Michelle Phan, a 22-year-old art school student, is the official video makeup artist for Lancôme and the most popular makeup artist on YouTube. Michelle’s how-to videos have been viewed more than 100 million times and she has more than 500,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel. She recently became the number one “guru” on YouTube.

Michelle joined the Lancôme team in February 2010 as the brand’s first-ever video makeup artist. She will be creating special videos, among other responsibilities. Michelle came to Lancôme’s attention because she had used several of the brand’s products in her videos and Lancôme was captivated by her unique approach to the medium. “Lancôme is legendary, so I was shocked when they reached out to me,” she says. “I’m very excited about the things we’ll be doing together.”

Michelle is a self-taught makeup artist who transformed her favorite hobby into something that has inspired people around the world. She made her very first video, “Natural Looking Makeup Tutorial,” in spring 2007 and uploaded it to YouTube that May. Since then, she has created and posted more than 80 videos, each filmed and edited by Michelle alone, using her JVC camcorder and the iMovie software on her MacBook Pro. Her video subjects range from basic how-to’s to elaborate transformations into a range of characters.

Michelle Phan now a Lancôme Guru