Abandoned by her parents when she was a baby because of her visual handicap, South Korean Yoo Ye Eun quickly shot to fame when

she first appeared on South Korean national television with her piano recital.

Only five years old then, her performance touched millions when her performance later made its rounds on YouTube. Her adoptive parents found out that she had a special gift - without any formal training, she could play a piece of music perfectly after listening to it.

When she was asked what was the one thing she wanted in life, she replied without hesitation: “make-up and lipstick.”

It was Yoo Ye Eun’s story that inspired beauty giant L’Oreal to make beauty accessible to everyone, including the handicapped.

For its 100th anniversary, the brand partnered with Lighthouse School (formerly the Singapore School of the Visually Handicapped) and the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH), to initiate the Touching Colours project, a course of workshops on grooming for the visually handicapped.

Mr. Christopher Neo, Managing Director, L’Oreal Singapore, said: “L’Oréal Singapore chose to embark on a long-term community project that imparts independent life skills in the area of personal grooming to the visually impaired, thereby facilitating the building of self-esteem and confidence among vulnerable individuals."

Beauty experts from L'Oreal have trained the Special Education Teachers from the Lighthouse School to impart basic grooming skills to the Touching Colours participants.

During the workshops, participants will be taught skills in different modules such as customised skin care, make-up, hair care and hair styling workshops.

The brand will also Sponsor workshop kits, which include a grooming journal in Braille, for the participants.

A spokesman for L’Oreal says they aim to reach out to as many individuals as possible during this project. Besides workshops,

They will also be raising funds for Lighthouse School and SAVH. About $40,000 has been raised so far.