Beauty YouTuber Patrick Starr on how meeting Kim Kardashian changed his life
IF YOU know your way around a contour palette, chances are you’ve watched makeup tutorials on YouTube. Patrick Starr runs one.
WHEN beauty YouTuber Patrick Starr first started vlogging online — before he earned his three million subscribers — he posed for a photo with Kim Kardashian’s wax figure.
“I was in Madame Tussauds in Time Square and I saw her wax figure. I always carry a loose brush with me to blot away oil,” Starr, 27, whose real name is Patrick Simondac, told news.com.au.
He is in Australia this week for VidCon, the world’s largest online video event.
“So I asked my brother to take a picture of me pretending to do Kim Kardashian’s makeup. The wax figure looked so real that when I posted the photo on Instagram, people were congratulating me on meeting Kim, but obviously I hadn’t,” he said.
Three years later, just last month, Starr met the real Kim Kardashian.
The pair sat down to film a 30-minute tutorial for his YouTube channel, promoting Kardashian’s new eponymous makeup line.
The pair giggled and teased each other while Starr blended Kardashian’s eyeshadow and contoured her cheeks.
“Do y’all see this? Kim Kardashian West is looking into my eyes,” Starr joked the video’s opening voiceover. “Can we just soak in this moment really quick? She is on my YouTube channel!”
He posted the video a month ago and it’s been viewed almost nine million times.
“Well, it’s literally been life-changing,” Starr said of that video, which is now the most-watched clip on his channel.
“It’s literally insane. It’s such an amazing full circle moment,” he said.
“After that Katy Perry contacted me and I went and did her makeup for a personal event. I was like ‘Is this real? This is crazy.’ I think just having that credibility and authority is really special.”
Starr, who is from Orlando, Florida and has a Filipino background, is one of a dozen YouTube celebrities who dominate the online beauty space.
Their videos clock up millions of views within hours and their brutally honest product reviews can make or break a brand launch.
Even Kardashian admitted she was nervous about appearing on Starr’s channel – she partnered with numerous beauty YouTubers to promote her makeup line – because beauty YouTubers are famous for their scathing candour.
“I am so excited to be on your channel,” she told Starr. “I’m so excited for you to do my makeup.”
Starr identifies as gay and male. While makeup on men is yet to be accepted as normal in real life, on the internet, male beauty stars reign.
He now earns a seven figure salary through product endorsements, collaborations and ad revenue on YouTube.
“Authenticity is the word of beauty blogging,” Starr said.
“I’m really not going to jump on say, a Slim Fast deal and call it a day, because I’m a plus-size YouTuber. How am I going to endorse Nike or Reebok, and still be credible?
“One wrong move and you discredit all the hard work that you’ve done. I never want to be a sell-out. I’ll never do a partnership that I don’t believe in.”
It’s a challenge for all beauty influencers to toe the line between making a decent living – which is usually achieved through endorsements and sponsored content – and remaining objective for your followers.
Viewers want to know a product is being recommended because it genuinely works, not because of the size of the endorsement cheque.
“As far as creating the partnerships with brands — one of my longest partnerships would be with [cosmetics brand] Benefit.
“I love Benefit, I use Benefit everyday and I was buying Benefit before they partnered with me.
They’re great and they’re easy to use.
“I don’t do many [endorsements], because I’m so specific. I’m a man in makeup, I have a beard … my skin texture is not that of a supple woman.
“I have to pick and choose what works for my skin. If brands see that I use something and like something they will reach out to me and it will be fully organic”.
Another challenge faced by the beauty YouTuber is striking the balance between creating products and videos they love, but will also sell.
Starr is famous for his over the top, glamorous makeup looks. But most women don’t want to go to work on a Monday morning with a full-on glittery eye.
Starr admits he sometimes has to rein in the glamour, if he wants a video to get hits, or a product to sell.
“I can give you an example ….my first and only product collab was with Formula X nail polish,” he said.
“They came to me and said ‘We want you to be the first male in Sephora to have a product’. I said ‘Oh my God this is my dream, I love extravagant nails’.
“They gave me 200 colours to choose from. I could have any combination of three polishes that I wanted and so I asked them, ‘Maybe I’ll have super fabulous colours, all glitters. I was like ‘That’s so Patrick Starr’ and so rainbow.
“But then I remember that I wanted this partnership to be amazing. I was like, I gotta move these products off the shelves.
“So instead, I asked them what shades have sold the best. I think that just shows the type of entrepreneur that I am. I’m very conscious of what does best in business. You literally have to collaborate and ask what does best. They said all pinks do really great.
“So best believe, I did a dark pink, I did a light pink and a neutral pink. And guess what? They all sold out.”