With its seemingly never-ending product launches and contradictory philosophies, the beauty industry can make anyone jaded. No one knows this better than Michelle Phan, YouTube’s biggest beauty star, who — after ten years, 385 videos, and over a billion views — abruptly disappeared from the platform in 2015. “Once, I was a girl with dreams who eventually became a product, selling, smiling, and selling … Somewhere along the journey I lost myself,” she told her nearly 9 million YouTube followers two years later in a video called “Why I Left.” But she never lost interest in beauty, and that same year, she bought back her company Em Cosmetics from L’Oreal.
Phan says she looks for elegant textures and formulations in a product. Every ingredient should have a purpose, and the texture has to feel silky, weightless, and not at all sticky on her combination skin. “If I’m applying it to the skin, and I feel like it’s just floating on top, it’s an automatic no-no for me,” she explains.
Still, she doesn’t have a “hard no” for any ingredient out there, and she’s okay with “non-clean beauty.” “I know some people say mineral oil is a no. I used to believe that, too,” she admits. “But if you source your mineral oil, and the quality is on a pharmaceutical grade, it can be amazing. It doesn’t clog my pores.” She also stands by preservatives, which have recently gotten a bad reputation. Phan points out, “I know that I can just leave a product open, and it’s not going to get moldy.” Ultimately, it all comes down to nuance.