New Essence Typings Explained: Kaley Cuoco, Amanda Bynes, Natalie Dormer, Sarah Bolger and Lily Cole ✨
I have been typing some new ethereal and natural based celebrities...
I have added lots of celebrities to my essence pinterest boards over the past couple of weeks! Natural essence has been a real focus for me recently as I deep dive into what I really love about it. I sometimes hear negativity towards natural essence which frustrates me because I think naturals are so CHIC! Naturals really are ‘that girl’. A lot of these typings emerged from my investigations into natural essence, but I also had a more ethereal-led deep dive inspired by Sarah Bolger.
Kaley Cuoco and Amanda Bynes
My research into Kaley started with a client of mine who was basically the spitting image. I wanted to recommend her as a style muse, but I realised that I hadn’t actually typed her essence archetype before! I have always used Kaley as a good example of someone who has an “unexpected” face type. She has a wide long straight body type, which is often associated with natural/dramatic style faces, whereas hers is more of a baby face. For this reason, she has struggled with her personal style throughout the years with a lot of flip-flopping and trialling aesthetics which conflict with her features.
The baby-face is what you would expect to find in an ingenue type: cute, sweet, youthful, girlish. At the same time, Kaley doesn’t exactly fit this. Her features are quite mature and sensual. I always like to peruse other people’s opinions online before I settle on a typing of a celebrity to see if there is something I might have missed. There were a few people suggesting that Kaley might be ethereal. She does have slightly long and soft facial features - that sounds ethereal right? Perhaps the innocence in her features comes from ethereal rather than ingenue.
To test the theory I played with natural, romantic, ethereal essences. Other celebrities I have in this category are Jennifer Lawrence and Teagan Croft. Could I really see Kaley playing a role like Katniss Everdeen? Instantly this felt off; she would feel far too modern, too soft, too ‘girl next door’ to play a role like Katniss or Rapunzel like Teagan Croft.
A much better comparison for Kaley would be Sydney Sweeney. Could Kaley Cuoco play a role like Millie in The Housemaid? A slightly sexy, practical, girl-like you heroine? Yes, definitely. Both of them have slightly angular features in the bone structure but a lot of soft, round, full shapes layered on top.
Another muse who popped out during this investigation was Amanda Bynes. Again, I could see Amanda and Kaley swapping roles very easily - Kaley Cuoco could so easily be in She’s The Man and Amanda could have played Penny in The Big Bang Theory. They both have mature, model-like features but also baby faces all at once.
Natalie Dormer, Sarah Bolger and Lily Cole
This particular investigation emerged out of a members only query about Sarah Bolger from Once Upon A Time. After lots of consideration, I decided on classic, romantic and ethereal which is particularly exciting as this is a combination I was missing! This question sent me on such a journey which I talk about more in this members video:
Through my investigation into Sarah, I decided on romantic ethereal and gamine for Natalie Dormer. I could definitely see a connection between Natalie and Sarah; their faces both feel right in this fantasy-world context. Both of them play powerful yet soft women in Once Upon A Time and Game of Thrones. Natalie’s character Margaery is a little sexy but clever and you can see how her features contribute to this role: she feels sensual, yet a little cheeky - like she knows something you don’t. She almost looks ingenue as she has a lot of youthfulness in her features - but she doesn’t look sweet. She looks a little sneaky, rebellious, a tiny bit dangerous and that is the spark of yang that comes from the gamine in her square jawline and large almond eyes.
Lily Cole then popped up as a muse for me as I could see a similarity between her and Natalie. She has that same cheekiness which makes her a great cast as the siren in one of Matt Smith’s Doctor Who episodes, I remembered. However, Lily is often seen as a prime example of the ingenue. Lily can lean a little sexy sometimes, but there isn’t actually a lot of lush roundness to her features. Comparatively to Natalie, Lily’s face feels a lot more girlish and youthful with more petite features. She does feel ethereal still with her wide set eyes. She feels much more ‘fantasy’ than ‘period drama’. She is ethereal gamine ingenue.
If you would be interested in my help finding your essence archetype, you can apply for my Features Report waitlist here ✨
Do you like getting updates like this on celebrities I have typed recently? What did you think about today’s newsletter? Let me know in the comments below ⬇️
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Sorry what did essence blend did EJR land on from Haley? :)
Always appreciate your breakdowns, Ellie! I think the main differentiator between Sydney Sweeney and Kaley Cuoco, is that Sydney doesn't have Natural at all. Humor me if you will :) I actually initially assumed that she did, but when I analyzed her next to Natural clothing lines, it simply didn't do anything for her (to my surprise). I analyzed her against 63 possible combinations and it turns out she can carry an extremely heavy amount of pure R, but that is only when we look at her statically. When her animated design is considered, she has an incredibly crazy amount of Ingenue and Gamine (I'm an outlier in the style essence world here, I believe mannerisms and temperament are hugely important). Her smile, especially, (which I initially thought was Natural), was actually boyishly cute rather than open and confident.
I came to the conclusion that her best look is the sort of Vintage Diner Babe. It's Sexy, Playful and Innocent all at once.
As for Kaley, I haven't spent the time analyzing her, but she does appear to have that sexy beach babe vibe. Then again, I also assumed Sydney had Natural.