The Internet Is In Love With This Buddhist Monk Who’s Also A Makeup Artist

Being a makeup artist and a Buddhist monk might seem like two mutually exclusive career paths. But then, you haven't met Kodo Nishimura, a Tokyo-based, 26-year-old Buddhist monk — who also happens to moonlight as a makeup artist. And a very good one, at that. Nishimura earned his monk title in 2015 after years of training. His double life began after he “helped a friend with her makeup and saw how happy it made her,” he told BuzzFeed News. Since then, he's worked with familiar faces like Ashley Smith and Christina Milian, and has worked his magic behind the scenes at the Miss Universe pageant.

Monks and makeup artistry don’t generally go hand in hand (that we know of), and Nishimura told BuzzFeed News that he did experience a period of doubt about doing both. But ultimately, at his mentor’s urging, he decided to go for it. “It isn’t wrong if it helps you deliver your message to people,” Nishimura said. And deliver a message, he is: You can find his beauty transformations all over Instagram. We're feeling more zen already.