Inciting conversation about the late, great makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin rustles emotions over a decade in the making. “I loved him as a person and a talent,” Barbra Streisand told VIOLET GREY. “He was a trailblazer,” adds Nicole Kidman. Amber Valletta shares the same sentiment: “I feel honored to have had his big, gentle hands on my face and be touched by his generous spirit,” she says about the warmhearted artist who, at 6 feet 4 inches, towered over even the lankiest supermodels.

One could argue that Kevyn was the most influential makeup artist to grace the glossy magazines, and the Hollywood personalities who filled their pages, with his wide range of talents. He had both an uncanny ability to capture his clients’ unique beauty, and the skills to transform them, dramatically, into someone else entirely. Once they discovered the genuine, caring personality behind his talents, each of his clients (Cindy Crawford, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Liza Minnelli, Julia Roberts, and Gwyneth Paltrow) became a lifelong friend.

Kevyn was born and raised in rural Louisiana, a particularly inhospitable place for a gay man in the 1960’s whose talent and passion for makeup became clear long before he entered middle school. It could be said that those years shaped his unwavering compassion, acceptance and kindness toward everyone he met, whether they were a star or not. “Kevyn gave me a place to belong. I think that’s what he did for everyone. He gave everyone a safe place to be their true selves,” says Troy Surratt, a now in-demand makeup artist who assisted Kevyn for three years before the artist’s untimely passing in 2002. His legacy lives on in the form of a namesake cosmetics line established in 2001, Kevyn Aucoin Beauty, three iconic beauty books, and countless memories and photos.

To celebrate his life, VIOLET GREY inquired about Kevyn, asking his former clients, assistants, and peers to speak to the late artist’s impact on the industry and share their fondest memories. Tidbits from those conversations, and personal photos, below.