by Simms.

Clarke opted for a pared-back make-up look for the glittering event, showcasing a subtly contoured eye, soft rose blush and equally neutral pink lip by make-up artist Naoko Scintu.

Clarke finished the ensemble with an embellished, strapless Emilia Wickstead dress and delicate pointed pumps. Consider the look embedded on our mental mood boards for the approaching party season.

Katie Withington

Beauty Writer

Katie Withington (she/her) is the Beauty Writer, at ELLE UK and Harper’s Bazaar. Working alongside the ELLE UK Beauty Team, she covers all things beauty for both print and digital, from finding backstage make-up trends at London Fashion Week and investigating buzzy skincare ingredients, to unzipping the beauty bags of Hailey Bieber and Margot Robbie. Prior to joining ELLE UK in 2022, Katie studied (BA) Fashion Journalism at London College of Fashion and has previously contributed to Red, Good Housekeeping and Prima.