A part of growing up for girls is learning how to look good. Not necessarily to please others, but to instill a sense of self-confidence. I’ve talked to other girls in my situation who were late to discover make-up, and for girls like us YouTube has been a savior. Girls upload make-up tutorials onto YouTube and get millions of hits, providing tutorials and inspiration. I’ve learned so many tips from these videos, discovered so many great brands, and have gotten hours of amusement out of them as well.

But do you know the details about how some of these “beauty gurus” live their lives? Okay, I’ll admit it, I’ve fallen victim to the gossip forums. It’s intriguing to see these girls make these videos, update their Twitters, and post on their Facebook — and then have someone throw out some of their dirty laundry.

A reason to be wary! Here are a few of my favorites, some who I now no longer respect because of what they try to hide.

Michelle Phan

Michelle Phan is the most subscribed female on YouTube and is by far the most notorious make-up guru. Her videos are well edited, and she’s a beautiful girl. I watched Michelle’s videos for a long time, and she introduced me to the make-up videos on YouTube. However, there are claims (some with evidence and some without) that she is a pathological liar, delusional, egocentric, a gold digger, and just plain ignorant. Believing them or not is up to you. Here are some things Michelle Phan is accused of:

• Giving away her adopted cat because she got bored of her.
• Lying about her rabbit surviving a fatal disease by bringing up his death months later.
• Lying about coming from a poor family.
• Lying about almost being raped in NYC.
• Constantly uploading pictures on her Twitter of extremely expensive merchandise that she buys.
• Dumping her long-term boyfriend for a much older guy who is loaded with cash.
• Deleting any comments anywhere questioning her integrity.
• Overuse of black eyeliner and eye-enlarging contacts.
• Advocating for her skincare line, but having terrible skin.
• Dissing a video game or never playing at all, and then trying too hard to look like a “gamer girl.”
• Her expenses: Flying in pizza from NYC? Jet setting all over the country? Buying expensive cars? Thousand dollar jackets? First class?
• Her “at home” or “do it yourself” tutorials are sometimes bad for your skin.
• She has a skincare line and tries to preach about how well her products work by incorrectly using scientific terms, or even making up words to prove her point.

Elle and Blair

Elle and Blair Fowler are two sisters who are very…interesting. I admit that I watch these two girls purely for entertainment. They do not use their real first names because they want privacy, but they use their real last name. (Is that even common sense?) They both started out doing innocent tutorials on make-up, but they are now so interested in making money off of their tutorials that most of everything they do, show, or say on their channel is sponsored. Here are a few things they are accused of:

• Lying about their names.
• Using product placement in their videos.
• Using products they’ve been paid to advertise in their “monthly favorites” videos.
• Not mentioning they have been gifted or sponsored anywhere in their video, only adding it to the FTC disclaimer at the very bottom of their information bar.
• Not knowing anything about professional make-up, but being asked to do make-up for or being invited to fashion shows.
• Getting nose jobs.
• Getting hair extensions.
• Having an insane amount of make-up in their collections.
• Dropping out of school to pursue YouTube fame.
• Only approving “gushy” comments on their videos and blocking anyone who dares to ask questions.
• Pretending to act stupid and oblivious to be well-liked. (This has actually been proven with a video edit mistake.)

DulceCandy87

DulceCandy87 is a 23 year old girl who focuses on both fashion and make-up on her channel. I’ve been following her for a long time, because she seemed down to earth and I love her cute Spanish accent. She is a bit of an odd ball, though. Here are a few things she’s accused of:

• Having a serious shopping addiction or hoarding problem. (Check out the closet in her videos.)
• Every video being sponsored in one way or another.
• Trying to disguise commercials as tutorials.
• Being (or formerly being) promiscuous.
• Having terrible or out-dated fashion sense.
• Often saying things that make no sense; generally being grammatically incorrect.
• Being “ghetto” and acting “White” to make more money. (I personally don’t believe this.)
• Buying thousands of dollars worth of clothes, bags, shoes, make-up, and professional cameras instead of investing for her upcoming baby boy.

So my point is… I’ve been sucked into watching a lot of these girls do tutorials on YouTube. Some of them are more talented than I will ever be! But I also learned that you can’t really trust anything these days. I never would have believed some of these things that turned out to be true.

However, you really do have to put personal issues aside. What I really hate is when people try to sneak in advertising. Always, always, always read the disclaimer at the bottom of these videos, girls!

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