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The Rise, Disappearance, and Reinvention of Michelle Phan
By Kelli Luu | 10 Jul, 2025
Michelle Phan pioneered a multi-million dollar beauty empire, then vanished for years before making a powerful return.
She is the original influencer and became one of the first faces of Asian representation in the beauty industry, a place where we rarely saw ourselves.
Back in 2007 Michelle Phan began posting easy-to-follow makeup tutorials that would eventually make her into a global star. Some of her classic videos, such as her recreation of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” look, have over 50 million views today. Her Barbie transformation video is currently sitting at over 70 million views and is one of the most watched beauty videos of all time. Some of her less mainstream videos, such as her Daenerys Targaryen recreation, are still uploaded with around 4 to 6 million views.
In 2010 Michelle was named the official video makeup artist for Lancôme, making her the company’s first Vietnamese-American voice. The next year she co-founded Ipsy, the subscription beauty box brand that is currently valued at over $800 million.
At the height of her fame in 2015, Michelle became the first L'Oréal YouTube spokesperson, earned herself a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List and landed magazine covers for Nylon and Fashion. To add to her endeavors, L'Oréal launched EM Cosmetics by Michelle Phan, a makeup line dedicated to Phan’s mother.
While things seemed to be going well, that same year without any warning, she disappeared. Her fans were left shocked and confused as they wondered why one of the world’s biggest beauty influencers was suddenly gone. Of course rumors swirled and some fans claimed she had joined a cult after posting content that was unlikely of her.
But in 2017 Michelle appeared on YouTube with her explanation. In a video titled “Why I Left” she opens up about the pressures of fame and her struggle staying true to herself in such an intense industry. She explained that profit became more important than passion which is why she isolated herself looking to focus on happiness and honesty.
Her hiatus continued as she was dealing with legal copyright troubles, the failed relaunch of EM Cosmetics and her own mental health issues before returning to YouTube in 2019.
Since then she has rebranded EM Cosmetics and rebuilt it from the ground up with a more authentic approach and it is now a hit with fan favorites like the Color Drops Serum Blush. She continues to create and share glimpses of her life on social media where she opens up about her everyday activities and entrepreneurship.
Michelle has also been open about her investments in the future of beauty and tech as she is savvy with crypto trading and supportive of AI being the next frontier of content creation.
She was once a beauty YouTuber but now she is a beauty icon who has evolved into an even more powerful mogul paving the way for a generation of Asian Americans.
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