Influential Vietnamese: Michelle Phan – Make-Up Guru of Youtube

Michelle Phan is a current spokesperson for Lancome, and creator of her own beauty product line, IQQU Beauty International. At the age of 22, she is a self-made businesswoman and beauty coach of Youtube, producing over 81 make-up tutorial videos totaling 119,090,450 views.

By on March 18, 2010 • Topics: Entertainment,Featured

Michelle PhanMichelle Phan is a Vietnamese-descent make-up guru of Youtube, current spokesperson for Lancome, and creator of her own beauty product line, IQQU Beauty International. Her art and beauty inspiration began at the early age of five.  In an interview with Stephanie Hayes of Times, Michelle recalls a fond memory creating a Halloween mask. Her family was living on food stamps then and was unable to afford princess costumes that her other classmates could. Instead, she made her own mask by creatively using red lipstick to blend a crimson nose center and sketching a face on a paper plate [1] . From here, Michelle Phan learned to make something out of nothing. This artistic creativity was the making of her success today.

Now at the age of 22, she is a self-made businesswoman and beauty coach of Youtube, producing over 81 make-up tutorial videos totaling 119,090,450 views. Her most popular tutorials title, “Romantic Valentine Look”, “Brighter Larger Looking Eyes”, “Makeup For Glasses”, “Mysterious Masquerade Look”, and “Lady Gaga Poker Face Tutorial.” Her acclaimed success and popularity opened her into the spotlight of the fashion industry. Within the last year, Phan brought her talent backstage as a make-up artist for Chris Benz, New York Fashion Week 2009 and Michael Kors Spring 2010 Collection. Her vision also inspired a Canadian doctor and scientist to partner with her in the creation of her IQQU International Beauty skincare line.

Phan’s reputable image in the art and beauty industry has earned her a place in Vogue’s March issue celebrating the top web bloggers and sensations of our current day. Phan stands next to ten other self-made celebrities to share their story of passion, motivation, and inspiration. This was Vogues first-of-its-kind article featuring the fashion blogging world. Other Michelle Phan features include; Seventeen Magazine (August 2009), St. Petersburg Times (August 23, 2009), Sun Sentinel (August 24, 2009), popular blog BellaSuga (April 19, 2009), and Chilean newspaper for her Barbie video.

Michelle Phan stands as a proud Vietnamese American descent. But her story and pursuit of dreams reaches beyond the community to encourage all to never think small, but beyond.  In September of 2008, Phan took her career a step further by aiding a charity fashion show, “Fashion for Compassion” dedicated to raising awareness to a Tampa sexual assault case. Her philanthropic work leads an example of a giving and compassionate nature. For Michelle Phan the future only gets bigger and brighter.

Source: St. Petersburg Times.

A Classy Woman -A timeless Valentines Make-up Tutorial:

Rare look at Michelle showing her Vietnamese skills:

Did you know Maggie Q is Vietnamese? For article, visit here.

Did you also know that Natalie Tran, another Queen of Youtube is also Vietnamese?  For article, visit here.

The Author:

Sarah directs a non-profit tutoring organization, Jubilee Vietnamese Tutoring Center, that serves to edify and aid the young students of the community. Recently, Sara led an art show, Embriven, to raise awareness against sex slavery around the world.

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  • LIE DETECTOR

    Michelle Phan lies that she is a hardcore gamer girl! WHY?

    So she can create a gaming channel. WHAT FOR?

    1/She will attract the gameboys to join her channel,subscribe to the “sexy makeup guru” who also can play games with them.

    2/Her fans will subscribe to her game channel so she gain subscribers and get paid more by Youtube.

    3/To make more MONEY!

    4/To get more ATTENTION,especially from men!

    5/That’s the best way to trap male viewers who doesn’t expect any makeup skill as long as she show her cleavage and nude parts of body.

    She pretends to be a gamer girl to start a new way to make money,she can’t even play those games but hiring the gamer to play for her to trick her fans.This woman can lie about everything to make money,you might say she is smart,but I say she is greedy,crooked, lying and cheating.

    Her young fans need to focus in school,not only worry about makeup,expensive clothes,spend their parents’ hard working money on buying games…,because the results of their future will be :Can’t even spell and write a simple sentence correctly, because they think drop out from school and be a gamers still make good money just like their idol Michelle Phan as long as theylear how to lie to make money.

    How can we be proud of a liar and a cheater like her?She’s a slap to the face for Vietnamese community. .

  • Anne

    I like her but seriously she have gotten so sloppy. I really hate the fact that she is showing off for the male viewers and forgetting the female viewers. There’s no passion or effort in any of her videos anymore. Popularity comes and goes but is that what she wants people to see when people look back at her work? It seriously bothers me that she’s flirting with any remotely famous YouTube guy. I wonder how her boyfriend feels about that. I continue to watch her because I think she got potential but have pretty much lost respect for her when she practically stripped on blogTV for Ryan Higa and failed miserably in historical facts in which she claims the stock market crashed during Victorian Era. And her gaming channel is a huge disappointment. I thought she was smart and cool but she’s proving me wrong. I miss the old her. I hope that she gets back to her old self again.

    • Tuong Linh

      It’s is her real person that you see now,the old Michelle was a pretender who was acting like an angel just to climb the ladder to get where she is now,then she’s looking down from that high spot and laugh so loud at how stupid ppl got fooled by that old fake Michelle Phan.Please don’t wish for that old Michelle to come back,her mask has been pulled off,and she is starting to have to climb down from that ladder to get back to the ground.I hope she holds her breath while climbing down cuz she might be dropped down from that high ladder.Ppl should unsubscribe from her and count down her time,she has about 5 minutes of fame left,hope she should enjoy it wisely.

      @Phuong Anh!

      I love your ideas and hope someone will make a Vietnamese blog in Vietnam to help the young ppl from our country to know the truth,it will also teach them not to learn from Michelle Phan,she is not a role model for Vietnamese minions to look up to.Can someone with good writing skill do that please!

      I feel bad when they run onto her channel and facebook leaving their comments to rave their “idol” while Michelle Phan ignores all of them,how sad and embarrasing for them because the truth is Michelle Phan doesn’t deserve their admiration.

  • http://www.website.com Brenda

    I can’t believe anyone takes this girl seriously. She’s an amateur make-up artist at best, and her work is redundant and sloppy. Believe me, this chick does nothing to promote the positive side of being Vietnamese with her shady business tactics and blatant habit of lying.

  • Pingback: Michelle Phan Reaches 1 Million Raises Awareness for Malaria | Vietnam Talking Points

  • Eightissima

    She is a business woman, no more, no less, but unfortunately, not a very honest business woman.
    She has lied to viewers about making her own clothing, been disingenuous about being poor enough to live on food stamps during her childhood, and uses anything and everything she can to push her name and her personal envelope. During her videos, she uses more makeup than normally necessary just to mention brands she is being paid to mention, and talks about her own brand as often as possible.

    She tries to differentiate herself by various ways, one of them-claiming she is a really big nerd and video game girl, but in reality only shows pictures of herself with gaming consoles because she knows that “nerd” is in. Her only intention is to gain popularity through supposed stereotype-breaking. It’s an insult to actual girl nerds who know the ins and outs of the video games they play. It was revealed that during an online video game tournament, Michelle claimed to have been playing video games but in fact, her ex boyfriend played for her.
    She exaggerates her stories every chance she gets, to gain publicity and push her envelope. She used a pet rabbit to gain an “aww” factor and made a facebook page for the animal where she would spend time posting comments as the rabbit, which related to her. The rabbit’s health was declining, and Michelle asked her fans to pray for it. She claimed that the prayers saved the bunny, but in fact, the bunny died and she kept hush about this even though she already said the fans’ prayers saved it. On a different note, she went through a phase where she promoted donations to charity and even set up a youtube channel dedicated to charity, promising monthly updates on charities being donated to. The promise was never fulfilled and the channel never updated.

    Finally, her level of professionalism is eventually questioned.

    Michelle calls herself a makeup artist, but her portfolio only shows thumbnails of her videos–and all her videos show her makeup skills on her face only. A real makeup artist has photographs of his/her makeup work on *various* faces. She never even explained skin tones and color theory. She also tweets generously on her expensive shoes, bags, clothing, food she purchases, instead of her supposed WORK. Her videos have spelling errors, and some videos of hers have very questionable and ill advice, such as using the moist seaweed from edible sushi prepared with raw fish applied to skin for a treatment–absolutely unhygienic.

    Finally, she tries to come off as a very caring young woman and one who tries to help women reach dreams. But through her actions, with some background research and digging beneath the surface, it’s clear to anyone that she is only saying *exactly* what they want to hear and that she is only pushing her personal repertoire. It is a HUGE disappointment to people who believed in her and used to follow her. It’s all a trance under hypnotism. Everything pure and innocent she says is choreographed and rehearsed– her actions speak much louder.

  • Trang

    Michelle Phan… I used to like her when she was a humble and friendly girl.
    Now she’s boasting all the time! Nổ hoài không biết ngượng!
    I wonder if she can speak Vietnamese!

    • Phuong Anh

      I heard she spoke Vietnamese on her blog TV,said “cam on” like she couldn’t speak Vietnamese well,but her English does not sound like other young Vietnameses who were born and raised in USA at all.

      She just came back from Thailan and didn’t go to visit her motherland as she braged about that for months.Yesterday,she said she has some mixed Chinese blood,because she’s dating a Chinese man now,so she change her word from being 100% Viet to a Chinese-Vietnamese now.LOL.

      I am a 21 yrs old Vietnamese girl who left Vietnam for 5 years and live in USA now,I started to watch her vids 3 yrs ago and got so sick of looking at her face now.She is not beautiful for being a Vietnamese girl at all,I know most of you guys will agree with me about her look.She got cosmetic surgeries but it make her looking worse than before and she photoshops all her pictures.Vietnamese girls are known for being humble and not bragging,show off,lying…Michelle has all those bad habits and very nasty personality.

      My English is not perfect because I’m still learning English in community college,but Michelle Phan has unbelievable low English level for someone who is known for not speaking her mother’s language well.I wonder what she did in school from kindergarten through 12 grade.

      I don’t have good computer skill,I wish I could make a blog in Vietnamese about Michelle Phan so the young girls in Vietnam won’t waste their hard working money on her IQQU products and ruin their skins.I hope someone will do that to help them to know the truth.I don’t even know how to put the links and screencap pictures…so I can’t do that.I saw many young Vietnamese from our country who got very little English went on her facebook raving her and asked her to help them order her products because they don’t have credit card,some wrote to her in Vietnamese and she doesn’t give a crap about them,I feel very sorry for them that they’re idolizing a liar,greedy,lying,self absorb,bragging and non-talented person like Michelle Phan.Vietnamese girls in our country need to know the truth about her so they won’t be cheated with her bad products and learn bad makeup tips that look like a cheap prostitute like her.

      Please make a Vietnamese blog for our country to read the truth about Michelle Phan if you can,I know that blog will be very popular in Vietnam if it is written properly with all the pictures and evidences attached.Thank you.

    • Hanh Vu

      Hahaha…bragging doesn’t cost her any money but gain her fame,so…why doesn’t she?She bragged that she would go to Vietnam to donate and someone wrote on Vietnam Talking Point to rave her so much for how sweet and charitable she is.But then didn’t go to Vietnam as she promised and acted like she had never said anything.

      She is not so compassionate as she always talks to make ppl believe she is.If she announced and encouraged ppl to donate to malaria then only gave 30 bucks but tweeted and posted on FB for the whole world to know,then she went to Thailand and gave some Thailand thongs (plastic sandals) to a few school kids in a poor village but post pictures of those kids to brag as she gave them gold,her actions should show clearly to the whole world what kind of person she is!

      She doesn’t deserve to be honor as a talented Vietnamese,we have so many real talents who are still stay behind her because these ppl don’t use tricks to gain fame and earn money like Michelle Phan.Xteeener for an example,if you watch her videos,she wore AO DAI in a few of her tutorials,she is so natural and DE THUONG.her makeup skills and styles if WAY better than Michelle,the way she talks is very classy to.You guys should search on YOUTUBE for Exteeener if you haven’t known her,I bet you will agree with me.

      FYI,Michelle Phan bought subscribers on Ebay (they are sold very very cheap online) to surpass over 1 million from 700,000+ subscribers in only 3 months,Youtube should investigate her account to find the evidences and take actions to be fair to other real talent gurus.I really dislike Michelle Phan for hew lying and snicky she is,all she cares for is money.If you don’t believe me,you can search online to see there are so many websites wrote about her and her lying habit/

  • Valeria

    Okay wait, so she says “her family was living on food stamps”?
    So uhmm, then how the fuck was her mom able to purchase so many products from lancome if she had “no money”?
    When she got the job as rep for lancome, in her vid she clearly says that she was a fan of lancome since she was little, because her mom OWNED a lot of their products…so wth? I dont even freaking know if she is really speaking the truth at all

  • FOOD STAMP

    Here’s her claim of being on food stamp right from the horse’s mouth: http://twitter.com/RiceBunny/statuses/4514623200

    Was on food stamp but could still afford Apple computers, anti aging cream, and nice rides.

    I don’t understand why she have to constantly make up stories to gain people’s sympathy. It’s quite pathetic. Not only that but it’s actually insulting for people who are truly struggling and are ACTUALLY poor.

  • Tram Anh

    She bought subscribers from eBay to be the most subscribed makeup guru.When I first heard about that,I didn’t believe it but I do now after I went on eBay and read about how Youtubers buy subscribers and views from them.Many youtubers can’t afford to buy even they are cheap but I can tell Michelle Phan is the type of crooked person who would do everything for fame and money.

    She hasn’t done Lancome video for Christmas,maybe they got rid of her.

    About being poor and on foodstamps,her father was a gambler so he might game off the money then applied for welfare,but her mother kicked him out then married an Italian man right after that and that’s why Michelle has a mixed sister named Christina,she is 15 + 10 months of pregnancy so it match the time her father left when she was 7 (according to her words).Michelle is 23 now.

    All the truths have been revealed but many of her young fans still don’t see what a liar Michelle is,I feel very bad that they’re fooled so bad by her.Michelle is a very tricky woman,I can’t trust anything coming from her mouth.

    Vietnam has so many real talented girls,xteener is Vietnamese,too.She is naturally pretty,nice, humble and skillful because she is a licensed professional makeup artist.Michelle can’t reach how classy xteeener is.

    • Khikhokhokhan

      u’re so rude even u’re telling the truth. u can talk every things without her private life. u thinks the divorce of a family is your joys and saying easily. 
      Because your beahaviour, i think you’re cheap 

  • Einnoc

    I used to be a fan of hers, after reading michellephail I unsubscribed from her immediately. To have her lie to thousands of fans like that was unforgivable.

    She said she was poor ? Total BS. Straight from her mouth, she bragged about using La Mer products and owning Apple computers since young.

    Her fashion/style/makeup ideas = UNORIGINAL and MEDIOCRE.

    Heres proof of her “creativity”
    http://michellephail.tumblr.com/post/1203158200/michelles-creations
    http://michellephail.blogspot.com/2010/10/evidence-of-michelles-creativity.html

  • Peter Phan

    i dont see any reasons to criticize her while many people around the world still praising her everyday for her effort to make vid tuts .

    i am not the kind of liking her vid stuff because i am male nor am i her fans
    just admire her for making herself well-known as a internet phenonmennon that to stand at the view point of vietnamese i state that’s a successful effort !
    just count how many vietnamese people can do that huh ? some people even express the shameless to be a vietnamese living in foreigner ! dont you guy just realize that oh just keep your head dirty and dumping with lot of shit thoughts

    i can see why stupid vietnamese people always fight back their siblings and always try to seek for their siblings’ faults .
    maybe we all got the damn nature of it just like crabs dropped onto a vase then no one cant manage to crawl over the edge just because they inhibit each other for one’s successful escape .

    sorry for my attitude , but cant stand such total scrap comments above ,
    by the way i am not totally biased to her since we got the same surname ,just my bottom heart’ thoughts to warn you , overseas -vietnamese guys ! watch your behaves , do behave !

    i concluded with a saying in vietnamese :
    “bầu ơi thương lấy bí cùng, tuy rằng khác giống nhưng chung một giàn”

    • Bich Loan

      You said “bau oi thuong lay bi cung, tuy rang khac giong nhubg chung mot gian, but do you also know this “mot con sau lam rau noi canh”?

      I was her fan, a suppotive fan. I used to take :bau oi thoung lay bi cung”, but she sold her crap product to my little sister and she got her skin all messed up. We tried to contact her for advice becaide she is the owner of her company, the foundrer of her product. But she ignored our email and my mom had to take my sister to see dermatologist that cost so much money and her skin took 4 month to heal. Why don’t you think of how Michelle makes money on the young Vietnamese girls by selling the products she false claimed to be FDA approve and ppl found out she lied about that?

      I have my bright future to look forward to, Vietnamese ppl are know for working hard to earn honest money. “Dong tien la mo hoi nuoc mat”. not the kind of easy cheating money like Michelle Phan,

      Most of young Vietnamese were her fans, but she doesn’t act and behave like one. You criticize us in a very immature and impolite just to defend Michelle. To me, you are just the kind of guy who die for the look of women, but I give you a bad new, she is so ugly, I saw her in person two month ago in New York city and totally freak out for how she caked her face up looking like a cheap bar girl. I just think about how she has been selling those horrible products and keeps on lying that her products are approved by USFDA, I really want to see her go to jail for that.

      What you wrote sound very unfair, you praise a woman who doesn’t deserve to be praised. I don’t really care if she’s famous and makes good money on youtube, but if she’s already famous and rich, why does she still needs to cheat the young girls to make so much more money by selling them those MADE IN THAILAND illegal skincare products that harm their skin?

      Don’t you think what you said is JUST FOR MICHELLE PHAN, what about other so many other Youtube Vietnamese girls who are real talented and honest, they are licensed professional makeup artists who are 100x better skills and more beautiful than Michelle? The big different is they are so honest and self-respect. Check on Xteeener to see what I meant!

      Please stop defending a “vo liem si” girl like Michelle Phan!!!

  • sues

    It’s amazing how a lot of people can go from followers to envious! Skin care products doesn’t always work on everyone especially because we have different types of skin, different skin-care regimens etc. And did you really expect a company OWNER to respond to your emails? Don’t you think your email can be sent to her SPAM especially because she doesn’t know you and tons of people know her and might send her unwanted emails. Wow! I can’t believe how you guys can be green-eyed monsters!

  • Lan Do

    Michelle Phan is a bad example of GREED, LIE, FAKE, CHEAT, BRAG, REVENGE, STEALING … !!!

    I’m sorry to say, but I after I read Michelle Phail tumblr, I know she is an under average Vietnamese girl in all categories of her life at this time. I can’t give her credits for googling for information on the internet and lie that they’re all her original ideas and creations. Not too many Vietnamese girls dare go online to cheat ppl like Michelle Phan. She lies so much, please read Michelle Phail tumblr and see why ppl should not take her words and actions as from a talent and honest Vietnamese girl.

    Nathalie Tran and xteeener are who deserve the recognition. 

    Michelle Phan cheats and lies to get where she is, how can she hide the truths about her real character  when she can’t even speak and write in English properly for someone who being known she was born and grew up in America ? 

    Sorry for my English skill, I’m a Vietnamese girl who can’t see anything good about Michelle Phan for us to admire her about. 

  • anonymous

    yuck, i honestly am not impressed w/ any of michelle’s videos. it just seems like she is influencing other young viewers to cake on loads of makeup on their faces and to mindlessly consume more beauty products. this does nothing to teach girls to feel confident, to be stronger, and to know how to respect themselves for who they naturally are. layering on layers of product on one’s face does nothing to build character. i don’t get why loading makeup on one’s face can garner that kind of attention. i’m shocked that she has made a career out of this.     

  • paola

    i dont get why ppl are talking bad about her, she didnt do anything bad like stealing or murder, who cares if she lied its her problem not everyone else’s , ppl please stop making a big deal out of this, this always happens, a famous person says something and then everyone is against them
    on youtube, you can describe as the person you want to be, there’s no rules against that
    all you haters plz take a second look at this

  • http://www.youtube.com/misslydiaphan Qt3aybe

    Stop bashing on people and let’s see what you guys can create.

  • http://www.youtube.com/misslydiaphan Lydia Phan

    Stop bashing on people and let’s see what you guys can create.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lydiaphan Lydia Phan

    Stop bashing on people and let’s see what you guys can create.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lydiaphan Lydia Phan

    Stop bashing on people and let’s see what you guys can create.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lydiaphan Lydia Phan

    Stop bashing on people and let’s see what you guys can create.

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