Michelle Phan was born on April 11, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts. Both her parents were of Vietnamese origin and Phan has an older brother and younger half sister. According to Phan, her biological father left the family when she was young and her mother remarried but left Phan’s step-father after years of abuse. Phan, her brother, and half sister followed their mother. During this time, Phan and her family moved to Tampa, Florida where she attended Tampa Bay Technical High School.

In 2005, Phan had a personal blog in which she discussed different makeup tutorials and received requests for further instruction. She began posting tutorial vlogs on Xanga under the username Ricebunny, and then began publishing on YouTube in May 2007.

BuzzFeed featured two of Phan’s “How To Get Lady Gaga’s Eyes” makeup tutorials in 2009 and 2010, which helped them go viral and brought her over a million subscribers. In 2010, Lancôme made Phan their official video make-up artist after she featured some of their products in her videos, making her the company’s first Vietnamese-American spokesperson.

In 2011, Phan co-founded MyGlam, a monthly beauty products subscription service, which has since been renamed Ipsy, launched in September 2012; Ipsy is a sponsor of the Generation Beauty conference. Phan became a YouTube advertising partner and launched FAWN, a YouTube MCN (multi-channel network), in 2012.

On August 15, 2013, L’Oreal launched a new cosmetic line called EM Cosmetics by Michelle Phan, dedicating the brand to her mother. In April 2015, Phan bought L’Oreal’s share of EMC Cosmetics through Ipsy and confirmed on her Instagram in December 2016; she later acquired the company from IPSY and relaunched in April 2017. During this time, Phan also resigned from Ipsy in order to focus on EM Cosmetics.

Phan attended Ringling College of Art and Design but dropped out due to financial issues. In March 2014, Phan received her Honorary Doctorate of Arts degree from Ringling.

In May 2014, Phan announced her partnership with Endemol Beyond USA to build a talent network to feature people from YouTube and create content for millennials. The ICON network, dedicated to “beauty, lifestyle and entertainment”, launched in March 2015 online and on television via Roku. In September 2014, Phan partnered with Cutting Edge Group to launch Shift Music Group. Phan published a book with Random House in October 2014, titled Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success — Online and Off.

In July 2014, Ultra Records sued Phan in the United States District Court for Los Angeles for copyright infringement relating to the music used in her YouTube videos. Ultra sought up to $150,000 in damages per infringement for up to 50 instances of alleged infringement, for a total of up to $7.5 million. Phan’s representatives stated that she had received permission from Ultra to use the music, and Phan filed a countersuit against Ultra Records on September 18, 2014, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. In August 2015, both suit and countersuit were dropped when both parties agreed to settle out of court. The terms of the agreement were not made public.

In 2015, Phan was named to the Inc. 30 under 30 and Forbes 30 under 30 lists. The same year, she raised $100 million to value the company Ipsy at over $500 million.

Phan abruptly went on hiatus from YouTube in 2015. On June 1, 2017, Phan posted her first video since the hiatus explaining why she took her break. Phan cited legal troubles, the failure of EM Cosmetics initial launch, and her issues with self-image leading her to decide to take a break. She continued her hiatus until officially returning to YouTube on September 2019.

In 2018, Phan found the start-up Thematic, a company specializing in licensing music.

Phan has described herself as an advocate for Bitcoin, which brought the attention of supporters and critics alike. In January 2020, Phan revealed in her Instagram story that she suffered from Trigeminal neuralgia, citing it as one of the reasons why she no longer wears foundation.