Meet Darius McKiver | Makeup Artist, Enthusiast & Content Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Darius McKiver and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Darius, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind my success is the idea of authenticity when when it comes to representation in beauty. As a black gay makeup artist and enthusiast, I’ve always made it a point to speak up for people like me in the beauty industry, even from the beginning of my career. I specifically worked with brands that wanted to see black queer men and other marginalized people in beauty while also not being afraid to actively speak against the brands that didn’t. As my platform grew, I made it a point to continue to make space for other creators like me coming up so that they didn’t have to face the struggles I and so many of my peers did.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a creative, my style is a mix of avant-garde and wearable glam, with influences coming from anything from nature, pop culture and animation. I also have a big love for astrology, astronomy and the unknown, so a lot of my higher concept draw from that. As a black creative I’m always looking for ways to stand out from the type of art that is “expected”, so I made it a point to push my art past these limits while also using my voice and platform to be vocal about the changes needed in this industry. The use of my voice lead to one of the biggest moments in my career, creating the Dusk to Dawn face palette collection in collaboration with Midas Cosmetics. This 4 palette collection featured highlighters, blushes, bronzers and contours that worked from light the deeply rich skin tones, and got the stamp of approval from many top makeup creators like Jackie Aina and Nyma Tang. It also gave me a lot of push for my message of inclusion in the beauty space, and while it has been challenging having to go against popular brands, owners and content creators who opposed what I stood for, it helped to make it obviously that what I stood for was important and that I would do whatever it takes to make those much needed changes a reality.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my friend was visiting for a week long trip, I would take them on a “tour” of North Carolina and show them what I consider the 4 areas of the state: The tourist beaches on the coast and sounds, the the quiet and more rural areas that I grew up in, the busier areas that the state is known for (like Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, and Charlotte), and the mountain ranges of the west. North Carolina has a lot of variety and has a little bit to offer everyone, so a statewide tour is a great way to not only explore the state but to also get a sense of the many places that I grew up in and helped to shape me.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
If there is any person I could give a shout out to, it’s Jackie Aina. She’s taught me so much about the beauty industry and content creation openly through her channel and as a mentor. She initiated the challenge for me to take my career seriously as a creator. She’s given me so many opportunities to grow and succeed with my platform, from introducing me to different brands and owners, to promoting my collab on her channel, to flying me out to my first brand launch. Jackie has been so instrumental to my success and I will forever be in her debt.

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