Meghan Markle’s makeup artist and ‘personal friend’ Daniel Martin reveals the beauty staple she keeps ‘in every bag’

It’s impossible not to like Daniel Martin. The celebrity makeup artist, whose clients include Meghan Markle, Ali Wong, Jessica Biel and Elisabeth Moss, has earned a reputation among Hollywood’s elite for his chill and friendly demeanour. In the first 90 seconds of our call, Martin professed his love (and longing) for Canada: “I miss Canada so much!”

By the end of our 45-minute video chat, I was inviting Martin, the Global Director of Artistry at Tatcha, to get together when he’s in Toronto next month for TIFF. Needless to say, I understand why he’s a core member of Meghan Markle’s inner circle — he’s kind, inquisitive and incredibly good at his job.

Martin has worked with some of the world’s most recognizable names for more than two decades. However, it was Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s royal wedding in 2018 that thrust him into the limelight.

The royal wedding “was an incredible amplification,” Martin tells Yahoo Canada. “It did kind of freak me out, because my job is behind the scenes, and that catapulted me into a whole different sphere.

“I’m very fortunate that Meghan gave me the platform that she did for her wedding,” he says. “But literally, I went in thinking and knowing that I was doing my friend’s wedding, I didn’t anticipate the magnitude of it all.”

Following the pandemonium of the royal wedding, the beauty guru says he tries “to approach things in a more grounded way.”

“I know the ramifications and how things spiral out of control out of nothing,” he continues. At the end of the day, “it’s only makeup.”

One of Martin’s favourite “behind the scenes” jobs is award show and red carpet beauty; “red carpet is where a lot of the creativity happens,” he says. When I asked Martin to name a red carpet look he is proud of, he recalls Ali Wong at the 2024 Golden Globes.

“Ali can’t see without her glasses,” Martin explains, so it was “really interesting” to do her makeup in such a way that it would still show through her glasses on camera. She wore a Dior gown and chose frames to go with the dress. The gown, together with her glasses, became a “major red carpet moment.”

Have you ever wondered what the world’s most interesting, successful and talented people are adding to their shopping carts? Yahoo Canada’s new series, Add to Cart, is exploring just that. From the supplement regime of professional athletes to supermodel-approved skincare, this is what celebrities actually spend their money on.

From the Tatcha beauty product Meghan Markle has “in every bag” to the $3 dish detergent Martin swears by for cleaning decades-old makeup brushes, here are five things Daniel Martin is Adding to Cart.

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