Meet the 1%

Michelle Obama's makeup artist costs up to $15,000 a day. It is reportedly a personal expense for the Obama's.

(Politico) — Two of the world’s most powerful women – Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey – share a make-up artist.

“The first lady comes first. When she doesn’t need him, I get second dibs,” Winfrey says in the Washington Post’s recent profile of Derrick Rutledge, who is described as “Obama’s main makeup artist.”

Rutledge, who traveled with singer Patti LaBelle for years, started working with the first lady “after Obama’s Chicago artist got tired of commuting to Washington” in 2009, according to the profile. When Winfrey saw the first lady’s look on the cover of Time magazine later that year, she sought out his services as well.

So Rutledge, who can make as much as $15,000 a day, juggles both big-name clients in addition to the other stars he beautifies. An East Wing aide told POLITICO that his make-up services are a “personal expense” for Obama.