Man gives elderly mom a glamorous look to lift her spirits after her son passes away
— -- Makeup artist Tim Quinn has worked with Glenn Close, Diane Lane and even Megan Fox. But now he's getting tons of attention not because of his celebrity clients, but due to the sentimental reason he's dolling up his mother.
Quinn told ABC News he's been doing his mother Christine's makeup off and on for years. But the Boca Raton, Florida, man began doing it weekly -- and sometimes daily -- after his brother, Michael, passed away in 2015 from alcoholism. He was 38.
It was the third child his mother and his father, Andrew, had lost of their seven children. His two older sisters passed away in the 60s, Quinn noted.
"I saw it bringing about the sadness in her," Quinn said. "Especially for his memorial and ... sometimes you have to put your best face forward so I kind of glammed her up."
Quinn, 50, said he noticed not only how his mother's spirit transformed, but how others treated her differently.
"She really came back alive. I saw the therapeutic benefit of it, to be honest," he added.
Quinn himself can relate. He's a cancer survivor, having battled testicular cancer in 2007. He's been in remission for nine years.
"I've seen it firsthand. When I was sick and had cancer, I didn't look like myself," he explained. "People treat you differently and it's unfortunate but that's just the way it is."
For two years, Quinn has even let friends, family and perfect strangers in on his mother's makeup sessions, livestreaming them on Facebook.
The man who helped launch Giorgio Armani's cosmetic line 16 years ago said he was surprised to even find out industry clients and friends tuned in. Even the nurses at Whitehall Boca, a nursing and rehabilitation facility, where his mother lives, come into her room at times to watch him work.
"Everybody gets the story because everyone has a mother," he rationalized.
Quinn said it's the least he can do for his 77-year-old mother.
"I was very fortunate that I grew up in a family that was together and still is," he said. "I go and try to bring the joy when I can. Makeup brings everyone alive."
