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This story was originally featured on Allure.com on July 21, 2014.
On USA's Suits, Meghan Markle plays smart, driven almost-lawyer Rachel Zane. In real life, the actress is a bit more laid-back. I spoke to her about her beauty routine, her new lifestyle website, and her travel must-haves.
What's your beauty routine?
"I play around. I love Jan Marini skin-care products. I've been using their serum lately. It's a nice glycolic one that makes your skin really glow-y. And I really love the Tatcha Rice Enzyme Powder. It just sort of foams on your face and gives you a really subtle exfoliation. I also use Revitalash on my eyelashes, and I swear they are as long as they could ever be."
What are your must-have makeup products?
"We've used the same things during the past few seasons on Suits, and it's been great to have access to these really cool products and see what works. I love Nars blush in Orgasm. I use it on and off camera because it gives you a nice glow from within. My favorite mascara is Diorshow Iconic, and then I love the Make Up For Ever HD Powder. It lets your skin look shiny and fresh, but not greasy-shiny."
How does your look differ from your character's?
"I am so much more low-key in real life. She's so polished. And it's in HD, so the steps that go into looking good on a show are very different than in real life. I don't wear foundation in real life. My routine is very simple — I call it the five-minute face. It's just Touche Éclat, curled lashes, mascara, Chap Stick, and a little bit of blush. That is my favorite kind of look. If I'm going to amp it up for night, then I use M.A.C. Teddy eyeliner, which is a really beautiful brown that has some gold in it. A makeup artist I work with often, Kayleen McAdams, turned me on to it. It's what she uses on Sofia Vergara, and who wouldn't want those gorgeous brown almond eyes?"
I love your lifestyle site, The Tig. Tell me about how you came up with it.
"The Tig has been sort of swirling in my mind for years as something I wanted to do. My mom was a travel agent, so off-the-beaten-path travel has always been a big part of my life. And growing up in California, farm-to-table dining was something that I experienced. I'm the person friends come to when they want to find the perfect restaurant or boutique hotel on the outskirts of Paris. As opposed to scouring the Internet for a travel guide, wouldn't you rather ask the people who are really cool who go there? That's what I do. So I wanted to get all of that and put it together on one site."
What does the name mean?
"It's named after a wine called Tignanello. I had a sip of it six years ago, and it was my first aha moment. You spend years going, 'Oh, I'll just have red or white. I don't really know what the difference is.' But then one day you take a sip of something and you're like, I get it. So the Tig became this personal idea of getting it — fashion, travel, beauty, all of it."
What are some of your favorite things featured on the site?
"My heart is really in the travel and food stuff. We have a feature called Chef Talks. We talk to a chef to understand why they conceive a plate the way that they do. It's the same thing with a fashion feature I'm doing called Anatomy of Design. It's about understanding a designer's mind for a collection. I love getting into people's brains and understanding the creative impetus for something. That's really the fun part of the site — figuring out the why of it all and being able to have another aha moment."
Given your love of travel and how often you travel for work, what's your best travel tip? What do you always bring with you?
"I can tell you the most honest answer because I literally got off of a plane yesterday after a five-hour flight and I leave tomorrow to go to Toronto. The one thing that I cannot live without when I'm traveling is a small container of tea tree oil. It's not the most glamorous thing, but if you get a cut, a mosquito bite, a small breakout, no matter what it is, it's my little cure-all. It's inexpensive, it's small enough to carry on, and I bring it with me all the time."
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