Michelle Phan’s YouTube videos have probably seen an explosion in views during the recent weeks. With Halloween coming up, many women are turning to her beauty tutorials for makeup tips.
Phan offers tutorials for vampires, zombies, princesses, and celebrity pop stars. However, her most popular video shows women how to transform themselves into a popular toy.
According to Hello! magazine, Michelle Phan’s Barbie makeup tutorial is the most-watched beauty video on YouTube. Phan’s Barbie beauty video was first posted in 2009. Since then, it has been viewed more than 57 million times. Michelle advises her viewers to use spray foundation for a plastic skin effect, and she teaches them how to give themselves tiny Barbie button noses using contouring techniques. The vlogger’s caption for the video mentions that her Barbie girl look would be perfect for Halloween.
It might surprise some makeup fans to learn that Michelle Phan’s Barbie tutorial is the most popular beauty video on YouTube. Phan does an amazing job turning herself into a living Barbie, but this transformation is nowhere near as drastic and incredible as others that can be found on YouTube.
The Inquisitr previously reported on the talents of Michelle’s sister-in-law, Promise Phan . Promise is known for transforming herself into celebrities like Beyoncé and Angelina Jolie, and fictional characters like Elsa from Disney’s Frozen . Her Elsa video has only been up for eight months but it’s already amassed over 23 million views. The Angelina Jolie video below has amassed a similar number of views and it’s definitely one of Promise’s most incredible transformations.
Even though it’s not quite as impressive as the Angelina Jolie tutorial, Michelle Phan’s Barbie video is probably more popular because it’s been around longer. According to Women’s Wear Daily , two more of Michelle’s older tutorials top the list of the most popular YouTube beauty videos : her “Lady Gaga Bad Romance Look” and “Lady Gaga Poker Face Tutorial.” During an interview with Re/code , Phan revealed that her Lady Gaga tutorials were the videos that helped make her one of the world’s biggest YouTube celebrities.
“I showed people how they can transform their face. [Lady Gaga] really helped put me on the map.”
Perhaps Michelle Phan’s Barbie video gets a boost in views every time a “Human Barbie” like Valeria Lukyanova makes headlines. There’s an odd fascination with girls who try to look like dolls, so it’s not shocking that so many girls are interested in emulating these women.
However, perhaps the world’s love affair with Barbie is finally coming to an end. According to The Daily Beast , Mattel’s Barbie sales have sharply declined over the past three years. Nowadays, girls seem to be more interested in the spooky Monster High dolls.
Michelle Phan has millions of YouTube followers and she’s a savvy businesswoman who runs a makeup startup that makes $84 million a year. So if Mattel is looking to modernize the Barbie brand, perhaps the company needs to look for doll inspiration on Phan’s YouTube page. A zombie Barbie might be able to compete with Monster High.
Are you a fan of Michelle Phan’s beauty videos?
[Image via Michelle Phan/ Facebook ]