The Making Of Michael Finch

decade now. I can't believe he's turning twenty seven. This, Oh my, that makes me feel so old, I know. Will He first launched his YouTube channel back in twenty fourteen, sharing makeup tutorials and product reviews, and I went back and had to look and He's deleted a lot of his old content, so the earliest videos I could find were him with his iconic pout and bleach blonde hair back in twenty sixteen. I don't really blame him for

deleting these videos. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to have your high school self on YouTube, particularly because at the time there were so many trending videos around makeup, And it's wild to think about how our makeup has evolved. I mean, because I was having so much fun looking at these videos too, and I forgot

how big of a thing under ie baking was. Yes, and also highlighter, because I didn't even wear highlighter anymore, but I remember champagne pop was literally the most popular makeup item. Yeah, it made me realize how old some of my makeup is that I still have, because I've got some of those iconic palettes that they would always use, and I'm like, geez, this is probably so out of date. I should not be using this. I think you need

to throw that. Okays that since twenty fourteen, Yeah, well, I do think you forget how revolutionary Michael Finch was on YouTube because you think about it. Yes, they had Jeffrey Star in the US, but in Australia we didn't have any males on YouTube doing makeup tutorials. And you've got Michael Finch, this teenager from a rural town in Victoria, sharing these amazing makeup tutorials and becoming a household name.

And it wasn't just his makeup that was a winner for people, it was his personality because he really did speak to an audience of young women and men who were perhaps struggling at school because he did talk about being bullied. And I know a lot of people have contacted him since he became famous, saying that he helped

them so much through bullying and also depression and anxiety. Yeah, it's easy to see how he cultivated such a dedicated following because he was not only loud and hilarious, but as you said, vulnerable and really real at the same time. I think, like most people, I came across Michael Finch through Sharny Grimman's channel, and Shaney was the Aussie it girl on YouTube at the time, and they were such

an unbeatable duo together. Yeah, I mean, I would compare her popularity to that of Anna Paul at the moment, because I think a lot of people forget just how big Shanny was because she has sort of trailed into obscurity at the moment. I mean, she does still put out TikTok videos, but she was the it girl. She was the person that everyone watched. Like when her videos dropped,

you'd be racing to go and watch them. Yeah, And like most YouTubers, Michael and Shannie met online, so they actually used to watch each other's YouTube videos and started messaging each other. So at the time, Michael was living in regional Victoria and Shanni was visiting Melbourne one weekend, so they met up and Michael did her makeup and then they went clubbing, and I think the rest is history.

Really a bit of a fun fact there whilst I was trolling through old videos, apparently that's when he also met Lily Brown. So Lily Brown was a friend that happened to be in Melbourne. It's a bit odd because Lily Brown also lives in Brisbane, so I wonder if it was a bit orchestrated by her, because she really did be a permanent fixture on Michael Finch's Instagram stories. I don't think he was that big when he met Shanny, like Shanny was the one I think she. I think

Lily was more hanging around with Shanny. Well that's what I mean. I mean, it's Luke critive to be hanging around any of them when you don't have a following yourself. Talking about looking at old videos, I saw the first video on Michael's channel that Sharanny was in and it was actually the second time they had met, and they were filming at her house in Brisbane because he'd come and stayed over for a sleepover at her house. And it was so funny because they did not seem like

it was the second time they'd met. They were like razzing each other up, being so rude to each other, and they had such good chemistry and banter on camera. Oh, Michael Finch literally burped in her face and they said, Oh, all you do is fart around me, Shanny. That was so funny because Sharanny was answering a question about what her biggest pet peeves were and she goes people burping in my face and Michael had just done it to her.

I feel like Michael's content started changing though when he met Shanny, because he used to do all of the makeup tutorials. But when he finally was hanging out with Sharny, that's when he started vlogging, and I feel like more of his personality came out and more people started loving him.

and Anastasia kings North they met online as well. It's clearly a lucrative thing. It's like they kind of created their own Australian high powers in the US when they've got all the creators that come together. Yeah, and we've got to remember this was a time when a beauty influencer could really make or break a makeup brand. Yes, we've got TikTok now and products can go off, but the influencer space wasn't as saturated.

to swear by. Oh. They were always going on about Morphy as well, and I did see a loog. Shanni mentioned the Becker highlighter. Yeah, it was a Conic highlighter. I loved it. I also couldn't get past Shanny's really thick eyebrows. They were quite iconic at the time. I remember Michael Finch always used to say they looked like slugs.

It was quite mean. It's interesting because I was listening to this interview with Britney Saunders, and she was saying that when she first got on YouTube, she started posting about makeup, but she wasn't even interested in it. Because everyone else was sharing about it. It was really the only way to get big on YouTube and then from their if you've got a following for being good at makeup, you could then start doing vlogs. That's so true, and I think that's why Michael has done so well because

he was actually working as a makeup artist. He was doing people's makeup. He was actually was talented. Just yeah in it now. In addition to making beauty products sell out, Michael and Shannie also had the ability to make catch phrases and words go off. They even had their own language at one point, and their catchphrases was so iconic that Michael and Shanni launched a collaboration with Beginning boutique. Do you guys remember these clothes? Yes? I do. I

actually think I've one of you. Bought me the hat that has thank you on it?

These clothes were hideous because you hear about brand collaborations now with influencers, and the influencers will pick, you know, design outfits and stuff. But these were literally just merch So some of the tops had sea or thank you on there or not a problem like I just I mean very much relating to a teenage audience. It's pretty clever though. I'm sure this stuff just sold out instantly. Oh,

I mean their catch phrases were everywhere. This wasn't just a small corner of the Internet that was saying them. Let's throw it to some of these iconic phrases because I think people enjoy hearing them.

I actually watched their recent shot at video. Lily and Michaels and I didn't even know what they were talking about half the time because they kept saying Kendall Jenna all the time. Yeah, I think they took it a bit farther, But how hilarious for them knowing that they're were all of these kids in school yards just copying everything they said. Michael definitely didn't understand the hate that was being thrown towards his catch phrases. Here's what he said.

Twitter is amazing. When you guys like copy scenarios like that, it fucking kills us, like we die, We love it so much, and just like when you get your parents to say, like, BINDI come in now, hilarious, fucking hilarious. You guys are great, but yeah, so many people get so offended. Like I did not know it was such an offensive thing. I said something on Twitter this morning, and it's literally a status that someone's made saying can

people stop thank you or thank you? Michael Finch ain't shit? Well, I mean, obviously, if it's getting to the point where you need to make a status, it must be a lot of people and getting really annoying. So if that means that I ain't shit, then you can eat my ass.

just hanging around this group like a bad smell. When I was doing research for this episode, it was the first video I'd seen Lily and Michael in together and she was just like staring at the vlogging camera, like trying to be so over the top. And it's pretty interesting because they recently came out and said that they used to take shots of Oxy Shrow to be so hyped up here for the videos. Yeah, that makes more

and more sense, doesn't it. Yeah, do you remember Lily also used to come up to the camera and just be like trying to smash the camera lens with her fingernail. Well, she did catch the attention of a lot of followers when she met Michael Finch and Charny for the first time at that Melbourne meetup, and basically she kept just yelling the whole time, and she kept being in the background of Michael Finch's snapchat. It was just like a competition who could be more stupid And I think that's

why the group didn't work. We will go into that in next week's episode. Yeah, it was really who could be the most obnoxious. Yeah, but it was such huge stakes for them because, for example, look at Lily how much her career has exploded from just being friendly with them and launching a channel. They must have had so many people trying to befriend them just to get that

internet fame. Now, one of my all time favorite YouTube videos has to be a balley trip that Michael and Channey went on together and it was Michael's first time overseas, and Shiny revealed that Mychael didn't actually know how to swing. He didn't really know much because like she kept quizzing him about Barley belly and he could see the sea in the horizon and He's like, can I get Bari belly from the sea or it's got salt in it? Like he was just so confused. Well, we forget how

young he was now. Shani also shared Michael's lack of understanding when it came to geography. Let's throw to what he said.

That's because they were all just on oxy shredded. Maybe that's way it seems so chaotic. Yeah. The thing is, even though there was his undercurrent of competition within that friendship group, it was a really important group of friends for Michael and he actually made the move across to Brisbane from Regional Victoria to be closer to his friends. Yeah, and this was at a time when his YouTube career was really booming, and I think that he needed his

friends and that vibrancy to be in the video. I mean, it would be hard to go back to your hometown in Regional Victoria and be filming these elaborate videos. I mean, I know his mum was in some of them, but it seemed like all his friends were in Brisbane. That's the thing. He would often travel to Brisbane to see Shani and his other YouTube friends, and it's so funny because he would film videos where he'd be third wheeling with Jonathan and shann and this took me back. I

love that time of YouTube. I love like Jonathan was the ideal boyfriend. I actually recently watched a vlog where Michael was visiting and they went for a high this mountain together and Jonathan had been relegated to the backseat and he could tell you wasn't happy about it, and it was just so funny. How tall is Jonathan because he and Shannie looked the same high but now he's pretty tall. Yeah, because I'm going to say, now he's with Madison Woolley, who looks quite sure. I'm like, is

Jonathan tull? Guy? What I recall seeing Michael and Shane's trip to Barley, and then I remember Shanne and Jonathan went to Barley and it was so evident she had such a better time with Michael. Yeah, who wouldn't. He's hilarious, I know, and I think not that long after that's when Shannee and Jonathan called a quit well for the first time. That we will actually be looking into that

in another subscriber episode. Now. It was the first time that Michael lived out of home, and he decided that he wanted to live by himself because he said he liked his own personal space and he didn't want anyone at home whilst he was filming during the day and amy these moving vlogs. They were iconic, they really were. I think they're one of my all time favorite YouTube videos because they were just so much fun because Michael moved over with his mum and his dad came to help.

And I think anytime you watch all those, you know that they're shopping at Kmart getting all the furniture, and he was just so boogie. But you feel really nostalgic, I suppose, thinking back when you moved out of home. I do love how clueless he was because we'll go into it more next week. But he has really become this chef on TikTok, whereas when he moved out of

his home, he didn't know anything about cookie. You remember, he was just making all these big like jugs of juice of fresh like green juice, so cute, and his apartment had very twenty seventeen vibes, so he had a really large black leather reclined couch. He also had those huge display jars, very similar to what Chloe Kardashian had, and they were filled with cookies and lollies and chocolate, and I remember he was saying in the vlog to

his mum stop eating all of them. But he also said that he didn't want have any junk food in the house apart from the jars. I do remember his iconic Christmas tree, like I recall, he put it up really really early and it was like the most bougie I think it was. It was black silver Christmas tree was amazing well, as all YouTubers do. He also had a designated YouTube room, which of course had two very

large Ikea draws. To remember those drawers, every YouTuber had them, and they had all of their makeup perfectly sectioned off in their ogi's will. Also remember that in the background he had a very large portrait of himself holding Shani Grimman's dog Bindi. He was obsessed with Bindy. He actually moved across the road from Shanny so he could get to Bindy and take Bindy for walks and visit Bindi.

I didn't know that they lived so close. I realized that either do you think he was obsessed with the dog or it just became a thing because it was his catchphrase. No, I think he was. I think he loved the dogs animals. I mean, he's got a couple of dogs himself. Now, shortly after the move, fans started trying to guess where he lived, and he addressed this on YouTube, saying he was aware of numerous Facebook threads

where people were trying to guess his address. He then warned his followers if anyone rocked up to his house, they shouldn't expect him to be nice, and that he deserves privacy just as much as everyone else. I think this just shows how big he was at the time, the fact that people were putting energy into working out where he lived because they wanted to meet him so much.

So from Barker on a recent podcast interview, and she was saying, at one stage they had so many people rocking up to their front door because people had pieced it all together, and that's one of the big reasons why her family ended up moving. But you can see how easily people can guess, Actually, there's a guy on TikTok, and basically people send him a video of where they are, Like it could just be out the back in your backyard, and he can guess where you are just by piecing

a few details together. It's actually so much so people send that in just to see if he can work it out. It's to show how people have to be extra careful when they're online. But think how much Michael was sharing at the time, Like he was going to the local shopping centers. You could work out what cafes he was at well, it was pretty easy. He was also showing his view a lot of the time, and also he was often sharing about pre drinks that he'd have at his house and they would say, oh, yeah,

we're going out to so Hopes. And it seemed like when he did move he was also just going out drinking a lot more. He did say that he would run into a lot of fans when he was out at a club, and he got a bit embarrassed about it because he said sometimes when he was blackout drunk, he would without knowing, be rude to fans. So fans would like say, oh I like your makeup or ask

for a photo, and he would just say nothing. But then on the other hand, sometimes he said he just spent too much money on fans because if one came up to him at the bar, he would shout the whole friendship group drinks and he just wanted to he felt like he was indebted to them. So this probably was probably all these like varying reports about him. Like

next bit, it was really rude. Yeah. Well, at the time he moved to Brisbane, he had surpassed one hundred thousand followers on YouTube, so he was rapid growing in popularity. And it's not clear how, but this is when Michael crosspath with serial entrepreneur and now controversial owner of Slickstick, Mia Plasic. So Mia quickly became Michael's manager and started strategizing how to make serious bank Yeah, and she started

testing the water with meat and greets. And I did have a big laugh at this video because it was a professional video shot in twenty eighteen. And in the video we see Mia and Michael making their way to the first meet and greet, and it literally looked like designer brands had vomited on them. So they were both wearing black designer shirts and they were strutting towards the camera. It was at that time when obnoxious designer gear with

all the logos was all the rage. And to top this off, the pair arrived to the meet and greet in eight rolls and literally we see fans mobbing the car and screaming and Michael puts down the window and waves to everyone. It just wore wasn't the vibe that any influencer would want to give out? Now, It's not really that raw, relatable vibe that people are trying to push on Instagram at the moment, don't you think when you look back, it's actually a real US influencer vibe

to give out. And maybe that was me as do it. I think they were considered more of a celebrity though, because it wasn't a saturated market. We didn't have all these people wanting to be influencers and all these influencers. It was only a couple of people that were very

well known. Yeah. Now this meet and greet, it was held at Sephora, and they had some very strong brand collaborations and the whole of Sephora was filled with fans who had apparently lined up since eleven the night before, and the line was literally so large that it stretched around the block. It was very reminiscent of the crowds we saw who rocked up for Anna Paul and from looking at the girls in line, it took me back so much because I forgot at the time what a

uniform we used to wear. And the uniform was black skinny jeans and a danim jacket. All of them were wearing it. Yeah, but then with all extreme makeup like that Shanni and Michael would do. I recall at the time of this meet and greet, remember Kendall and Kylie were doing all those meet and greets around the US, and then they came to Australia. That's probably where the

Kundall Jenna thing came. Maybe now. Shortly after the success of this meet and greet, Michael announced that he would be touring around Australia and New Zealand holding makeup master classes. And this was a stroke of marketing genius because he would use models to do makeup on and all of the models were his famous YouTube friends. So Lily Brown attended quite a number of these master classes, and Shannee's dog Bindy even made he put makeup ONDI no, he

didn't put makeup dog. Yeah, they brought Bindi in and he was very protective over Bindi. He's like, everyone be quiet, she gets really scared. And I was actually quite astounded by how expensive these tickets were. Do you remember, well, I remember at the time he did come to Adelaide and I kind of wanted to go, but then they were way too expensive. What were they?

quick sums on this. So if we say half of the crowd of general admission and half for VIPs, that means that Michael was making approximately one hundred and fourteen one thousand of each show. So he did a total of six shows. That's six hundred and eighty four thousand dollars. And I feel like the overheads aren't huge. I mean, yes, he has to travel to the cities. But he's just using makeup that he probably got for free, no wonder

he was rocking up in the gold Rolls Royce. What did you get for being a VIP, Well, you basically got a goodie bag. So this as a VIP, well yeah, but as journal sound like Taylor Swissing concert. Yeah, so general admission and VIP they both got goodie bags. But obviously if you're in VIP were slightly different. Now, a lot of the items were samples, so there were samples from benefits. They also had a tansy eyemask. There was a beginning boutique drink bottle, inglot samples, a bottle of

BONDII sand, some lashes. It sounds like an influencers starter kit. Well they were lighter gummy Yeah, lighter gummies. They were so twenty seventeen. He also sold exclusive merch at these masterclasses, so then another stream of revenue. Surely the VIP's got to meet him. Well yeah, So basically the whole premise was that they would hire out a function space, generally an area where businesses would hold conferences. So they had a stage up the front where Michael would do his

makeup tutorial. There was also a camera and a big screen so you could see the zoomed in effect of the makeup. There was also time for questions, a meet and greet, and of course some selfies, but yet not really getting that much for all of that money. I want to know how much of a Cutmea got from this. Well. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the straw that broke the cup animals back in terms of their working relationship together, because rumors floating around the place are that

they didn't end things very nicely. It's not surprising because Michael seems like a sweetheart, whereas there's differing opinions on Mea. Yeah, it's so funny because she just came across as such a dick. It is interesting how much Michael has changed since having Mea as his manager, because when she was managing him, it really was when he was wearing all

the expensive brands and being a little bit unrelatable. Do you also find it interesting that she set up all of these master classes and meet and greets at Sephora, and now she's gone on to create her own makeup brand of sorts like the hair Tool. I think she's one of those people that had probably been sniffing around Michael a bit like you. Maybe she was maybe a literally Brown in Melbourne, but yeah, she seemed to be just waiting for a big opportunity like that to attach

herself to someone so well known like Michael Vinn. The opportunity to appear in his blogs and be associated with him was a big deal at the time. Even the fact that she would be the MC and announce Michael Finch and Lily Brown like it was just so cringe. It's quite clear that Michael's openness with his following though, did really strike a chord with followers, and at the master classes they would bring him lots of presents and

fan mail. I used to love seeing him open. Here's Michael reading out a few.

that's outrageous that he spent that much. That was kind of his personality at the time was Oh, he's a little bit bougie and he's fabulous and look what he's got. It's kind of like the Kardashians when you watch that and you watch more in Awe and Entertainer. But I think it's more that he was one of us, so we won't see him do well as well. With the Kardashians,

it's like they've never been one of us. I think it was also very much of the time, though in twenty seventeen, a lot of audiences weren't questioning as much what influences were doing. We were just sort of going along for the ride. Yeah, well, that's where we're going

to leave things today. Next week we will be getting to the bottom of Michael's friendship breakdowns with Shanni Grimman and Lily Brown, as well as how Michael Finch went from baiting under his eyes to becoming a TikTok cooking sensation. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to elders past and present