The founder of a billion-dollar beauty empire who became a priest has said his “soul was in hell” before encountering Christ.

Scott-Vincent Borba, 52, founded e.l.f (eyes, lips, face) in 2004 alongside Joseph Shamah. This year, he announced his conversion to Catholicism and ordination into the priesthood.

His work as a celebrity makeup artist saw him linked to A-listers such as Demi Moore, with parties in the Hollywood Hills.

It was during one such party that Borba said he felt a moment of “enlightenment”.

"I had a party, and I was so void of love and happiness," Borba told the Today show. "I told myself, 'If this is what God created me for, to be a hedonist, then why did he create me? Why did he create the human race?'"

Borba said he felt St Michael "come into the room and suspend time". 

"In that moment, God showed me that actually my soul was in hell. I was living in hell already because of the decisions I had made," he explained. "I thought I was a good person, but being a good person isn't enough. God's love and mercy can change anyone." 

Borba described driving to a meeting with his vocation director in a Maserati. The shock on his spiritual mentor's face made him realise he had "so much work to do". 

"I needed to recalibrate my whole life," he said. "There's no way I was going to do God's will if I didn't literally mourn [my old self] and change drastically." 

The former mogul said he was a "sinner taken from the spiritual gutter," but wanted to remind people that God is "alive and intimately active" in our world. 

"There is no sin that He cannot forgive," he added. "I wouldn't want anyone to see their soul the way I saw mine. I want to help everyone get back to the Father."