By Renée Tse
Where does one even start when it comes to Daniel Martin and his stacked resume? In addition to doing Meghan Markle’s wedding day makeup for her 2018 nuptials with Prince Harry, the New York-based makeup artist is the go-to for stars like Elisabeth Moss, Michelle Yeoh and Jessica Alba. He’s also collaborated with brands like Proenza Schouler, Dior and Honest Beauty. In June 2020, Martin landed his dream gig as the global director of artistry and education of his favourite brand, Tatcha and became the first Asian American to take on the prestigious position at a beauty brand (for the record, that’s a very big deal).
“My grandmother was the one that inspired me to get into makeup,” says Martin, whose father is French and mother is Vietnamese. “I used to watch her get ready. She never left the house without a lip and she would go to the salon every week to set her hair.” Martin loved going to the salon to watch her, and would steal her Avon catalogues, so he could copy the lips and the face charts. “She would save them for me and I would just draw them or colour them with my tin can of crayons. I think she definitely knew that I was a big queen back then.”
We had the opportunity to chat with the busy celebrity makeup artist via Zoom about all things travel, from the number one place he’d like to travel with his husband, to the life-changing eyeliner he stumbled upon during a trip to Marrakech with Dior.
You’re the global director of artistry and education at a Japanese-inspired beauty brand. What is your first memory of Japanese beauty?
“When my parents split up [Martin was 12 at the time], my father remarried a Korean woman, so she was my introduction to J-beauty. When we lived in Seoul, my stepmother only used Japanese beauty brands like Shiseido. And then my step-sisters had all these toners and moisturizers. I remember getting pissed off at them because they would spend so much time in the bathroom putting this stuff on their face. At the time, I was so much about my hair and my skin was a hot mess.”
Are there any skincare tips you’ve learned from Tatcha since joining the brand?
“So much of it is understanding the heritage of the Asian beauty rituals. With Asian beauty, the ingredients and rituals have been time-tested for centuries and that’s what makes J-Beauty so special. For me, it’s about celebrating and sharing why they’re so important—everything has a reason and purpose. The brand also fixed my bad skin. I grew up with cystic acne and have reactive sensitive skin. I also love how it performs under makeup.”
What’s the first place you would travel to once travel safely resumes?
“[My husband] turned 50 this year and we wanted to celebrate in Spain, but we couldn’t because of COVID. Before we went into lockdown, I was in Madrid with Elizabeth Moss who was doing press for Invisible Man. I fell in love with Madrid and want to go back with him. Spain has these incredible mercados, which are markets where you cant go eat and find all this cool stuff. I love finding salts from different countries because they’re always infused with something. The last time I was there, I found this charcoal salt and it was this incredible smoky salt. Madrid has cool vintage stores so you can find some really great finds there, too.”
What’s your fave city to shop for beauty? Do you have any go-to stores?
“Beauty-wise, I always go to Paris’s theatrical makeup stores. There’s Paris Berlin and also Plein Fard, which has been a theatrical makeup store in Paris forever. I love shopping for theatrical makeup because they’re so pigmented. Paris also has bespoke fragrance stores, which are always fun.”
What’s a beauty product you discovered during your travels?
“I was in Marrakech for Dior’s Resort 2020 show with Jessica Alba. It was her birthday, so we had this opportunity to go to the souks after the show. I found the most incredible kajal liner at one stand. It was bullet-sized and super-small. We thought [the lady] was making some calligraphy pencils, but they were eyeliners. I was like, ‘What? Well, let me buy some.’ It’s straight-up wax, kohl and with a preservative in there, but after six months you can’t use it because it was just so clean. It just slid on the lid, hardened like a wax, and was just the most beautiful eyeliner. I wanted to buy more, but she explained that if you didn’t use it within six months, it would start to mold and you would waste the product.”
What kind of packer are you when you travel?
“For work, I’m a minimalist. I try to have products in my makeup kit that are multi-purpose, so I’m not lugging too much to a job. Personally, I end up bringing a lot of masks and treatments. I spend a lot of time sitting in a hotel, so I might as well do something. I have two small bags with face masks, clay masks, scrub masks that I always keep in the suitcase. I never take it out so that I know that it’s there.”
What are your beauty tips on how to take care of your skin when travelling?
“Recently, I’ve been using the new Hadasei-3 Essence on the plane. I’ll put it in a little spray bottle and use it to refresh my skin. I keep it in my backpack and my kit. People don’t realize you shouldn’t wear face oil on the plane. A lot of people think they’re getting hydration from oil, but it’s not giving you hydration—it’s just sitting on your face. Whereas the essence folds into the skin. The Dewy Serum is also always in my kit because it’s great before and after a flight. I try to keep the Luminous Dewy Skin masks with me too because so much of what happens to your skin on the plane is about lost moisture, so you want to replenish that as soon as you can.”
On Daniel Martin’s beauty top shelf:
M-61 PowerGlow Peel
“I just started using these incredible cleansing peel pads and I’m obsessed with it because they’re each individually packed. It’s gentle enough on my skin where I know I’m not going to have a reaction.”
B3 Beauty Wand
“It’s this 3-in-1 device that has a galvanic microcurrent. It vibrates and then also warms up, so it’s this really cool device. If you’re doing a mask you can run this over the mask or use it during your cleanse or after your cleanse. It helps you get a little bit deeper into your skin than you would just using your fingers.”
111 Skin Clarity Beauty Dose
“These supplements have actually been helping my skin. It’s been dealing with all the maskne I was getting. I believe there’s a pre and probiotic in there, but there’s also other ingredients that’s kind of been helping out my skin.”
