About King Jay

Hi,

I'm Jay Creech, owner and creator of King Jay Cosmetics. 

The story of King Jay Cosmetics, how it came to be and what I want to do is my own personal story. 

As a child I faced a lot of hardship. I'm gay and I grew up in a Roman Catholic household. I also endured trauma from sexual, emotional and physical abuse by family members. This caused a lot of tension between my family and I. One night when I was 15, I had enough. My parents and I got into a massive fight. Family pressure and legal issues made it impossible for me to live at home. 

The next 3 years I bounced between relatives houses in Albuquerque, couch surfing in Colorado and New York, to living out of my van essentially homeless the day I turned 18. These years were the worst years of my life. I experienced a lot of pain that culminated a suicide attempt at 16.  Honestly, I could ramble on about that period of my life, but in simple terms, it was my rock bottom. However, one good thing came during that time. I discovered cosmetics. 

I remember it vividly. I was 16 at the time. This was maybe 5 months after my suicide attempt. I was depressed, living with my aunt and had no future plans. I was watching an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race. A friend had recommended it and since then I had been binge watching it.  In one of the episodes, one of the drag queens gave advice to anyone who wanted to try makeup. She said to do it in your room until you’re confident enough to wear it outside (now, months before this, I had been watching makeup videos on YouTube and had wanted to try it on myself). So, I instantly dropped everything I was doing and drove to the closest CVS pharmacy and bought a full face of skincare and makeup products. For 5 hours I worked on my first drag makeup look, referencing YouTube every step of the way. I remember walking into my bathroom at midnight, looking into the mirror, and thinking “I love it!” My brows and eye shadow made me look like Doris the evil stepsister from Shrek, but I was living the fantasy. It was at that moment I realized I had found something that made me feel like I was worthy of the life I was given.

I dove deep into learning everything I could about cosmetics. That lead me to start a skincare routine. I used it to find security within myself. To feel good inside and out. It was something I could do every day entirely for me. Even during my homeless period, I would go to the gym to use their showers every morning before work. Afterwards, I would do my skincare routine. It was the one moment of the day that I could focus on me feeling good rather than the chaos that surrounded me. When I put on moisturizer in the morning, I am suspended in the moment not thinking about anything but how the product smells, feel, looks, and nourishes my skin. My skin care routine has been my primary tool to learn how to be my own biggest advocate, no matter how hard things get. 

Today, I made King Jay Cosmetics to share this feeling with the world. It's even in the name. King Jay is meant to make you feel like royalty, confident about yourself, the owner of your own world, like it has for me. I want to grow an inclusive brand that will stand for more than just cosmetics. Eventually I want to work with non profits organizations to improve mental health services, LGBTQ+ rights, and more using my brand as a platform to act as a fundraiser. I invite you can join me in this journey!

Love,

Jay Creech