look-alike makeups: Kevyn Aucoin Making Faces

Kevyn Aucoin photoshoot

Kevyn Aucoin (February—2002) was an American makeup artist and photographer.

He worked with hundreds of A-list celebrities like Cher, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lisa Marie Presley, Courtney Love and Vanessa L. Williams. He became a highly in-demand makeup artist, often earning $10,000 per session for photo shoots or award shows.

He began publishing his work in books: The Art of Makeup, Making Faces, and Face Forward, two of which became Time magazine best sellers. The books featured celebrities, as well as everyday men and women, including his mother, in makeup and costume designed to make them look like other celebrities or historical figures. He transformed Tori Amos into Mary, Queen of Scots, Celine Dion into Maria Callas, Lisa Marie Presley into Marilyn Monroe, Christina Ricci into Édith Piaf, Hilary Swank into Raquel Welch, Winona Ryder into Elizabeth Taylor, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins into Josephine Baker and Martha Stewart into Veronica Lake, among others.

Kevyn Aucoin appeared on Good Morning America and Oprah. He also appeared as himself in an episode of Sex and the City doing Carrie Bradshaw’s makeup for a fashion show during New York Fashion Week.

The makeup

Kevyn Aucoin transformed Courtney Love into a 1930s starlet based on Jean Harlow and Constance Bennett in Making Faces.