Why You Can't Learn From Beauty Influencers

Aren’t those Instagram, TikTok and YouTube makeup tutorials cute?! We love seeing the transformation like in a blink of an eye and how a fast, basic edit turns the basic (or not so basic) girls into unrecognizable divas with enormous products on their face? Yeah, they are like little magic pills we can swallow endlessly in long subway rides or before going to bed, trying to detect conspiracies: Are they Photoshopped? Are these two different people? Is it a filter or her skin really looks like this? Did she overdraw her lip or she had fillers to start with?

We are not crazy: we just try to learn how to do our own makeup. A little makeup… Umm, less than that. Less… even less?

In early 00s YouTube decided to do an advertising campaign, featuring those that earned millions of subscribers, likes and views through its platform. All subway cars in NYC were full of genuinely smiling edgy young individuals that through their own talent of educational videos became famous.

One of them was Michell Phan, a self-taught makeup artist, that was showing how to do this or that look and the way she could transform her face, or ability to use certain products, or tools was amazing.

One day I found an article, that was telling a story how a beauty store did not hire her. And that made her so upset that she started doing her own videos, giving up on a job. This is how she became a beauty influencer and a makeup guru.

I was speechless. My jaw dropped. How could anybody NOT hire this pure talent? How is that possible that this perfect winged eyeliner did not impress anybody? I shared the article on my Facebook feed and suddenly somebody put a comment that completely changed my view. If you want, it changed my perception of a good makeup artist.

You ready? Somebody wrote: “no wonder, she only knows how to beat her own face’.

Should I repeat? She only knew how to do the makeup on her own face. Because she only knew her face. She had never done makeup on somebody else.

We all know our faces like nobody else does. Because we look at this face since we can see. We see ourselves in every reflection, wardrobe glasses, store windows, mirrors, computer screen – you name it, we are everywhere. We know our face.

And we master this eyeliner day by day on that eye, that looks so familiar… but can we do it on somebody else whose eye shape is completely different?

There are two major types of beauty influencers:

“Type A” influencers, like Michelle Phan, would call themselves “makeup artists”, and would call their videos “tutorials” but eventually you only can learn anything if you have the same exact face as your influencer does – same eye shape, same brows, same nose, same lips, and same face shape. Type A influencers get away with only transforming their own faces because they mastered it, playing with their mom’s makeup from an early age, day by day, weekend by weekend, mastering this “one swipe eyeliner, lower lip bigger, left brow arch higher” makeup.

Let’s give them a credit: some do unbelievable and majestic transformations of their own self, I still follow a few types of A influencers admiring the fantasy, creativity, color combinations, it is fascinating to see what a face can become if you study it too well.

But can we – women out there, who don’t love doing makeup but are in need of doing some – learn anything from these tutorials? Surely not!

“Type B” beauty influencers are true working makeup artists – (self-taught or licensed, does not matter) – they do makeup on other people and show the process: here is “before”, here is “after”.

Those makeup artists feature themselves: most of them have schools, companies, classes, provide services, they show their mastery, technique, speed, they show you how good they are. They are selling you their name, brand, and experience. You can learn SOME tips and tricks on a specific subject, let’s say, how to do the cat-eye.

You’ll be able to learn how to do the cat-eye.

But the question – IS THE CAT EYE RIGHT FOR ME – will remain unsolved.

Because the cat eye was not shown on your face, but on somebody’s face that cat-eye looks fabulous.

Many times I had to explain to my young clients, that there IS a reason why Ariana Grande always does THIS type of eyeliner, why Tyler Swift ONLY does a cat eye, why Nikki Minaj ALWAYS does the same type of a signature eyeliner… And why Jennifer Lawrence does the cat-eye NEVER. Because they (or their makeup artists) studied their face, their eye shapes and came up with THIS look what they are known for.

THIS eyeliner looks the best on Ariana. What looks the best on you?!