Style

Meghan Markle's Makeup Artist Reveals Whether The Queen Has To Approve Her Beauty Looks

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While she may be the most famous (and fabulous) member of the royal family, Meghan Markle is far from flashy. Though she could parade from one event to the next dripping in diamonds or dressed in haute couture, the Duchess of Sussex continues to maintain her rather simple, yet chic fashion and beauty aesthetic. You will never find Markle wearing anything too bright or too bold on her body or her face, whether she's visiting the Irish president's home or attending the Royal Ascot. And while this minimalist style might seem like it could be a directive from the Queen herself (there are so many rules that must be followed, after all), it isn't. According to Meghan Markle's makeup artist and close friend, Daniel Martin, the decision to keep things simple is all Markle, especially when it comes to her makeup.

"[Markle is] very easy and just knows her parameters of what she likes and what’s she’s comfortable in," Martin, Honest Beauty's Creative Color Consultant, tells Bustle during an interview at the re-launch event for the brand. For those that do not remember, the talented makeup artist was responsible for creating Markle's gorgeous natural beauty look for the royal wedding. Martin has worked and been friends with Markle for years now and is extremely familiar with how the Duchess likes to wear her makeup.

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"She’s very decisive with how she wants to look," Martin explains. "I think that moving forward and even in the past, you've always seen her in a specific way. We've maybe changed a bit of a tone in the lip or done something different in her eye, but she's very consistent with her makeup."

It's true — if you look at all of Meghan Markle's beauty looks over the last few years, she's rarely strayed from her tried-and-trues: a brow product, a little mascara, a natural eyeshadow or eyeliner, some blush (and maybe a highlighter, if she's feeling a little extra), and a nude lip. She always lets her skin look like her skin, letting her freckles shine through much like the rest of her features.

And for the record, the Queen does not have to approve Markle's beauty looks beforehand, Martin assures Bustle, with a smile. While there are a handful of strict fashion etiquette rules that must be followed by every royal (like not wearing colorful nail polish colors or donning hats after 6 p.m.), the Queen does not have any rules about makeup.

For this reason, Markle is totally comfortable doing her own makeup without the help of Martin or any other makeup artist, especially while she's traveling nonstop for her first royal tour with husband Prince Harry. "Since she does [her makeup] a lot herself, she doesn't want to spend a lot of time fussing about it. She’s not a fussy person," Martin shares.

Although Martin and Markle have not confirmed the exact beauty products they used to create her royal wedding look, it is safe to assume that he used products from both Dior and Honest Beauty, two brands the makeup artist works with. And while we don't know for certain that Meghan Markle has tried any of the new Honest Beauty products, one can assume that Martin has likely sent her some to try. (What are friends for if not to share their favorite products with one another?)

Martin is particularly excited about Honest Beauty's new Matte Primer, he tells Bustle.

"It’s more like a magnet then like a primer. If you're oily, you can definitely lay [the primer] down first [and] do your foundation... I actually like to use it as a finisher after foundation. You can’t usually do that with a silicone-based matte primer because it will break up when it hits the skin. So this one is more like a moisturizer almost in the sense that you can just keep layering and it's just going to grab and not disturb what you put on top of it."

Martin also created a gorgeous eyeshadow palette featuring natural hues that's meant to have everything you need to create any possible eye look, from day to night. "We basically took the colors that we had [from the Honest Beauty line] and made, like, a greatest hits collection of it [in a palette]. You can use them wet so you can get a stronger pay-off, like a cream or liner. It's all-in-one. It’s easy. The size is great. You can keep in your bag."

Sounds like just the thing for someone who travels a lot and does her own makeup, no?