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Sunday, July 14, 2013

Michelle Phan

*A lot of links in this post links back to a Tumblr page dedicated to Mish.

Source.
The most subscribed person on YouTube, and the biggest name in the beauty guru world. Vietnamese Michelle was more or less the catalyst to my interest in make-up.


From using a webcam on her MacBook, to getting HD videos with professional lighting done and professionally editing them, she's gained a lot of fans, subscribers, and of course haters.


From the girl next door, she's now the founder of ipsy, a beauty network which provides subscribers (US and Canada only) with Glam Bags every month for a fixed price. Inside the glam bags are exclusive, full-sized beauty products, which are worth much more than the fixed price.


Now some loyal fans (nicknamed the Michelle Minions) are happy with her, supportive with everything, and is always melting at every word Mish says. Then there are those who have fallen out of the fandom for various reasons (to be addressed later). Some are like me, who just watches some of her videos (usually just tutorials or relevant DIY videos), but is a bit wary of her style now.


Not to say upgrades are bad, but she's lost the general "Michelle style" that she used to have. I remember her older videos always had Late Night Alumni or Kaskade music, or Wakeshima Kanon music. That kind of defined her for me - a good mix between laid-back American girl-next-door and gamer otaku.


Now she's like superficially narcisstic. I am happy for her, that she managed to fulfill her dream to buy a house for her mother, and be sponsored by so many different brands, and have such a dream-like boyfriend (Dominique Capraro Thoeni, whom she met in Paris, which inspired the Rouge in Love production).


The thing that really bugged me, though, is that the people she collaborates with just vanish into thin air after a while. Remember when she tried to branch out to fashion and hair, and brought out Chriselle Lim and Krista Bradford and were so close with them? Well, Chriselle seems to be doing quite well now, but Krista just kinda melted into the rest of the world.


She also recently did a video with Swoozie, but the last time they appeared together was... god knows when. Daven Mayeda too. They just kind of fizzled ever since they stopped appearing in Mish's vids for like until now.


Oh, yeah. And she used to have the iqqu Acne Serum, and also her iqqu brushes. Those kind of went missing too...


There's also the assumptions about her chin. It's really obvious, even to some loyal fans like me, that something happened to her chin. Just look at her old videos, and watch her newer ones. You would have to be under some kind of voodoo to not notice it. And her claim about the Invisalign being responsible for the chin change... I would buy it, IF the change wasn't so dramatic.


I mean, I still love her, and I love her (older) videos, it's just that her videos now are like... quite random. I miss the old Mish, transforming herself into Nana and doing creative looks instead of sticking to contour shadows and winged liner.


People change, I'll admit, especially that her life is so successful. But it would be nice to see the old her once in a while. =)

3 comments:

  1. i agree with the chin. it looks better the way it was.

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  2. Knowing that Michelle is quite close with her mom and respects her heritage, it's very safe to assume she would get her 'chin job' because of the qualities she aims to attain, according to her culture.

    In Vietnam, fortune-telling (astrology, palmistry, cartomancy, physiognomy, and more) is not at all uncommon, while the topic is quite chill, they still place a high importance on 'fate' and prosperity (Buddhism). Physiognomy was first proposed by Aristotle, however is still along the lines of pseudo-science. While the need to altering anything on your face, removing moles, etcetera; is said to come from China. Your current face has different 'energies' and what not, to alter some features means to supposedly alter your fate and either give you good fortune/luck or bad ones. For example a longer chin means you're more inclined to commit and stand your ground, not to mention amass wealth, and the opposite if it were shorter/smaller (indecisive).

    For the West, however, altering your face is purely for vanity reasons.

    One thing is for sure, humans tend to judge (first impressions and often in a matter of seconds) on your facial details, although we're not often sure why because we do it subconsciously.
    http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126957.300-how-your-looks-betray-your-personality.html

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  3. I don't think she did anything with her chin. She seems to have lost a lot of weight over the years, and her face shows the most drastic change from that weight loss. She's probably just lost a lot of baby fat.

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