With over eight million subscribers, more than a billion views, a company valued at
$500 million, and a net worth of $50 mil, Michelle Phan is — hands down — a makeup
mogul.
As she tells her viewers, quote, "I live, I love, I teach, but most importantly I learn."
Turns out there's a whole lot to learn about this media megastar, too!
Phan girl
A child of Vietnamese immigrants, Phan's early life was anything but easy.
In a 2016 interview with Mashable, Phan revealed that her father gambled away most of the family's
money, leaving for good when she was just six years old.
She remembered,
"One day, you have a father who's always around.
And then the next day, he's gone.
I was too young to comprehend that.
I actually thought he was going to come back."
While Phan originally planned to follow her parents' dreams for her, to study medicine,
she revealed that as a child she wanted to work in a nail salon, just like her mom:
"I wanted to be like my mother.
She didn't wear a cape.
Or shoot lasers out of her eyes.
She was someone who wore a smile and made people more beautiful."
Accordi ng to Phan, her mother was "heartbroken and scared" when Phan decided to attend Ringling
College of Art and Design, instead of med school.
She would be forced to drop out after one semester because of lack of tuition money,
and would later receive an honorary doctorate from the school in 2014.
But it was during that one semester when she would film her very first video.
Reframing rejection
When Phan applied for a job at a department store Lancôme counter, she told ABC News:
"I didn't get the job because I didn't have any sales experience and so instead of just
shutting that door I decided to open up my own laptop and film my own makeup tutorials."
That rejection led her to become a YouTube sensation.
She said:
"I always tell my followers, you know that if something doesn't happen in life the way
you plan it, sometimes it's the universe telling you to go in a different direction.
And that led me to YouTube."
She posted her first video on her Xanga blog in 2006, when she was studying at Ringling
college, earning 40,000 views in just one week.
Phan told Cosmopolitan that's when she realized she may have a hit on her hands.
Multi-talented
Phan's not just into beauty.
She shared with the Wall Street Journal that she plays the piano and trumpet, among other
instruments.
She also has a passion for art, telling Nylon, "I could go into my happy place in my head
and occupy my thoughts with my passions, like drawing and creating."
And how else does Phan de-stress?
By meditating in a copper pyramid, in her Los Angeles apartment.
She described its purpose, saying, "Scientists in Russia discovered that whenever they put
medicine inside of any pyramidal structure, it restructures the molecule's chemicals and
increases the potency by 30 percent."
Michelle's pyramid is certainly working, but maybe don't try that pyramid thing at home.
Fresh face
The makeup guru admitted she typically goes light on makeup, telling Racked LA, "Most
days, I just wear a little concealer and that's it.
I have nothing to hide.
My viewers have seen me without makeup, so it's all good."
Surprised?
Just get a load of her top beauty tips!
According to Phan, the most important beauty product is water.
She told the Wall Street Journal:
"The number one is to drink water.
Drinking water can flush out all of your toxins, it can rehydrate your body, taking water is
really good for you."
She also recommends sunscreen — not just for wrinkles and brown spots, but health as
well.
And last but not least?
"Honestly just smile.
Because if all else fails, when you smile, that's happiness is beauty."
Express yourself
Phan doesn't view makeup as a way to cover-up, but as a way to bring out your inner beauty.
She described the ritual of applying makeup to The Huffington Post, saying, "You get to
have that moment in front the mirror every morning and give yourself self-love.
You're making yourself beautiful."
She says makeup isn't a mask but, rather, "A weapon that helps you express who you are
from the inside."
Paying it forward
Phan describes her makeup subscription company, Ipsy, as a business designed to "give back
to the community and help them reach success."
She added to that potential by launching Ipsy Open Studios, in Santa Monica — a space
for beauty creators to shoot videos using all of the necessary tools, for free.
She said, "Someone who looks similar to you and likes your specific style wants to learn
from you, not from me or anyone else.
It's about making a connection."
She acknowledged that with the internet, there is "a niche market for everything."
Phan focuses not on competition, but on collaboration, saying,
"It's such an incredible journey, and I want to share this to more people, because if I
can do it, people can do it too and they can probably do it better."
Healing her soul
Once she hit it big on YouTube, Phan became a self-professed workaholic.
"The taste of success was like a drug. And I couldn't get enough.
I figured, the more productive I am, the more successful I'll become"
But her perspective quickly changed.
"I spent my whole life chasing after success, only to find myself running away from the
very thing that mattered: myself."
Then, her makeup collaboration with L'Oreal failed.
She wrote in Teen Vogue,
"When Em Cosmetics flopped, I was trolled so hard online.
I had Reddit forums dedicated to hating on it."
She then began retreating from her public life, writing in the mag, quote "I wanted
to be forgotten, so I began posting less online."
By December 2015, she was gone from YouTube and Instagram completely.
She later reflected on her decision to take a break from social media.
"My intuition told me it was time to leave.
I took refuge in a place where I could find meaningful time to heal, learn, and grow."
And that she did.
Back at it
Phan returned to Instagram in December 2016 with posts for her Em Cosmetics line, which
she'd brought back from the dead, prompting fans to wonder where she'd been all that time.
In an interview with Racked, Phan admitted,
"I'm actually happy Em didn't do well, because I'm happy that I own it.
It is my makeup brand, it's not L'Oreal's makeup brand.
It's not for me; it's for my viewers who have been there since the beginning."
The first products for her new line went on sale in April of 2017, so here's hoping for
continued success for Phan.
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