I found out about the death of Kevyn Aucoin the old-fashioned way—by reading the newspaper. Not really news any more, since it happened May 7, but it took me aback anyway, probably because he was only 40.

As a beauty consumer, the celebrity side of Aucoin’s writing wasn’t much use to me (Tori Amos has 37 looks? Great! I only need one halfway decent one, please). His columns for Allure (not available online) never seemed to be the product of much thought, as they usually consisted of photos of him with various celebrities.

A quick obit scan shows that, indeed, he is mainly remembered for his work with celebrities, many of whom were immortalized in his popular makeup and photo coffeetable books. He’s less known in the mainstream for his work as a gay rights activist, including supporting the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a non-profit supporting the rights of gay teenagers.

The makeup artist boards remain abuzz, although I haven’t seen much discussion elsewhere. As one poster put it, maybe he’s in heaven now giving Janis Joplin that much-needed makeover.