Real-Life Royal Mafalda Drops Her Skin-Care Routine
While the phrase music royalty gets tossed around a lot, for singer-songwriter Mafalda, it»s a bit more legit. She’s an actual royal—her title is Princess Mafalda Saxe Cobourg of Bulgaria, but she prefers just Mafalda ( though she’s been know to answer to “the Princess of Pop”).
However, traditional pop star she is not; she describes her music as “dark pop” and is much more akin to Lana Del Rey than Brittany or Madonna—think swirling synths, emotional lyrics, and an overall cinematic feel. Previously she has only released music in English, but her latest EP “Bailando Sin Sentido,” released earlier this summer, is fully in her native Spanish.
Despite her royal background and current career, the 26-year-old is surprisingly down-to-earth, especially when it comes to her skin care—and her skin struggles. “Dry skin is one of my biggest concerns,” she tells Glamour. “Apart from that, something I can’t control is the hormonal pimples we all get here.” She gestures to her chin. “But what can we do about that? You know, it’s life, it’s part of who we are as women, and our hormones sometimes decide to have fun with us. It’s a natural thing, it is what it is.” (Her positive attitude is perhaps a little less relatable.)
It took her a little time after graduating from Boston’s Berkeley School of Music in 2017, but she has finally curated the perfect routine to keep her skin happy. “My routine didn’t start until I moved to New York, because there’s a lot of pollution that I definitely felt,” she says. “I started trying different serums and kinds of moisturizer, and throughout these past five, six years, I really tried almost everything.”
So, what does a princess’s skin care consist of? Below, Mafalda fills us in on the products she can’t live without for Glamour’s Drop the Routine.
My cleanser
When I moved to New York City, my skin was reacting very differently. It would get really, really dry, especially in the winters, so I started trying a lot of different products. And the one that I really found worked for me at the beginning, for washing my face in the shower or in the mornings, is the Caudalie Instant Foaming Cleanser. And that was definitely the start of my routine. I found everything else from there.
My serums and moisturizer
I really tried almost everything, but I feel that now I’ve found what my product is. It’s the Clé de Peau line; I’m a huge fan. I got introduced to it because I was doing a shoot with a magazine, and before the makeup artist applied the makeup on my face, she used the serum and moisturizer, and even before putting on makeup, my skin was already glowing. I was like, “Wait, I need this.”
It’s like a pack, and it comes with a night moisturizer, a day moisturizer, and a serum. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is rinse my face and apply my serum, and then moisturizer. I only use serums in the morning—I think for my skin, if I apply too many things at night, it feels too heavy and makes my skin oily. I love this set because it’s so light, and it just makes my skin glow—it almost looks like I’m wearing makeup when I’m not.
My eye cream
I have this little eye cream; I bought it in Spain at Mercadona, which is like the equivalent of CVS, so it’s not glamorous. But I feel like it really works! It’s just very light, and it creates a shimmer and glow under your eyes that almost allows me to not even put concealer on, unless I’m very tired or had a long week. I also found this one because a makeup artist used it on me.
