OG Influencer Michelle Phan Is Back on YouTube, however Where Has She Been All This Time?

Oct. 9 2019, Updated 12:forty five p.m. ET

Even in the event you are not up on the latest in YouTube drama, chances are high that you have at least heard of Michelle Phan, arguably the first beauty influencer. Just a couple of years ago, it was once unavoidable to walk the streets of New York City with out encountering a poster of the now 32-year-old, who first were given her get started on the video platform back in 2007.

After amassing near to 9 million fans, the OG influencer vanished 10 years later in 2017. Her enthusiasts had been devastated and in some compassionate manner, nearly relieved, via her disappearance. 

"You're the true icon of the beauty community and I think everyone forgot that," one individual wrote in her comments. "In a way I'm glad you're gone because you won't get caught up in all this ... Miss you."

Then, in September 2019, she was again on YouTube with a video entitled, "Hello :)."

So, what happened to Michelle Phan? Here's the debrief you could need.

What happened to Michelle Phan?

Way prior to the likes of James Charles and Emma Chamberlain came on the scene, Michelle Phan was posting makeup movies that many described as "creating art" without the stakes or rewards of sponsorships and hashtag-ads.

Many discovered her videos soothing in addition to tutorial — The Cut writes that any one who's "ever fallen asleep to the calming tones of a beauty tutorial or learned how to contour from a video" necessarily owes it to her.

She created 385 movies and won over one thousand million views in a decade of establishing her YouTube presence, and at some point in 2016, she used to be long gone.

"Hi beauties!" she captioned her "Mastering the Art of Hair Removal" video that got shut to 2.5 million perspectives. "Sorry I've been away from this channel. Miss you all so much. I've been traveling overseas discovering the beauty of the world and gathering lots of inspiration that I can't wait to share when I get back."

No one idea then that her go back would not come till two years later within the form of an 11-minute confessional titled "Why I Left." "The taste of success was like a drug and I couldn't get enough," she says in a voice-over that accompanies her illustrated animations. "I figured the more productive I am, the more successful I'll become. Because money buys happiness."

The Cut estimates that Michelle's video channel was incomes her just about $100,000 a month at its height, and the vlogger additionally had quite a few trade deals and beauty strains, a few of which she's still working on today, and others of which landed her in complaints. "I had to battle through several lawsuits from people who wanted a piece of [my success]," she explains in her "Why I Left" vid.

"The nightmare took a toll on me, it nearly broke me down," she continues, happening to explain that she suffered thru melancholy, used to be "never satisfied with how I looked" and felt like she used to be imprisoned via the vanity of the beauty global and the YouTube and Instagram empire she had trapped herself in.

"I had too much pride to let you see me at my weakest. I wanted to be forgotten so I began to post less online," she says, adding that she packed her baggage from California and moved out to Switzerland where she spent some time reconnecting with nature. "With my money, I bought myself more time," she says, explaining that she had "forgotten how genuine and full of life I was" and sought after to in finding "peace again."

Now, she's again on YouTube however she's again with a undertaking. After to begin with considering money used to be the end prize, she's at the different aspect of it now. She has money, and has fulfilled her dreams of taking good care of her circle of relatives and retiring her mom. "Back then," she says, "I was just someone who was showing you how to look more beautiful."

"Now, I want to show you how to feel more beautiful," she says. These days, she keeps a 24-hour stream the place she promotes the tune of emerging creators via her logo Thematic, and has begun to let us in on the beauty brand she's operating once again on development.

Join Nine million subscribers in following the next chapter in Michelle Phan's existence on YouTube, right here. 

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