Eric Sakas has released "Saving Face," a $17 debut novel inspired by his nearly ten years with legendary makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin, available on Amazon since September 28.

Sakas shared a life and career with Aucoin, who died in 2002. He frames the book as fiction drawn from a world he knows. "I wrote Saving Face as a love letter to Kevyn and to all the makeup artists who devote their lives to their artistry," Sakas says. "I wanted to celebrate the people behind the famous faces, whose own stories are rarely told."

The novel follows Derrick Sands, a small-town Texan who moves to New York with his best friend, Scottie, and a pair of battered makeup kits. Derrick carries a photo of Aucoin in his wallet. He is drawn into the orbit of Lena Zembericos, a singer, actress and fashion icon on the verge of a comeback. The life he dreamed of begins to feel within reach. But being needed starts to feel like being loved.

What took the story so long?

Sakas has carried these characters for more than 20 years. "When Kevyn passed away in 2002, a few years after, I really reflected on my time that I spent with him," he says. "I wanted to tell a story about behind the scenes with my experience in the beauty and fashion world, but I wanted to tell it in a way that had glimpses of the truth but was not really the truth."

He first pitched the concept as television. Around 2006 or 2007, a devoted "Sex and the City" fan, he took the idea of a working makeup artist in New York to creator Darren Star, who Sakas says loved the idea. A pilot was written. It did not move forward. "I've had these characters in my mind for the past 20 years," Sakas says. "They're really an amalgamation of people that were in my life, people that I've worked with, people that I've known."

Fiction lets him tell Aucoin's story without quite telling it. "This was a way to tell their story without telling Kevyn's story, but telling Kevyn's story," he says. He has written the real one. He is not ready to share it. "Being that close to Kevyn and his story still has a lot of love and pain, and I'm working through those issues…even this long after he's gone from this world."

How does social media change the artist's trade?

Sakas is blunt about what Aucoin would make of today's platforms. "He'd be an empire! He'd be the next Condé Nast, really," he says. "He would tell the story and his world from a real point of view that was truthful and honest, and take the viewer behind the scenes."

For six months, Sakas has been posting from his deep archive of Aucoin's photos and videos to @ericsakas. The footage includes Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Cher and Gwyneth Paltrow. "People reach out and say, 'Thank you for sharing this. Thank you for keeping his legacy alive,'" he says. "Some were part of that world, and some say, 'I wasn't a part of that world, but he really inspired me.'"

A younger generation finds Aucoin through his books and through other artists, Sakas says. He points to Mario Dedivanovic (Makeup By Mario), who credits Aucoin as the source of the contouring technique he learned. "It always makes me smile, and I just think, 'Wow, Kevyn is still out there inspiring people,'" Sakas says.

The economics of the craft have shifted. "When Kevyn was around, he was commanding a rate of $5,000 a day," Sakas recalls. "I'd find it hard to find an artist in this industry who commands that kind of day rate today." He attributes much of the change to social media. "It's much more democratic in terms of giving younger artists a chance to get a career in makeup artistry," he says, though there are "so many artists that are really, really good today, so few celebrities to go around." Some artists now hear from publicists asking them to lower their rates, even though the celebrity's own rate hasn't changed. Still, he sees the upside. "A lot of them have created their own businesses, which is also very encouraging."

What comes next?

Sakas is at work on a second book that takes Derrick to Los Angeles, with a third likely returning him to New York. "It's really his journey as an artist," he says. He hopes to turn the project into "some type of series or streaming, something to bring the characters to life." He also wants a physical home for Aucoin's work. "I have an archive of his materials that I'd love to, someday, find a place to show his work and honor his legacy in a bigger way."

The message he hopes readers take: "The message of being true to yourself is something Kevyn always talked about, and certainly I've learned from him," Sakas says. "A lot of times people look for fulfillment outside themselves, but then eventually come back to [themselves] to get that fulfillment."