Laura Mercier

Laura Mercier
Born	Arles, France
Nationality	French
Other names	Michèle Mercier
Occupation	Makeup artist
Known for	Makeup, photoshoots

Laura Mercier is a French makeup artist and businesswoman.

Laura Mercier was born Michèle Mercier in Arles, France, the youngest of three daughters. At 16, she enrolled as art student at , a design school in Paris, to pursue painting and drawing. Mercier later enrolled at the Caritas Institute, a combination beauty school and salon in Paris, France. Following her graduation, Mercier worked as a makeup artist at the school and adopted the name "Laura" to avoid confusion with the actress Michèle Mercier, a client of the salon.

Mercier moved to New York City in 1985 to work as a makeup artist at the American edition of Elle magazine. Mercier was hired as Madonna's personal makeup artist, following a photo shoot featuring Madonna for Vogue magazine. Mercier also worked on campaigns for magazines and clients including The Gap and Chanel. Other celebrity clients for whom Mercier has worked with include Julia Roberts and Sarah Jessica Parker.

In 1996, Janet Gurwitch, the former Executive Vice President of Neiman Marcus, founded Laura Mercier Cosmetics with her partner, Gary Kusin. The company's philosophy focuses on what it calls the "flawless face", a concept that is allegedly derived from Mercier's promotion of natural-looking makeup. The company asserts that this idea guides the development and presentation of its products.

Mercier continues to work as a freelance makeup artist and is a published author. In 2006, she published The New Beauty Secrets: Your Ultimate Guide to a Flawless Face.

On March 23, 2014, she joined with Claudia Poccia for the ovarian cancer Awareness Month and donated some of her savings to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. In April 2014, she launched a new collection called New Attitude.

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