Meghan Markle’s make-up artist has just revealed his money-saving brush hack

Until I was 18, I had a very simple method for applying my foundation: pouring a splodge on my hands and rubbing it in with my fingertrips. But when I went to university and started getting ready with my friends, they were disgusted. From beauty blenders to full brush sets, they had more equipment for applying make-up than I had make-up altogether.

I quickly shuffled off to buy my first set of brushes, which came courtesy of Space NK and cost a pretty staggering £85. Since then, I’ve tried dozens of branded brushes, and while each set leaves a slightly different finish on my skin, they all have one common feature: they cost a fortune.

So when I saw Tatcha’s global artistic director Daniel Martin had shared his trick for finding brushes for a fraction of the price, I was ready to pay attention. After all, Daniel is responsible for enhancing the notoriously glowing complexions of Meghan Markle, Dakota Johnson and Nicola Coughlan – and you can bet anything good enough for them is good enough for me.

In an Instagram post shared with his 139,000 followers, Daniel revealed his go-to place for brushes is not, in fact a make-up retailer – it’s his local craft store. ‘When I started my career over 25 years ago,’ he explained, ‘I couldn’t afford a lot of make-up brushes. I was trying to build my kit, so I resorted to the art store for lots of my brushes.’

‘People don’t realise the brushes there that are made for painting and artistry are actually soft enough for your face.’ Daniel demonstrates this using a tack-long brush, which he says is perfect for concealer and foundation as it ‘lays down [product] beautifully on the skin’. A smaller detail brush, meanwhile, is ideal for applying eyeshadow because the slightly firmer bristles mean it picks up product better than a softer make-up brush.

There are plenty of other art store buys you’ll find in Daniel’s make-up bag. He uses watercolour paper as a makeshift palette because it doesn’t require any washing up (and it’s more glamorous than leaving spots of concealer on the edge of your sink), and recommends a collapsible paintbrush holder for storing your brushes.

A quick check shows Daniel is definitely onto something. A six-piece brush set from Cass Art will set you back £16.95, for example, while an incredibly similar one from Vieve is £100 (and has one less brush). Frankly, I’d rather spend the extra £85 on buying more make-up. Or on the YOU beauty advent calendar, which you can pick up here…