Mills did not want to be known as a ' Black makeup artist.' In 1983, he told Shop-talk magazine, 'When you say, 'I want to be the top makeup artist,' that’s okay. Barry Weinbaum, who was a creative director at Avon and a close friend, describes Mills as 'a booster shot of confidence. 'You'd never have thought that those big hands could glide across your face so smoothly,' the model Kelly LeBrock says.
'He was very caring about the girls.' Thomas remembers breaking her ankle while rollerskating (a very '70s thing to do), and how Mills booked a limousine to take her to and from the hospital. ' this guy with great, big arms, and it's funny to think about how gentle his touch was,' says hairstylist Maury Hobson, who often worked with Mills. If I got down, his famous line was, 'Get over it, girl, and get attitude!''īehind the braggadocio was a real sweetness too. 'When he set his goals, he met his goals. 'He was charismatic he had a strong personality,' Thomas says. 'Me!'įriends describe Mills as a bit of a diva, but only because he knew that he could deliver. 'And you know who always won?' Mills told Make-Up Artist. This kicked off a ritual he and his supermodel friends, Kim Alexis and Paulina Porizkova, would repeat together: going to newsstands and counting the number of covers they each had. Everyone wanted to book Mills, it seemed, and his work often appeared in several competing publications in the same month.
