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November 10 marked two very special royal occasions: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their first red-carpet appearance in a year at the Annual Salute To Freedom Gala, held in New York City's Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum — and Markle did so in colorful eye makeup, a rarity on the Duchess.
Markle paired her bright purple cat-eye, dewy complexion, and strong eyebrows with an even brighter and bolder red gown. The look was accomplished by her right-hand makeup artist, Daniel Martin, who gave Allure the full breakdown of how the look was created.
"With her hair pulled up, I wanted to kind of pull everything back," he explains. The week prior to the event, he attended The Makeup Show, an exhibition where Martin was introduced to a lot of BIPOC-, women-, and LGBTQ+-owned brands that he ended up using for Markle's gala look. "What I was excited about was that I was able to introduce Meghan to these brands that she had never heard of."
After prepping her face with Tatcha skin-care products, Martin created Markle's base with his go-to foundation for the Duchess: Dior Backstage Face & Body Foundation. "I don't use foundation all over her face, so it's really important for me to get her skin to a good place so that any redness and unevenness I can correct with just a bit of foundation — that's usually more full coverage — that I can sheer out," Martin explains. "I just spot-treat all over her face."
To create an almost wet-looking glow on the high points of her face, Martin skipped on the liquid highlighter and opted for an old-school makeup technique instead: mixing a cream base (Tatcha's The Serum Stick) with a powder highlighter (shades from Danessa Myricks's Lightwork Palette Volume III) to create a custom formula.
Olivia Palermo Beauty Matte Lipstick in Rosebud is responsible for the soft pink hue of Markle's lips, and her strong, sharp eyebrow arches are due to a new favorite indie Black-owned brand of Martin's: Lamik Beauty Revelation Brow Duo. "It's the perfect color for Meghan, and I actually like to use it as a liner, too," Martin explains.
Then comes the part you all clicked on the headline for: those purple eyeliner wings, an intriguing pair for a red dress. "I've always loved purple and red together — that combination to me is beautiful, so I wanted to play on that but still give you that shaping without it being too deep," Martin says. In other words, he wanted to present a twist on Markle's staple look without going too extreme.
To create that purple cat-eye, Martin used another shade from the Danessa Myricks Lightwork Palette Volume III, Aurora, with a wet brush (he didn't name the specific brush, but we can only assume it was a sharp detailing brush like Morphe's Pointed Liner Brush). He topped off the look with Byredo Waterproof Mascara, which Martin "has been obsessed with," and a pair of false lashes that he cut up and stacked on the lash line for a more fluttery look.
When asked if Martin had been long-term itching to put some bright colors on the Duchess of Sussex, Martin laughs, "yes, yes, and yes." Though he says it took a little convincing to get Meghan to agree to a more colorful makeup look, it certainly paid off. "The color purple does something to her eye color," he concludes. "You don't necessarily see the color itself, but you see how bright her eye looks, and that's what I wanted to do."
More on eye makeup:
- Eye-Shadow Tips Makeup Artists Want You to Know
- The 29 Best Eye Shadow Palettes of All Time
- 11 Ways to Make Your Eyes Look Bigger
Now, see how eye makeup has evolved within the past 100 years:
