Michelle Phanwasa beauty vloggerlong before the likes ofJames CharlesandTati Westbrookbuilt their respective followings on YouTube.
She began her YouTube channel in 2006 just a year after YouTube itselflaunched.
As such, Phan has been labeled the “First YouTuber,” according toBiography.
Rightfully, the beauty community wasshookethby her return.
But just how did Phan become a figurehead of both the beauty and YouTube communities?
This is her stunning transformation.
Phan continued, saying, “I took a lot from him, like being a risk taker.”
Although Phan was born and raised in the United States, both of her parents grew up in Vietnam.
“You wouldn’t exactly call my childhood stable,” Phan revealed toGlamour.
“When I was growing up, my father constantly gambled away our rent money.
Every few months we’d get evicted and move.”
One night after a particularly “big loss,” Phan said her father didn’t come home.
She would not see him again for over a decade.
“He ran the house like a dictator,” Phan toldNylon.
Some time after her half-sister Christine was born, Phan’s mother left him.
But there she faced bullying.
Phan shared that she’d walk down school hallways and other students would yell racist things at her.
“It made me insecure about my nationality and race,” she toldNylon.
“It was really hurtful.”
That bullying would continue all throughout high school, but she continued to attempt to fit in.
At times, she’d attempt to look more Caucasian and would dress preppier.
“I didn’t really have a defined style,” Phan told the publication.
I was hiding the true me."
Phan also felt pressure to lose weight.
“It was around the time of ‘thinspiration.'”
“I would read all these beauty magazines and I was a sponge.
I was absorbing all of the information and facts,” she explained.
Little could Phan have imagined that she would one day gracethe covers of beauty magazinesherself.
However, it wasn’t just the beauty magazines at the salon that were inspiring Phan.
“I wanted to be like my mother,” the vlogger revealed in aYouTube video.
Even more than that, though, Phan said her mom made her customers “feelbeautiful.”
Other than lip gloss and mascara, Phan didn’t experiment with makeup until she was 19 years old.
This was because her mom thought Phan should embrace her natural beauty.
Her mom also believed in always looking presentable.
“Even though we had no money, my mother believed in looking good,” she continued.
Her decision to dress nicely in college led tobullyingonce more.
“I guess in art school, it was cool to look broke.
If you dressed up, you were trying too hard,” Phan revealed.
“But when you come from nothing, it’s the last thing you want to look like.”
Ah, the good ol’ days.
Before she shared the vlog to YouTube, though, it was already a hit on the blogging site.
In just one week, it had been viewed 40,000 times.
“You would have to copy and paste a link, and post it to Facebook.”
Phan hadn’t intended to grow a huge following, but that’s exactly what happened.
“You get better, natural-looking results when applying makeup on a clean face,” she revealed.
In an interview withThe Wall Street Journalin 2012, she revealed some of her top beauty tips.
Second only to water is sun protection, according to Phan.
“Sunscreenis really important, especially now,” she revealed.
In fact, one of her top beauty tips has nothing to do with products of any sort.
“Honestly, just smile,” she revealed in an interview withThe Wall Street Journal.
And success quickly followed.
Later that year, Ipsy was valued at $500 million.
However, Phan decided to leave Ipsy in September 2017.
“I had Reddit forums dedicated to hating on it.
She chose not to clap back at consumers who were calling her formulas cheap.
And, well, she’s not wrong.
Instead, she decided to detox from social media, and she took a total online hiatus.
As her fans surely remember, Phan went radio silent.
“Who I was on camera and who I was in real life began to feel like strangers.
Money can bring out the worst in people and I was no exception.”
She further explained that she was struggling with depression.
“I wanted to be forgotten,” she said, “so I began posting less online.”
“People literally thought I was dead,” she toldRacked.
In reality, Phan was reinventing her life and herself.
First, she flew to Switzerland.
“Nature healed me,” she professed.
She promised her fans, “I am not gone, guys.
I’m stronger than ever.”
She had plans of breaking into “other industries.”
It may have been vague, but, for longtime Phan fans, it also sounded exciting and promising.
Instead, she focused on working on her cosmetic label.
Phan herself expressed her discomfort around fame.
It’s the most awkward thing.”
“Because I’ve been evolving since I was that 15-year-old on Xanga.
Em Cosmetics has even brought Phan back to YouTube.
Fans werethrilledabout Phan’s return to YouTube.
“I just watched 3 minutes of pure ad and I’m somehow not mad at it??”
We hope to see more videos from Phan in the future!
