You may recognize Emilia Clarke for her signature brunette strands or the unforgettable white-blonde tresses she sported as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones. However, she recently surprised fans with a new look—a sunbeam blonde hue debuted at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, July 7.
Leading the transformation was celebrity colorist Nicola Clarke of John Frieda, who gave fans a look at her client’s sun-kissed strands in an Instagram reel. “@emilia_clarke 💫looking absolutely beautiful,” she captioned the clip, adding “silverstone bound,” a nod to Silverstone Circuit in England. As seen in the video, Clarke paired her new hair with a chic strapless khaki dress for the event, complemented by a sleek, center-parted style by celebrity hairstylist Earl Simms.
According to reports from Vogue and Glamour, Clarke “hand-painted” highlights onto the actress’s hair, creating a super-customized look with face-framing pieces that illuminated her complexion and added depth and dimension. Her new hair color aligns perfectly with current major hair color trends, especially sunbeam blonde. If you’re new to the trend, it’s all about mimicking the look of natural highlights created by the sun. “Sunbeam blonde is a mixture of equal parts sweet with a spicy twist,” Melissa Dwyer, a colorist for FEKKAI, previously told NewBeauty. “It brings out the hair’s underlying golden tones with brighter sunnier shades of blonde hues throughout.”
Getty Images / BENJAMIN CREMEL
Clarke has been a beauty muse for years, renowned not only for her hair routine but also her skincare. In a 2023 interview, she shared a skincare tip she’s faithfully followed for two decades—an approach that’s refreshingly relatable: simply washing her face.
“The first thing I do when I get in is take my make-up off, even when I’m blacked out drunk,” Clarke explained regarding her non-negotiable skincare step. “It’s something I’ve been doing twice a day, every day, since I was 13,” she continues, “it’s like brushing your teeth or having breakfast.”
And she, too, experiences ebbs and flows with her skin’s sensitivity. “It’s currently having a hissy fit as I’ve been working for 18 months non-stop and I had different people putting different things on my face,” she said. “So, right now, I’m in a very stripped-back phase using just the bare basics of what I need.” For the Game of Thrones star, that includes tried-and-true, no-nonsense products like Clinique’s All About Clean Liquid Cleanser ($28), as well as the brand’s Clarifying Lotion 2 ($22) and Broad Spectrum SPF 50 ($35).