According to Phan, social-media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter have made what was once considered a niche and elitist industry much more inclusive. “I believe the internet has widened the marketplace for the beauty and fashion space,” she says. “We are living in an era where people want to share, so of course there will be a growing need for more diversity and ideas.”Similarly to Phan, YouTube has given U.K.-based professional makeup artist and YouTuber Wayne Goss the opportunity to expand his career in ways he never thought possible. Two years ago, Goss launched his line of cruelty-free and handmade brushes . Although the brushes are quite expensive ($265 for the face set), all 300 kits he purchased for the set's initial sale sold out in less than five minutes YouTube’s accessibility and educational qualities are what initially drew Goss to the site. “In the past, the only way you could learn about makeup without going to school for it was through books, and even then those only had illustrations that were just rubbish,” he says. He believes that YouTube has had a key role in demystifying makeup techniques previously only used by professionals. All of this education has inevitably increased the demand for products like the contouring kit or 25-pan eyeshadow palette, which 10 years ago most consumers weren't knowledgeable about or interested in.Brittany Nguyen, a junior at Fordham University, is a long-time fan of YouTubers like Goss and Phan. “Being the rebellious young teen I was in high school, I surfed the web when my parents locked me in my room to make me do homework,” she says. Nguyen, an actress, was curious about makeup and took to the internet to find out exactly how to create stage-worthy looks. “To be honest, I don’t know where else you learn how to do makeup,” she says.Before indulging in a beauty purchase, Nguyen makes sure to do copious amounts of research lest she waste her money on a subpar product. Armed with her phone, Nguyen is ready to do a quick Google search for reviews and blog posts about any product she’s thinking of buying. In terms of finding new covetable items, she leaves most of the product-testing to YouTubers. “Most of the time, I find new products through YouTubers,” she says. “[The ones] I follow consistently tend to mention the same products over and over again, so when I go shopping I recognize certain products that I trust [will be good].”