Michelle Phan

Michelle Phan
Michelle Phan signing the Glamour Eyes Kit at Sephora
Born	(1987-04-11) April 11, 1987 Boston, Massachusetts
Occupation	Entrepreneur, video make-up artist
Years active	2006–present
Known for	YouTube celebrity
Partner(s)	Dominique Capraro (2010–present)
Website
http://www.michellephan.com/

Michelle Phan (born April 11, 1987)^[1] is an American make-up demonstrator and entrepreneur who became notable as a YouTube celebrity.^[2] Phan's YouTube channel has over 5 million subscribers and she has uploaded over 280 videos.

Phan's most well known videos are Lady Gaga look makeup tutorials.^[3]

Early life

Michelle Phan (she also has a Vietnamese name Tuyết băng, which means avalanche in English) ^[4] was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Vietnamese parents. She is the second child in her family, she has an older brother named Steve. Her family moved to San Francisco, California when she was a child and kept moving to different places, eventually settling in Tampa, Florida where she attended Tampa Bay Technical High School. Michelle's father left the family at her early age.^[4] Her mother remarried and then she had a half sister named Christine.

As a child Phan enjoyed drawing, video games and she played the trumpet. As a teenager, Phan originally intended to become a doctor at the wish of her mother who did not approve of her fascination with cosmetics; "'She would yell at me!', To me [makeup] was like painting your face. It was art. I was fascinated."^[5] Her mother, did eventually slowly let her wear makeup. Phan said that she fell in love with makeup because she felt like she was drawing on her face. She later convinced her mother and attended classes and later dropped out at Ringling College of Art and Design and Massachusetts College of Art and Design. It was in college when she received her first laptop. She used the webcam to film her first YouTube video which was makeup tutorial in 2007.^[6]

Career

In 2005, Phan had a personal blog in which she discussed different makeup tutorials and received requests for further instruction.^[7] She began posting tutorial vlogs on Xanga under the username Ricebunny and then began publishing on YouTube in May, 2007.^[5][8] Phan's videos implemented some special effects and a voice-over narration which were uncommon for the time but proved popular.^[2][9] She patterned her production style on Bob Ross; "There is something magical about narration and voiceovers. Recording a voiceover is an art form in itself."^[2] Buzzfeed featured several Phan's videos in 2009 and 2010, which helped them go viral.^[10] In particular, her make-up instructionals "Lady Gaga 'Poker Face' Tutorial" and "Lady Gaga 'Bad Romance' Look" brought her over a million subscribers.^[11] Phan became a YouTube advertising partner and launched FAWN, a YouTube MCN (multi-channel network) in 2012.^[2][12] The format expanded Phan's offerings with additional hosts and guests, including Dita Von Teese, Coco Rocha, Nelly Furtado and the Victoria’s Secret Angels.

Phan has included her reviews of beauty products in her videos. The following year, Lancôme made Phan their official video make-up artist after she featured some of their products in her videos.^[13] In 2011, Phan co-founded 'MyGlam', a monthly beauty subscription service filled with various beauty products that are associated to tutorials on the website.^[14][15] In mid-2012 'MyGlam' underwent a web design change to be more member inclusive, this also resulted in a name change from 'MyGlam' to 'Ipsy'. In May 2013, Ipsy hosted Generation Beauty, a conference in Los Angeles for beauty bloggers and online beauty content creators.^[16]

On August 15, 2013, Phan in conjunction with the L'Oreal Group has launched a new cosmetic line called EM by Michelle Phan.^[17] The cosmetic site follows the Ipsy style of not only being a commerce site but also a social media site which requires people to become members in order to purchase merchandise. EM Michelle Phan also contains areas such as 'Our Sisterhood' which encourages members to see what's trending among fellow members, tutorials and an invite system which encourages members to get members to join and make purchases in return for free gifts with purchase.

Phan's makeup line is controlled under the L'Oreal Luxe division which also holds interest in other high-end companies such as Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani and Ralph Laurent. It was Carol Hamilton, president of the L'Oreal Luxe division who helped Phan start her makeup line. Phan ended up travelling across the world for two years to develop her makeup line. She paid special attention to quality, texture and color. To find inspiration, within the two years she visited France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and Australia. When she returned home she hosted a competition between three colleges in three different states; California, Florida and Massachusetts. Students were challenged to create the packaging for her new line, the winning college was awarded a scholarship. Phan's makeup line was released August 15, 2013. Phan has credited every single person who commented, supported or advised her videos on YouTube, for helping her create her makeup line. Phan has stated that the line's name, EM means that the line is a "reflection of ME."^[18]

Personal life

On June 2, 2012, it was confirmed that Michelle was in a relationship with Dominique Capraro, a Valaisian model and candidate of Mister Switzerland 2011. They met two years earlier for an audition for an ad and in January 2012 they filmed a video Rouge In Love^[19] in Paris which was uploaded in her channel on February 14 where they spent several days together. Dominique has now moved to Los Angeles with Michelle Phan. She also confirmed on her Facebook page that she is a Christian.^[20]

References

External links

• Official Website
• .EM MICHELLE PHAN
• .EM MICHELLE PHAN on Trademarkia
• Michelle Phan on Xanga
• Michelle Phan's channel on YouTube
• Michelle Phan 's RiceBunny's channel on YouTube
• Ipsy