Kate Middleton's Royal Look Didn't Happen Overnight — Here's the Proof

This is the look we first became acquainted with when Kate announced her engagement — and it stayed throughout her first year of marriage. Dark, glossy brunette locks, all one length, super-long and often worn in twirly-wirly barrel curls. For her first year of royal life Kate relied on the talented touch of James Pryce, who she'd known since her days as a girl about town in London. He had operated from the Richard Ward salon, but parted ways with his former boss and hasn't styled Kate's her since.

The overall look is still the same, but there have been a few subtle changes. The color of Kate's hair is more accented and a lot lighter, while she's also wearing it shorter and more shaped, which has taken away some of the bulk but none of the volume. It's still tonged, but in a different way — often with bigger more 70s style glamor waves. For the past five years Kate has relied on the services of Amanda Cook Tucker, who has been cutting William's and Harry's hair most of their lives.

Kate used to always go for a thick ultra-dark tick of eyebrow.

She now favours a more shaped brow — slender and more arched than they were in the past, and not quite as dark.

It seems that Kate's mantra used to be: if in doubt add more eyeliner. The duchess was fond of drawing thick black pencil inside her lash line, and ringing her entire eye with with it for both day and night.

Kate now often leaves her inner lash-line bare for daytime engagements, and uses her pencil in a more subtle and flattering way. Now she favors foxy flicks of liquid liner, and has mastered the art of the shimmery smoky eye.

Kate's latte tan was one of the hangovers from her single girl life, and in the first year of marriage it looked as though she was having regular visits from a spray tanner.

It has been reported that Kate still has semi-regular spray tans, but they are a lot lighter than they used to be. She instead uses plenty of blush on the apples of her cheeks.

The thigh-skimming minis of her Middleton days made way for sensible below-the-knee options as soon as she became a member of the royal family. The Erdem dress she wore on the first day of her Canadian tour in 2011 was typical of her new sleek, professional look.

Kate has in the last year found a new favourite hemline in the midi-length — often worn 70s style with blouse sleeves. Even though she now favors a longer hemline, it looks fresher and less formal than the knee-length numbers, as seen with this splash of royal blue Saloni last year.

As a single girl Kate favoured plunging necklines for wow gowns at charity events, but in her early years as a royal, she almost entirely favored ultra high necklines including boat necks, Peter Pan collars and modest V's. At black tie events the McQueen gown she wore in L.A. was typical of her new style.

While these high-neckline looks are still a part of Kate's wardrobe, she has become more confident and experimental in her choices. It's unlikely we'll see the likes of those slinky plunging Issas she wore when she was a Miss, but the duchess has mixed things up recently with deeper V's, as well as illusion panels and bare shoulders. She likes this skin-baring Preen gown so much that she has it in red and black.

Frills, ruffles, bows and fussy feathers featured on Kate's fascinators, or dinner-plate sized hats perched on the side of her head. This Philip Treacy that she wore on Garter Day in 2011 was a typical Kate look for the time.

Kate now favours more sleek and slinky cocktail hats with quirkier touches, such as this Gina Foster number. She has also been tying out new shapes with crowns and big brims that sit squarely on the head, employing the services of Princess Diana's favourite miliner John Boyd.

Kate used to stick mostly with the sloaney staples of pearl earrings and her diamond pave button pendant, plus lots of semi-precious Kiki McDonough designs.

Kate's first full-length gown as a royal was careful in it's capped sleeves and high neckline, but the Jenny Packham design was still glamorous and pretty with it's sparkle and blush color.

Kate has flirted with thigh-splits and a mini/floor-length combo in the past few years, and most recently chose an off the shoulder black flower-decked McQueen gown for the BAFTAs.