Michelle Phan - Vietnamese-origin "makeup witch" and the story of leaving the glory to find herself

When her career was on the rise, Michelle Phan suddenly disappeared from social networks.

Michelle Phan is considered one of the most successful names on the social network YouTube. From a makeup tutorial video in July 2006, until now, the Vietnamese-American girl has really made a miracle. Michelle's relentless creativity and passion for the art of makeup have helped her self-titled YouTube channel attract nearly nine million followers. Through clips, beauty blogger born in 1987 has inspired and energized many viewers. With a natural lead, sweet voice and creative content, 8X's vlog channel quickly captured the hearts of viewers at the time of its debut. Thanks to that, she was dubbed the "makeup witch".

The transformation into a Barbie doll is Michelle Phan's most viewed video with nearly 68 million views after 11 years of release.

First ideas

Michelle Phan was born and raised in an unhappy family, her father left when she was young, her mother took another step with another man.

From a young age she got acquainted with the nail salon with her mother, where it was filled with beauty magazines, makeup tools and colorful palettes. In 2007, Michelle Phan posted her first makeup videos to YouTube for "fun", but behind it was a hatched plan, she said:

"I thought if I could build a reputation and attract a lot of followers, I would get priority in interviewing for scholarships over other applicants. It was a competitive advantage, but I never thought everyone would. It will be as it is now."

In an interview with the American news site Refine29, she shared her worries about participating and having the opportunity to become a millionaire on YouTube: "I work in the beauty industry and it's hard to maintain my appearance. and charisma after the age of 25. There are many girls who are younger, more beautiful and more popular than me.

I think if I work hard when I'm young, it will pay off later. I run Ipsy, partnered with Lancome to launch makeup palettes and still make 2 videos a week. My life revolves around work. I hardly go out and don't have time for myself. I know that if I want to be successful, I have to sacrifice a lot of things."

Founder of a million dollar cosmetic business

In 2013, L'Oreal and Michelle Phan cooperated to introduce the cosmetic brand EM Cosmetics, including more than 200 products.

She also shared her mistake about this debut project

"Looking back, the price of the products was too high for my target audience, students and students. This caused EM to not achieve the expected results. I gained many more. Lessons from that failure. After all, if you learn from it and can get up, I think that's also a success."

The early failure on her first project made her very sad and spent most of her time traveling. In 2015, Michelle Phan's company project Ipsy reached 100 million in revenue, then she decided to buy the EM brand to freely decide everything. Instead of launching a campaign to launch 200 products at the same time, she decided to launch 10 products in advance and all have a reasonable price of about 15 USD (more than 350,000 VND) for each product.

EM lipstick product is inspired by watercolor and liner, this is the only lipstick product that is manufactured according to the standard of a painting pen, Michelle Phan hopes this strategy can bring good results to the product. , this is a product line she dedicates to those who have supported her for the past 10 years on YouTube.

successful serial success

Michelle Phan was also invited by the famous cosmetic brand Lancôme to cooperate as the face of the online media channel. Not long after, she also founded her own beauty brand. Two years after the birth of EM Cosmetics in August 2013, Michelle Phan introduced Ispy - a company in the beauty industry, valued at over 500 million USD. In 2016, for the first time, a makeup artist from the social network YouTube appeared on the cover of both the prestigious Forbes and Nylon magazines.

Leaving youtube to find myself

However, when her career was on the rise, Michelle Phan suddenly disappeared from social networks. Her most recent video was posted in mid-June 2017. By 2017, the YouTube channel of "makeup witch" still did not update any activities. What happened to this energetic and enthusiastic beauty blogger? Not long after, Racked and Refinery 29 revealed the secrets behind Michelle Phan's sudden disappearance. Accordingly, for nearly a year in 2016, she fell into a severe depression due to the failure of her business career.

The story begins in 2013 as mentioned above, when Michelle Phan collaborated with cosmetics giant L'Oreal to launch the EM Cosmetics makeup line. The problem starts here. Under the contract, Michelle has the right to decide on colors and designs but has limited business rights. The selling price of EM Cosmetics products is too high for the target audience Michelle is students. This caused sales of EM Cosmetics to be much lower than expected. When she learned that she had failed, she was very sad: "I have sacrificed three years and can not get that time back".

Michelle Phan recalls: "Everybody thinks, before my success, I have to be happy. But no. Every morning I wake up and just feel empty, hopeless. I really don't know what to do anymore." . After that, "Makeup Witch" deleted a series of videos from her YouTube channel and changed her profile picture to an ominous black box. Noticing her silence on the internet, fans kept asking questions and nervous comments in the last video Michelle posted from nine months ago. Simply "People thought I was dead" - Michelle Phan shared.

This is not the first time beauty blogger born in 1987 has a feeling of depression. Moving with her family from Vietnam to the US as a child, Michelle lived in poverty and was bullied at school. The Internet has helped her have more friends, comfort and unexpected success. However, social networks also caused the Vietnamese-born girl to sacrifice many other things after that. According to Michelle Phan:

"The internet is where things get outdated too fast. Before Facebook was Myspace and Friendster. These social networks are like popular bars. At a certain point, they lead the way and then people move elsewhere. I am obsessed that I live in the beauty industry. After 25 years old, I will be obsolete, will be replaced by people younger, more beautiful and famous."

That's why Vietnamese-born beauty bloggers work non-stop. "So I just worked. I developed the Ipsy brand and combined the product with Lancôme. At the same time, I also made two new videos a week. For many years, my life was just work. I don't go out, I don't have a social life I know that if I want to achieve something, I will have to make some sacrifices. For a decade, I've been glued to the Internet, making videos, replying to comments. It's like that 24/7, it's like a hospital. I'm starting to get so tired that I'm afraid of the text message on my phone."

The prolonged condition made Michelle depressed, gradually losing interest in the work that was once her biggest passion in life: "At first I just thought I was depressed. Although I didn't dare to go to the hospital, I tried to answer. The online quizzes and the results told me that I was falling into a state of severe depression.After a lot of thinking, I decided to start with a few small changes, like a broken laptop, I quit. I'll take a break, sleep or do something instead of sitting online."

Things got better when Michelle Phan bought a ticket to Switzerland

"There's no plan at all, I just go and calculate: starting in Switzerland, Egypt, then the Netherlands and China. We live in a world that is so connected that there is no need for self-care. Time itself connects with others, and as time slows down, I have the silence I need to listen to myself. Finally, I realize that my previous goals were determined by When I removed the pressure from people's expectations, I realized what I wanted," said Michelle Phan.

The first collection that marks Michelle Phan's return to beauty lovers is a line of matte lipsticks called Infinite Lip Cloud. They are priced quite soft, only 16 USD / tree (equivalent to 360,000 VND). In the promotional campaign for this product, Michelle Phan appeared with 5 models - 5 representative faces of EM Cosmetics. This collection has just hit the shelves and has been sold out on the web, proving that her "witch" charm has not diminished after her disappearance, even this story of Michelle Phan, once again and create more inspiration to live and work for the fans.

Michelle's influence is equal to that of pop singers. Her face has appeared in prestigious magazines such as: Seventeen, St. Petersburg Times, Nylon Magazine, Forbes, BellaSugar Blog... and even Vogue.

Michelle's life becomes a constant trip to give interviews, introduce cosmetics or work as an advertising representative. Besides a number of contracts with brands such as Beats, Toyota, SanDisk, Audible.., Michelle Phan is also working as an advertising model for Dr Pepper beverage company. Not stopping with "Em", this ambitious girl also opened her own Ispy cosmetics company with annual revenue of up to 120 million USD (about 1832 billion VND).

Another remarkable achievement of Michelle Phan is receiving the "New Star" award of Women's Wear Daily Biz in 2010. The American website Marie Claire also honored her as "Notable Person under the age of 30. In addition, Michelle is also a makeup assistant for famous fashion shows like Chris Benz and Michael Kors.

According to some sources, the millionaire on YouTube Michelle Phan received up to 370,000 USD. Michelle Phan was honored by Forbes in the most prominent position in the Top 30 young people under 30 years old, in the field of Art & Style.

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