The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Ceremony, St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. REX
She may have been the bride in the wedding of the year, but the Duchess of Sussex is a remarkably cool customer when it comes to beauty, according to her make-up artist Daniel Martin.
The Duchess of Sussex has cemented her go-to royal makeup look as glowy skin, softly smoky eyes and a nude-pink lip. And, says make-up artist Daniel Martin, who was responsible for her luminous look at the royal wedding, there was never any debate over whether she’d stick to her pared-back aesthetic on the big day. A red lip? No chance.
“Not at all because I just know her and there was no way. The last thing I wanted Harry to look at was her makeup, I wanted him to see her,” he told us. “They’re so affectionate and the last thing I’d want to do is prevent that happening because she has a red lip on. It’s almost like a stop sign!”
In fact, Meghan’s approach to make-up was so pared-back that some royal wedding viewers even questioned whether she was wearing foundation (surely always the goal, to look natural, yet flawless?).
“I mean it was interesting because I did get dragged on my Instagram about not using enough makeup on her, but I think what a lot of people don’t think about is because she was a working actress and she did red carpet in her career, she wanted her wedding day to be about her,” Martin revealed to us. “I think on her wedding day she just wanted to be herself.”
Photo: Getty
Martin and Meghan have known each other for years, with the makeup artist and Dior ambassador having worked with her on her beauty looks for the red carpet and in editorial work many times during her career as an actress. Fortunate, then, that he knows her style, since the two didn’t actually find the time to have a proper makeup test ahead of the big day.
“When she asked me in December I knew I was going to be in Paris for Dior in March so I was like, ‘I’m going to get the train in and we can do your makeup test then and then we’ll catch up’. But then the day I came into London it was snowing so I was late seeing her because of the train delays, and when I saw her we just wouldn’t shut up, so then I was like, ‘oh I need to catch the train back to Paris!’” A worst nightmare for many brides, but Meghan took it in her stride.
“I showed her some pictures on my phone and she was like, ‘OK, great’. So that was the extent of our makeup trial! It was crazy. But because we’ve known each other for so long and I knew exactly what she wanted, it was kind of a no-brainer the day of,” he revealed. “The unnerving part though was that I didn’t know who was doing her hair or her dress ‘til that morning. She obviously knew, so she was like, ‘you’re going to be fine!’ I would ask her questions and she’d shoot me an emoji back, so I was like, ‘OK I think I’m going to have to wing it!’ But it all worked out.”
The Duchess’s look for her evening reception was more relaxed, seeing her swap her sweeping Givenchy gown for a slinky Stella McCartney number and calling upon George Northwood to create a tousled up-do for the night. Makeup wise, a few simple tweaks were enough to offset her golden glow.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House, hosted by the Prince of Wales on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England. Getty
“What’s funny is that even throughout the procession she wound up getting a bit of color. Even after just an hour in the carriage she came back and I was like, ‘oh my god you got some sun!’ So I gave her more of a sun-kissed look with a bit more drama in the eye. We pumped it up a bit,” he explained. “We wanted it to be simple, chic and not fussy because she was going to be eating and drinking that night. The last thing you want to worry about is putting on your lip gloss.”
Frankly, it sounds more chilled-out than a lot of regular weddings – most of us probably have a cousin or friend who has demanded more from those around her on the morning of her wedding.
“The work was done and this was all about having some fun and George [Northwood] was so sweet and it was just like hanging out with old friends,” said Martin of prepping for Meghan’s evening look after the ceremony. “The whole day was just very easy… we didn’t have our phones so we didn’t know what everyone was saying outside. We were in our own little bubble. It went by so fast.”
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This article first appeared on Vogue.co.uk
