Make-up Heroes! Kevyn Aucoin!

Before I was doing make-up, as a photographer I always look for something that inspires me. One way to be inspired is I look at the photos created by famous photographers from different books and magazines. Since I can’t afford to buy new magazines, Booksale has been my go to – my haven, when I need to be inspired. Aside from the fact that old books and magazines (back issues) are already opened, there are some that are really cheap and I can finally afford them.

Images courtesy of http://www.refinery29.com/ and http://www.wornthrough.com and http://pinterest.com/Haute123/by-kevin-aucoin/

I used to live near Cubao, Quezon City and whenever I go home from work I always visit Booksale located in Shopwise Cubao. I am always excited whenever I get the chance to visit the shop and always hoping that there’ll be new books and magazines for me to browse and like enough to buy. And that has been almost my routine for the entire 5 years of my stay in the area.

“Creating make you feel like you are alive. When you are not creating you are not living. And I felt so alive when I was creating.”

I accumulated so many magazines that it almost reached the ceiling of my room and I have 4 columns of pile of these magazines. But I left most of the magazine when I left the place. That time I really had to moved out and I’ve only got limited time to transfer my stuff to where I live now because I can’t really afford transferring my entire stuff that time.

Images courtesy of http://filmexperience.blogspot.com and http://pinterest.com/Haute123/by-kevin-aucoin/

One of my favorite book that I got there was the book “FACE FORWARD” by Kevyn Aucoin. It was already old and has a coffee stain on the cover and some of the pages where already detached from the bone but it’s a good book (and really cheap) so I bought it. The reason I bought it is that I remembered browsing the book inside the shop and realized that Kevyn did the make-up of most of the photos that inspire me from the books and magazines that I saw. It made me realized that teamwork from different creative minds could create images that are really striking and timeless.

“If you wait your whole life for somebody else to tell you it’s ok to be you – you might wait forever.”

The book is about transforming a person into another person/character. And I was amazed how creative and good he really was. I also learned that he does photography and he photographed all the images shown inside the book.

Image courtesy of http://www.catwalkqueen.tv

Little did I know that Kevyn inspired me in such a way that I wanted to create images that inspire people just like how these images inspired me. The fact that I also paint gives me the idea that maybe I can also paint faces using make-up.

“Beauty is about perception, not about make-up. I think the beginning of all beauty is knowing and liking oneself. You can't put on make-up, or dress yourself, or do you hair with any sort of fun or joy if you're doing it from a position of correction.”

Maybe one of the reasons why I also like creating tutorials here on my blog is because of Kevyn and his book “FACE FORWARD”.

Image courtesy of http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/125889752053340577_6YTw1vXS_c.jpg

Then I search more about him and his body of work and learned that he’s really big in make-up and fashion world. He worked with legendary celebrities and photographers and with him they created unforgettable and iconic images. And people really like him and his work. Sadly he already passed away.

“Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.“

See my two favorite videos of and about Kevyn and I hope you’ll enjoy these videos too.

Kevyn's Interview

What they say about Kevyn

To know more about Kevin Aucoin visit his wiki page.