Meghan Markle's Makeup Bag Essentials, Ranked

For more than a decade, in front of more cameras than almost anyone alive, Meghan Markle has built a beauty routine on repetition rather than reinvention. Meghan Markle’s makeup bag is not a scattered pile of gifted samples; it is a small, repeated cast of favourites, each one tested long enough to earn its place, from a wedding day in May 2018 to a Netflix kitchen years later.

Several of those favourites already have their own chapter in this magazine: the Tatcha skincare she has named since 2014, the $12 drugstore balm doing a highlighter’s job, the no-makeup philosophy her longtime makeup artist Daniel Martin has spent years refining. Here, for the first time, they sit alongside the pieces that complete the picture: her wedding-day Dior, the blush kit from her Netflix series, and the nail polish that quietly broke with royal tradition.

This is the definitive ranking, from the products she appears to reach for daily to the one reserved for the most photographed day of her life.

1. Tatcha: the skincare loyalty that started it all

Everything else in this bag is built on top of Tatcha, which makes it the obvious place to start. In 2014, years before she was the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan told Allure she loved the brand’s Rice Enzyme Powder for the way it “foams on your face and gives you a really subtle exfoliation,” and named the Face Moisture Mask to Glamour the same year, unprompted answers from an actress with nothing to sell.

That loyalty resurfaced on her wedding day, when make-up artist Daniel Martin used “a lot of Tatcha” and Meghan chose the brand’s Dewy Skin Cream and Luminous Dewy Skin Mist for her bridal base. The relationship deepened further in June 2020, when Martin himself joined Tatcha as its first Global Director of Artistry and Education, working alongside founder Vicky Tsai.

It is a rare thing in celebrity beauty: an answer given before fame, that never needed updating. For the full decade-long story and the products themselves, see our companion pieces on Meghan’s Tatcha skincare from her Tig years and her wedding-day Tatcha edit.

2. Aquaphor Healing Ointment: the $12 trick behind the glow

If Tatcha is the foundation, Aquaphor is the finishing touch. It is also easily the most surprising item in the bag. Daniel Martin has spoken for years about reaching for the humble Eucerin healing balm, which costs around $12 for a standard tube, and pressing a small amount onto the high points of Meghan’s face: cheekbones, brow bone, nose bridge and cupid’s bow.

The effect mimics the sheen of well-moisturised skin rather than the shimmer of a traditional highlighter, and it is precisely the kind of skincare-first thinking that runs through this entire bag. It works because it is used with restraint, in exactly the right places, over skin that has already been properly prepped.

We have covered the full high-points technique, step by step, in our guide to Meghan’s $12 Aquaphor secret, including how to try it with whatever balm is already in your bathroom cabinet.

3. Dior Backstage: the wedding-day foundation and contour

For the base itself, Daniel Martin has confirmed he built Meghan’s most scrutinised look (her 2018 wedding day) almost entirely from one range: Dior Backstage. He used the Dior Backstage Face & Body Foundation and Backstage Concealer for a sheer, skin-like base, then reached for the brand’s Backstage Contour Palette and Backstage Rosy Glow Blush to sculpt and warm the face without ever looking heavy.

The contour palette in particular does quiet, clever work: a blendable set of cream shades designed to be pressed in with fingertips rather than swept on with a brush, so the definition reads as bone structure rather than make-up. Diorshow Pump ‘N’ Volume mascara and a Dior Lip Glow, layered with a MAC lip liner for definition, finished the look.

It is the most “occasion” entry in this ranking: not an everyday product, but the one that proves Martin’s less-is-more philosophy scales up beautifully for the biggest days, rather than being abandoned for them.

4. Anastasia Beverly Hills: the blush kit for warmth

Nearly five years after the wedding, Meghan’s beauty routine got a rare on-camera close-up in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, where Daniel Martin reached for an Anastasia Beverly Hills blush kit, a multi-shade palette designed to be layered for a gradient of warmth rather than a single flat flush. The brand sells several such sets, including a Gradient-toned edit built around warm browns and berries for a soft, sculpted cheek.

It marks a slight shift from the cream-first approach Martin favours elsewhere: a powder blush kit like this is chosen for buildable colour rather than a wet-look sheen, useful when a look needs to hold under studio lighting for hours at a time rather than a single red-carpet flash. Layering two or three shades from a single palette, rather than reaching for one flat blush, is the trick worth borrowing here: it reads as natural colour variation rather than a single stripe of pigment.

It is a smaller, more recent addition to the bag, but a telling one: even a decade on, Meghan’s team is still adding considered pieces rather than defaulting to whatever is newest.

5. The no-makeup technique: sheer base, cream colour, restraint

Products aside, the real engine behind this entire bag is a method, not an item. Daniel Martin has described Meghan’s brief in five words: “polished but not overdone.” In practice, that means foundation sheered out with moisturiser or a hydrating serum before it ever touches the skin, cream blush and bronzer favoured over powder almost everywhere, and colour pressed into the skin with a fingertip rather than swiped on with a brush.

It is this technique, more than any single product, that explains why the same handful of items keeps reappearing across a decade of appearances: the method is designed to let good skincare show through, which is precisely why Tatcha and Aquaphor sit at the top of this list rather than a heavier foundation.

We break down the full step-by-step method, including how Martin mixes the base and why he presses rather than swipes, in our guide to Meghan’s no-makeup makeup look.

6. Tom Ford: the cream contour and the one lipstick she always wears

For colour on the cheeks and lips, Martin has repeatedly named a single brand: Tom Ford. He has used the label’s cream contour to sculpt and warm Meghan’s face without the chalkiness a powder bronzer can bring, and for the lips he has favoured Tom Ford’s Iconic Nude, a soft, mauve-leaning pink that flatters rather than announces itself.

The consistency is the story here. Where many celebrity beauty routines rotate with each campaign or season, this pairing has held for years, cited across multiple interviews rather than a single press cycle. Martin has even joked that he would love to see Meghan try a bold lip one day, which rather proves the pared-back palette is her preference, not a limitation of what is in the kit.

It is the quietest entry on this list and, in many ways, the most tell-tale: the one splash of colour that never seems to change.

7. CND Shellac: the nail polish that broke royal tradition

While the British royal family has long favoured Essie for official portraits, Meghan’s wedding-day manicure, done at DryBy London, went a different way. Her nail artist applied one coat of CND Shellac in Unmasked, a pinky nude, followed by two coats of the sheer white Negligee over the top of her fingernails, with two coats of the warm taupe Cashmere Wrap on her toes.

The gel-based Shellac formula is cured under UV light and typically lasts up to two weeks without chipping, a practical choice for a day that involved a carriage procession, a reception, and rather a lot of hand-shaking. Notably, a bottle of the exact shade retails for around £13, making it one of the more accessible items in this entire ranking, wedding provenance included.

It is a small detail, but a revealing one: even on the most formal day of her public life, Meghan’s team chose durability and a soft, barely-there palette over anything showier.

Why the ranking keeps coming back to restraint

Line up all seven entries and a pattern appears that has nothing to do with price tag or prestige. The $12 balm sits comfortably alongside the couture-adjacent Dior kit because both are used the same way: sparingly, in the right place, in service of skin that has already been properly cared for. Nothing here is chosen to transform Meghan’s face. Every product is chosen to let it show through a little more clearly.

That is, in the end, the most useful thing to borrow from Meghan Markle’s makeup bag. It is not really a shopping list. It is a philosophy about restraint, applied consistently over a decade, that happens to have some very good products attached to it. Browse more of our Royal Style & Fashion stories for the beauty, wardrobe and grooming details behind the royals’ most memorable looks.

Frequently asked questions

What is in Meghan Markle’s makeup bag?

Her documented favourites include Tatcha skincare (the Dewy Skin Mist, Dewy Skin Cream and Rice Enzyme Powder), Aquaphor Healing Ointment used as a highlighter, Dior Backstage foundation and contour, an Anastasia Beverly Hills blush kit, Tom Ford cream contour and lipstick, and CND Shellac nail polish.

What is Meghan Markle’s most famous makeup product?

The most talked-about is arguably the $12 Aquaphor Healing Ointment, which her makeup artist Daniel Martin has used as a highlighter substitute for years, a detail beauty editors return to precisely because it is so inexpensive compared with the rest of her routine.

What foundation does Meghan Markle wear?

For her 2018 wedding, Daniel Martin used Dior Backstage Face & Body Foundation for a sheer, skin-like base, paired with the brand’s Backstage Concealer. He has also spoken more broadly about sheering out foundation with moisturiser for a lighter, more natural finish.

What nail polish did Meghan Markle wear at her wedding?

Her nail artist at DryBy London applied CND Shellac in Unmasked with two coats of Negligee over her fingernails, and two coats of Cashmere Wrap on her toes, a gel manicure designed to last through a full day of events without chipping.

Who does Meghan Markle’s makeup?

Daniel Martin, a celebrity makeup artist and longtime friend of Meghan’s, has done her make-up for well over a decade, including for her 2018 wedding, and has appeared in her Netflix series With Love, Meghan.

Does Meghan Markle wear a lot of makeup?

No. Her signature look is deliberately minimal. Daniel Martin’s guiding principle is “enhancing, not masking,” built on sheer foundation, cream colour applied sparingly, and skincare doing most of the visible work.

What lipstick does Meghan Markle wear?

Daniel Martin has repeatedly named Tom Ford’s Iconic Nude, a soft, mauve-leaning pink, as Meghan’s go-to lip colour, often paired with a lip liner for definition on more formal occasions.

What blush does Meghan Markle use?

She has been linked to cream blush formulas favoured by Daniel Martin for an everyday dewy flush, as well as an Anastasia Beverly Hills multi-shade blush kit used for a warmer, more sculpted look in her Netflix series Harry & Meghan.

This article draws on reporting and interviews published by Marie Claire, Grazia, Hello!, Refinery29, Stylist, Bustle, Allure, Glamour, the Breaking Beauty podcast, and Netflix’s* With Love, Meghan and Harry & Meghan*, alongside Court & Capital’s own reporting on Meghan Markle’s beauty routine. Product pricing is accurate as of September 2026 and may vary by retailer and region.