Kevyn Aucoin

Kevyn Aucoin was an American Celebrity Makeup artist, who grew up in Louisiana with his adoptive parents, Isodore Adrian Aucoin and Thelma Suzanne Melancon. He was brought up alongside his three other adoptive siblings, all adopted through the Catholic Charities of Alexandra, Louisiana. From a young age, he was interested in makeup, and would sit for hours applying his sisters makeup, and taking pictures on his polaroid, a thing he would do for years to come. At the age of 6, Aucoin realised he was gay, and would regularly be bullied, and would suffer abuse from teachers and classmates. It was difficult for his Catholic parents to accept this aspect of Aucoins life. He was nervous of buying makeup in shops, and opted to shoplift, until he became terrified of being caught. He dropped out of school due to the bullying because of his sexuality, and enrolled in a beauty school, but ended up teaching the class. He worked on a makeup counter at the age of 18, and for $30 would do a lady's makeup, but because of his gender, many women refused. He moved to Baton Rouge in Louisiana, and whilst looking at the new makeup alongside his male friends, was approached by a security guard and taken upstairs to the office to be beaten, all due to his sexuality, and being a man meant that he couldn't look at makeup. He began to fear for his life, and moved far away to New York, in hope to start his career as a makeup artist. In 1893, without a resume, he had a chance meeting with Vogue, where his fate was sealed. He worked with photographer Steven Miesel every day for a year and a half, when his career took flight. His shoot with Cindy Crawford took the spotlight, and from then was earning up to $6,000 a session. He has subsequently worked alongside Cher, Gwyneth Paltrow and Janet Jackson. He published books including Face Forward, The Art of Makeup and Making Faces, where he used everyday people as well as celebrities to show his techniques. His legacy is continued in his makeup brand, after his untimely passing in 2002. He is believed to have set the standard for makeup artistry across the world.
(Unknown author, 'About Kevyn Aucoin' (online), [viewed 07/11/2014], available from:http://kevynaucoin.com/the-brand)
(Wikipedia, Last updatd Septmeber 24th, 2014, 'Kevyn Aucoin' (online), [viewed 07/11/2014], available on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevyn_Aucoin)

Kevyn Aucoin and Janet Jackson
http://kevynaucoin.com/the-brand