Reggie Wells, the Emmy-winning makeup artist who became Oprah Winfrey’s full-time personal makeup artist in 1990, died in Baltimore on January 8, 2024. He was 76. The Associated Press reported that his niece, Kristina Conner, said he died of natural causes.
How Reggie Wells and Oprah Winfrey began working together
According to The HistoryMakers, Wells first worked with Winfrey during an Essence cover shoot. He became her full-time personal makeup artist in 1990, a relationship that made him a familiar presence alongside the television host while also anchoring a career that reached far beyond one client.
Winfrey remembered him in a statement emailed to the Associated Press: “Reggie Wells was an artist who used his palette of talent to create beauty no matter the canvas.” She added, “He always made me feel beautiful.”
A career across magazines, entertainment and beauty
Wells moved to New York in 1976 and began working at department-store makeup counters, The HistoryMakers records. He went on to work for publications including Essence, O Magazine, Glamour, Time, Life, Harper’s Bazaar and Mademoiselle.
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His clients included Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, Halle Berry, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Leontyne Price, Joan Rivers and Michelle Obama, among others. The Associated Press also reported that Wells created a makeup line for Black women at a time when products for their skin tones were scarce.
His work on camera and his Daytime Emmy
On The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wells worked with lighting technicians to develop ways of highlighting darker skin on camera, according to The HistoryMakers. He also hosted a “Make-Up 101” segment and traveled internationally with Winfrey.
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Wells won the Daytime Emmy for outstanding makeup for The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1995. The Associated Press reported that he received five nominations and won once.
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Wells published Face Painting: African American Beauty Techniques from an Emmy Award-Winning Makeup Artist in 2000. The book reflected his work as both a practitioner and a teacher of makeup techniques for Black women.
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Later, he volunteered to give makeovers to senior residents in Baltimore and helped organize portrait sessions for them, The HistoryMakers says. His niece, Kristina Conner, told the Associated Press, “He was always so full of life.”
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